Joe Cochran
Captain/PADI Dive Master
I have lived in Ventura for my entire life (51 years.) Funny enough, being along the coast and all, I never spent time at the beach. Then my dad introduced me to sailing and I have not been off the ocean ever since. I did not have any interest in diving until a friend of mine became a dive instructor and recruited me to be one of his first students.
I have continued on with my dive education and I am now a PADI Divemaster and working on becoming a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor. My wife joined me in diving and we were able to train together up until we became Dive masters. Since then, she became a PADI Dive Instructor and I continued on to be a boat captain. I am now a captain for “Raptor Dive Charters” which is associated with Ventura Dive & Sport.
I enjoy the diving life, as it has brought my wife and I closer. We enjoy traveling with our dive friends to exotic places that we would never have dreamed of going to before we became divers. We see spectacular sea life, are constantly meeting new people and learning about different cultures. Meeting Jim Smith (the owner of Ventura Dive & Sport) and having the honor of calling him our friend is one of the greatest things that has ever happened to us.
Please come join me (and the rest of the staff at Ventura Dive and Sport) to either start a new and exciting lifestyle as a PADI diver or to continue on with your training and/or travels, both aboard the Raptor and around the world.
Mike Gilbert
Position: Boat Captain
Professional Credentials: PADI Open Water SCUBA Instructor
Bio: Mike started diving in Ventura and the Channel Islands in 1963 as a swimming instructor and life guard. Diving was a natural part of the progression. As a Padi instructor for over 5 years, Mike enjoys teaching and especially enjoys teaching students that are challenged by the water.
Mike is a licensed captain (50-ton rating) and is one of the captains for the Raptor dive boat. He has operated numerous private boats in the Channel Islands and Mexico since 1978. As a diver and a boat operator for over 40 years, Mike has extensive knowledge of the Channel Islands and its many diving opportunity's.
Jim Smith
James F. Smith started his diving career as a young man growing up in South Dakota in the 1960s, advancing as a diver while attending Iowa State University in the 70s and finally arriving in California in 1985 when he attended the NASDS Instructor's College in San Diego.
Beginning his professional career as an instructor in San Luis Obispo where he worked for two years, he subsequently headed south to Santa Barbara where he worked in two dive shops over the course of the next three years, gaining valuable experience while teaching courses of all levels from both PADI and NASDS.
Jim made the big step in May 1989 when he bought a small dive shop called Ventura SCUBA Schools, which was located in the Ventura Harbor Village. Starting small (it was less than 1000 square feet) but with big aspirations, he worked diligently through the years watching the business grow into what it is today, one of the top-rated dive centers in California. Encompassing nearly 5000 square feet, an on-site pool, state-of-the-art classroom, repair department and rental department, Ventura Dive & Sport added the only missing ingredient in July 2006 - the Raptor.
Jim has always kept active as a diver and as a dive instructor, teaching and traveling to all corners of the globe to see what the underwater world holds in store. Reaching the pinnacle of the PADI Professional Pyramid, he became a Course Director in 2002, putting his myriad teaching experiences to good use training instructors through Ventura Dive & Sport.
Sasha
Company Mascot !!!