Dan Crowell
Dan is a respected figure in the world of deep diving and known as operator of the boat, Seeker, which embodied the spirit of exploration and discovery amid a motley crew of seemingly reckless zealots. Seeker evolved into one of the most advanced dive operations in the region, linked to a number of shipwrecks including U-869, USS Murphy, and The Andrea Doria (known as the Mt. Everest of diving). Their exploits inspired books ("The Last Dive" and "Shadow Divers"), as well as television documentaries. Dan developed skills from commercial hard-hat diving to pioneering mixed-gas diving in the Northeast US. He is a technical dive instructor, Master-licensed captain, and a now a deep diving videographer for several award-winning television shows. deepexplorers.com




Dr. Neal Pollock
Dr. Pollock is a Research Associate in the Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Environmental Physiology at Duke University Medical Center. Trained in exercise and environmental physiology, his research interests focus on human health and safety in extreme environments. The lab group is funded to conduct a variety of studies of decompression and diving safety. He has participated in breath-hold research funded by the U.S. Navy and currently collects and reviews breath-hold incident data for the Divers Alert Network. www.dan.org.
 

Ray Powell  
Ray has represented Australia as a member of the National team and has won many tournaments, including the prestigious Blue Water Classic.  He lives on the NSW and Queensland border "goldcoast".  He hunts in the east Australian current and deep reefs for Jew Fish " Mulloway " , Spanish Mackeral , Wahoo , Yellowtail King , emperors and snappers.  He's dove the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea and now enjoys teaching. His DiveR business incorperates education , expeditions, and equipment developement (DiverR blades).  Ray offers  guided trips to the Coral Sea and New Zealand. He loves big cray fish!

Bill Kyser
Bill Kyser's assignments as a firefighter/paramedic, commercial deep sea diver, and as a USAF combat rescue team member gave him an appreciation for sound health and fitness. Fitness is more than looking good; it's being able to engage life at a higher level. For divers, that means safer more enjoyable dives, whether on scuba or a single breath. The purpose of Diving into Fitness Workshop is to reveal the best elements of strength, endurance, leanness, and flexibility, and to help you create the right training regimen for your style of diving. www.professionalfitnesstrainer.com


 

Mark Laboccetta
Mark Laboccetta of Technosport Inc. and his father distribute OMER and C4 products in the US. www.omerdiving.com. Mark's been spearfishing since 1987 and has written articles for Hawaii Skin Diver, Spearfishing Magazine, International Freediving and Spearfishing, and Pesca Sub. He has eight IUSA world records and helps Omer Italy with development of spearguns and products for the US market.




Chad Carney
Chad is a veteran diving instructor & captain. He has trained thousands of scuba divers,  instructors, freedivers & spearfishermen since 1977, from beginners to advanced, and technical. He has won multiple  spearfishing tournaments and trained dozens of winners as well. A column writer for the St. Petersburg Times and dive publications, many are archived on his website. His web-book, The Wild West Coast of Florida, is also on  www.floridaskindiver.com.
 



Julie Richardson
Julie is the founder of Dive Wise, a non-profit freedive education initiative.  After nearly losing her two oldest sons to freediver blackout, she was compelled to become a voice for change with her education outreach program, www.divewise.org. 
Julie is a sixth generation Miamian and an active volunteer in her community and is a published author.  She and her family are closely connected to the sea as boaters, spearfishers, navigators, and survivors.



Vern Oscarson
Vern is the owner and manager of the popular seafood shop, Fish Peddler East, in Ft. Lauderdale.  He  started working with seafood right out of high school, working for various wholesale, retail, and restaurant entities.  He built the very successful shop through dedication to quality and hard work.  He is willing to share his expertise at the Expo.  Don't miss his jaw-dropping demonstration of the proper way to tail a lobster.  You will be amazed at how much meat you've been wasting!


 

Captain Greg Logue  
Capt. Greg Logue started in EMS while serving as a combat medic in the US Army's elite 10th Mountain Division and as a critical care flight medic with LifeFlight at Miami Children's Hospital.  Capt. Logue is certified as an Air Deployable Rescue Diver, HazMat Technician, and Haz-Tox Paramedic.  He is a Paramedic instructor at Miami-Dade College, as well as, the Lead Haz-Tox instructor at MDFR.  He has most recently been involved in working with the NFL and NCAA, advancing emergency care for injured atheletes.  Greg holds a 50-ton captain's license and is an active sailor and boat owner.

Pasta Pantaleo
It was the allure of the majestic billfish, a decorative sailfish mount at Coney Island that Pasta Pantaleo remembers as a young child as being his first inspiration that drew him into the world of marine gamefish and their habitats. As a child, Pasta was instrumental in convincing his family to migrate to South Florida in 1970, the perennial land of sun and fun. Despite being surrounded by clients living a glamorous lifestyle, Pasta remains down to Earth, and his favorite pastime is boating and fishing. Pasta has numerous accolades to his name including
the prestigious title of 2006 Rolex/IGFA Inshore Artist of the
Year, and he donates paintings for the benefit the CCA and
IGFA, as he believes in protecting and preserving the ocean.

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Dr. Daryl Wong
Dr. Daryl Wong is a dentist from Hawaii and is one of the premier builders of custom-made spearguns used around the world. He is also an accomplished spearo and world record holder, constantly experimenting with different designs and techniques.  He enjoys reef and bluewater hunting and loves traveling to meet new friends or hosting them in his own back yard.  He is known for his generosity, often sponsoring women and juniors, and for his kind spirit of aloha. www.wongspearguns.com.




Ron Mullins
With forty years of freediving experience, Ron Mullins is a champion blue water hunter, world record holder, and videographer. Ron's passion is the preservation of diving history by documenting the pioneers and preserving their artifacts. In 2000, Ron co-founded The Museum of Skin Diving History and has gathered diving information from around the world for the creation of a diving history website. Ron looks forward to honoring the pioneers and sharing his labor of love.

Del Wren
Del Wren, of Southern California, was born in 1925 in Rochester, NY.  Del ran away from home at the age of 13 and into a colorful life, beginning as a hired hand on a "widow's farm".  As a logger in Oregon, he lost his leg in an accident.  He never allowed this to become a handicap, known for his deep diving skills and going on to win several major tournaments. Competitors were fond of saying he needed another handicap in order for them to have a chance against him.  He was bestowed the Athlete of the Year award in 1958.





Dan MacMahon  
Dan MacMahon is one of the most respected spearfishermen in the state of Florida, due to his skill and character.  He has won major tournaments multiple times and has speared the state’s largest Warsaw grouper at 403 pounds.  He is Spearfishing Magazine’s 2006 Spearo of the Year.  He is an accomplished freediver, scuba diver, and technical diver, sometimes going to depths exceeding 400 feet. His passion for spearing comes through in his story-telling and he continues to be a role model and a guiding influence on many other spearos.




Tom Mount  
Tom Mount is the Chairman of the Board for IANTD. www.iantd.com. His career includes military, research, and saturation diving.  Tom has logged in excess of 11,000 dives including caves, wrecks, and dives deeper than 200 ft. Tom developed standards and training programs for technical and rebreather diving and is one of the most all around experienced divers in the world. Tom is also a photographer, Master in Martial Arts, licensed CG Captain, and airplane pilot. Tom has received dozens of awards for his contributions, including diving's most presigious NOGI award.
 



Chip Bissell
Chip Bissell, a Southern California native, is a federally registered patent attorney with a background in chemistry, oceanography, and engineering.  A diver since age 5, he is an accomplished scuba diver, freediver, and co-inventor of the Freediver’s Recovery Vest. www.oceanicss.com. Chip currently divides his work between intellectual property law and fisheries & seafood consulting.  He represents fisheries clients at state, federal and international levels, including seeking certification of sustainable fishery status by the Marine Stewardship Council.  He also advises clients in connection with seafood quality and processing, and has over two decades of seafood experience stretching across Alaska, the West Coast, and Japan.  



Lt. Dave Bingham
Lt. Dave Bingham has been a Florida conservation law enforcement officer for twenty-one years. He started his profession with the Florida Marine Patrol during the mid 80's and was a dive team leader in the early 90's, conducting underwater crime scene investigations and assisting with reef damage assessments. His agency deals with inland and marine related conservation issues and enforcement, as well as all types of boating safety regulations. He is especially good at clarifying any questions regarding spearfishing regulations in Florida. www.myfwc.com.



Julie Riffe
Julie Riffe has been the US women's spearfishing champion and is a world record holder. She also works in the family business, ever since dad Jay Riffe, who holds three world spearfishing records himself, founded a speargun manufacturing company and brought the Riffe clan in to help. Julie works on design, tests gear, and acts as a representative for the sport. She has been in Outside Magazine, Spearfishing Magazine, and Xtreme Wildlife, among others. www.speargun.com.

Roger Yazbeck
Roger was born in Lebanon and has lived in many parts of the world before settling in the USA. He is multilingual and multi-talented, having worked as singer/song-writer/musician, magician, producer and business man. He enjoys swimming and freedive hunting. He introduced the Picasso diving brand to the USA and the world through "Picasso America", a company that he founded in 1998. Today, he is in the Neoprene and Wetsuits design and manufacturing business and will be sharing his deep technical expertise on that subject. www.yazbeck.com/roger




 

Dave Earp
Dave Earp, of South Florida, was a commercial lobsterman for over ten years.  He is also an accomplished tech diver and one of the first divers to be Trimix certified in the state of Florida. He brings his vast lobstering experience to help explain effective catching and handling techniques.  He will also share a wealth of information regarding a typical lobster’s life and some of their mysterious habits: what they consume, how they reproduce, where they move to. He will also educate about all the native species in Florida and what the applicable laws are.




Kevin Bruington
Kevin Bruington is a respected commercial spearfisherman and speargun builder from the west coast of Florida. Kevin retired from commercial spearfishing to become a full time speargun manufacturer. Kevin owns and operates Spearfishing Specialties which manufactures Ocean Rhino Spearguns. Kevin is well known for his innovative speargun designs and unique accessories. His spearfishing seminars have been a hot ticket in Florida and considered by many to be one of the most comprehensive, entertaining, and educational presentations in the industry. www.oceanrhino.com