Some Recent Past Presenters

August – We will be inviting in the owner of the newest Dive Shop in the DFW area, OCD Divers located in Bedford Texas. Chris DeClerk has been runninng OCD Divers as a dive training organisation since 2009, now adding a well stocked show and fill station to his company. He is going to talk about one of his favorite dives, the Valhalla missile silo diving and talk about the process he went through opening his shop.

July – Our speaker was Brian Wicker, Long term Scubadillo Member and bass player for The Silver Tones with frequent sightings around Dallas Fort Worth and at various dive events. He gave a rousing talk about his experience diving in the Red Sea and his enjoyable treks to the Great Pyramids. We learned a a great deal about the customs and food but mostly why this is a highly desirable place to go diving.

June – Our speaker was Jim Magnuson, long time Diving Rebel member and editor of this web site, talking brilliantly about diving in the Philippines, specifically the Puerto Galera area. Emphasis on the little things and muck diving. He did go on a bit about nudibranchs, but backed it up with great photos!

May – Our speaker was Jim Elliot – Founder of Dive Heart a truly awesome effort to help many people who have disabilities find rewarding renewal underwater. Many of our members may be familiar with Dive Heart, but Mr. Elliot will give us a run down on all the great changes in their program. We highly commend the community service of this great organisation and recomend you check them out at: Dive Heart Adaptive

April – Richard Wolfe – World Dive Travel expert, with a cautionary story about Marine injuries, specifically Stingray Stings. Showed two videos of news coverage on how he almost lost his foot due to infection. Great talk about the importance of seeking medical help quickly after any type of marine wound.

March – Jenny Lord – Superb Diving professional, dive instructor and other diving facets in Egypt and the Red Sea. She spoke on the history of DCS science and many of the confounding factors that may allow for the “Bends” sometimes even when we do everything right, and recommendations on keeping it safe, such as no deep stops (unless your computer says so), take a day off diving in the middle of a long week of diving, KNOW YOUR COMPUTER and do what it says.

February – Bob Curtis, comercial diver and educator on unusual dive environments he has worked. Discussed how his father’s submarine in WWII went to 450 feet deep when only designed for 200 ft. and came back! Discussed diving in the JIM suit and being the last one to use it before it was retired to a museum. Showed some unbelievable video of some very deep sea interactions with sea creatures including a sperm whale and underwater dive vessels.

January – Richard Todd – Notable underwater photographer, current President of Dallas Under Water Society (DUPS), gave a talk about his trip to the real “Down Under” Antartica. While his diving was curtailed, he had a welth of information about the trip, dive risks and difficulties just getting there.

September – Lana Kolonay, avid Florida cave diver. Below the surface, Florida transforms into a dynamic wonderland of underground caves, spring systems, underground rivers, and displays a history of times long since past. Gave a general overview of the geology, hydrology, and ecology of Florida’s freshwater systems that make it so unique from any other state in the U.S. 

August – “Want to go to, or back to, the Gulf Flower Gardens?” Don Barcellona explained the virtues of diving the Texas treasure known as the Flower Gardens and some tips on the best ways to accomplish this.

May – The speaker was Bob Curtis, who discussed aspects of commercial underwater activities. He actually did saturation diving in the North Sea as his first job, in a long career that saw many changes in the way we accomplished difficult underwater tasks. As an underwater remote operated vehicle pilot and instructor, Bob was recognized as one of the premiere international subsea simulation experts for many years. He worked as a rescue/recovery diver in the 1970s, a saturation diver and with various atmospheric diver suits (such as JIM, WASP, and Mantis) in the 1980s, built a couple of his own submarines, and in more recent years was involved with the ROV industry, primarily prototypes.

March – Our speaker was Jennifer Idol, who spoke about a groundbreaking new dive technology. Jennifer is a core team member of Avelo, promoting the revolutionary Avelo System, which integrates the Hydrotank and Jetpack to redefine the diving experience.
She also inspires others through expeditions with Big Fish Expeditions.Jennifer Idol is a diving and visual storytelling expert dedicated to connecting people with the natural world. As the first woman to dive all 50 U.S. states, she chronicled her journey in the book An American Immersion. Her work has appeared in DIVER, SCUBA Diving, and Alert Diver, and she is a Fellow of The Explorers Club and a two-time PADI® AmbassaDiver.

February – Mark Alen – Pro Diver Training. He discussed many aspects of comercial diving and brought various pieces of comercial diving equipment and answered many questions.

January – Bill Steele – Explorers Club Texas Chapter member William “Bill” Steele is a renowned cave explorer who has led over a dozen expeditions into Mexico’s Sistema Huautla and explored hundreds of caves worldwide! I speak about cave exploration which I have participated in since I was a teen in the 60s. My favorite one is about Sistema Huautla of Mexico, a project I lead (see: peshcaving.org), the deepest cave in the Americas, where we have carried The Explorers Club flag 14 times and will again in April 2026.