PADI Instructors for Sentry Scuba

Gene Anderson - first learned to dive in the military and eventually became interested in recreational diving, travel and teaching, working his way up through Divemaster by 1981. In 1982, because of his love for diving and wanting to share his experiences with others, Gene became a PADI Open Water Instructor.

Gene progressed to the level of PADI Master Instructor by 1985 and now teaches over 20 Specialty Courses. In 1995, Gene became a PADI Course Director, and has had the opportunity to travel around the Midwest teaching instructor level courses.

Gene is an avid underwater photographer and really enjoys taking people on dive trips to tropical destinations. He has a great love for the underwater world and looks forward to introducing many more people to this diverse universe.

Come and join Gene in the underwater world.

Al Craig - is a PADI Master Instructor and can teach all levels of diving courses. He is also certified to teach most of the PADI specialty courses. Since being certified as a PADI Instructor in 1984, Al has been teaching continuously at Sentry Scuba, with hundred of students to his credit.

Growing up around the ocean in South Florida got him into Scuba diving in his teen years. Of course his first love is warm, ocean diving, and he now has a condominium in Fort Lauderdale, which allows him to go diving there regularly.

Al leads many of our diving trips to exotic places in the world. He has been to most Caribbean destinations as well as Fiji, Australia, Solomon Islands, Micronesia, Malaysia, and the Egyptian Red Sea.

For his own personal enjoyment, Al is certified in cave diving, mixed gas diving, and re breathers. He has been diving on many shipwrecks, in both fresh and saltwater.

If you want to learn to dive in warm waters of Florida or the Caribbean, Al regularly certifies students there.

Mark Poulos - has been diving since 1990 and has been teaching since 1996. Most of his diving has been related to recovery work in the river. He does however enjoy those few times when he has been able to take a trip and dive in water where the visibility was greater than 30 feet.

Mark is also our scuba repair technician here at Sentry Scuba.. Having been trained in Scuba Pro, Dacor, Mares, Aqualung, Sherwood, Sea Quest and he is also one of the few in the Midwest to be trained in the Divator.

Most of Marks Open Water Classes are taught privately.

Mark is Certified to teach Open Water, Ice, Distinctive Diver, Law enforcement, Equipment Specialty, and also an EFR instructor. In the spring of 2006 Mark will be increasing his number of specialties he can teach.

Shirley Morton - grew up in Excelsior, Minnesota, three doors down from the public beach on Lake Minnetonka. There Shirley watched the life guards scuba diving. As she grew she was able to do much free diving in the lake, but never any scuba.

Once her children, Julie and Tyler, were grown, she was able, at age 46 to follow her dream and become a certified diver. Her dream didn't end there, as she continued on her way in instructor.

Shirley has been diving at many of the local dive sites, Pearl Lake, Haigh Quarry, and Lake Wazee, but her heart is in the clear, warm, tropical waters off the island of Maui. She travels there every year for three weeks of sunshine and relaxation, which includes lots of diving off Maui, Lanai, Molokini, and Molokai. Here husband Craig, has been very happy being forced to tag along on many of her tropical voyages.

Shirley has also been diving in Cabo San Lucas, Puerta Vallarta, Cozumel, St. Thomas, St. Croix, Jamaica, Monaire, Aruba, Grand Cayman, the Bahamas, Key Largo, Ft. Lauderdale, Myrtle Beach, the Big Island of Hawaii, and Kauai. She has also been on snorkel trips on Barbados and in the Crystal River in Florida.

Steve Ebel - started his diving by obtaining his open water diver in May 1995. That first summer was busy as Steve obtained his Advanced Open Water Diver, Underwater Navigation, Wreck, Blackwater Diver, and Night Diver. Steve entered into public safety diving as a volunteer firefighter and has conducted numerous recover dives in the Mississippi and Rock Rivers. Steve continued his education and obtained his master Diver and Enriched Air Diver.

Steve obtained his Instructor rating and Ice Diver Specialty Instructor. He has done most of his teaching teamed up with Mark Poulos during the last few years.

With his vast experience in construction, in addition to teaching, Steve teamed up with Mark Poulos to complete several search and recovery dives and other black water specialty dives around the Quad Cities. Steve as a natural problem solver when faced with unique circumstances requiring underwater repair.

Steve has a positive attitude and a great deal of patience when teaching with new divers. He continues his duty as Chief Petty Officer with the Navy and is currently on deployment in Iraq.

Tracy L. Skaggs - began diving in 1997 became an instructor in 2003.

Although he would dive 24/7 if I could, his real job does occasionally get in the way.

Tracy is currently the Director of Technical Services at DCS Computer Services DCS Computer Services where his responsibilities are sundry and varied.

Likewise, his extra-curricular interests are sundry and varied.

Here's a selection of his activities and achievements:

* Masters degree in Computer Science

* 14 - year veteran performer in Comedy Sportz

* Ordained Minister (He can perform your your ceremony underwater, if you'd like!)

* Actor

* Proud owner of a Thai Ridgeback Dog

Cory Leland - began diving in July 1982

Over the years, Cory has had the opportunity to scuba dive at a number of different locations. Some of his favorites include: Panama, Alaska, North Carolina, and Bonaire, as well as the many local dive opportunities here in the Midwest.

When it comes to diving, Cory enjoys the deeper, older, well preserved wrecks, and technical diving. He is certified PADI/DSAT Tec Level 1, Tec Deep, Gas Blender, TDI Trimix and Advanced Trimix, Drager Dolphin Rebreather, and APD Inspiration - Evolution rebreather. He also likes to dabble a bit in underwater digital video/photography.

Cory is not the only member of his family that is certified. His wife Rosa has an Advanced Open Water certification, Daughter: Sheena, Divemaster, and Son: Shawn, Rescue.

Cory is certified to teach all the basic PADI courses and most PADI specialties; including Drager Semi-Closed Rebreather. He also can teach many technical courses to include decompression diving and advanced Nitrox.

Michael Kratzber - I have always had a love for the Ocean and the underwater environment, and that was brought to a higher level when I served in the Navy as a Meteorologist/Oceanographer and spent three years sailing the seas in the early 1980's.

My recreational diving experiences and career began again in the mid to late 1990's.

I became a certified PADI Divemaster in 2004. I'm able to teach Snorkeling Experience, Discover SCUBA Diving, and SCUBA Tune-Ups-Reviews classes as well as assist Instructors with Pool Dives and Open Water Training.

I love to introduce people to the underwater world. I love to just "Hang Out" watching the fish. North Carolina is one of my favorite places to dive, along with Mexico and Bonaire, but I really just like to dive as much as I can around the local dive spots here in Illinois. I am a conservationist at heart and really want people to respect the waters.

I try to dive as much a s possible, having a five year old Daughter (Whom I hope will have the same love for the water as I do!) makes it a challenge to go as often as I would like but whenever I do get the change to dive, I am ready to go!

Looking for a personal training? Visit my web site at Begin Again Fit For Life In Home Personal Training.

Meet Our PADI SCUBA Instructors