Staff Update Day 1
Location: West End
We're so excited! For the past few weeks, our AQ team has been busily preparing the boats, lining our shrouds with PFDs, stocking the boat's library, and putting all sorts of delicious food aboard! We are eager to meet all of our shipmates. We have students coming from the east coast, the west coast, central US, China, and Mexico. We couldn't be more excited to meet the shipmates of Tanis Marie! It's only a short time now until we are out on the water and diving all over the BVI or making sailing circles and tying knots. It's been hard to remain on the docks with all our anticipation and readiness for the start of the summer. Soon these empty docks will be the place where the students meet new friends and settle into their new home, Tanis Marie. Let the fun begin!
Here is an introduction to the crew of Tanis Marie:
Aaron- skipper Growing up sailing and racing on the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington State, Aaron now calls Hawaii home. After graduating from Hawaii Pacific University in 2004, he traveled to the United Kingdom to train with the Royal Yachting Association. Earning his MCA Master of Yachts 200 Ton and RYA/MCA Cruising Instructor certifications, he began sailing the world's oceans as a skipper and instructor working from the West Indies to the UK and the Mediterranean. When not sailing professionally, you can find him traveling the globe in search of perfect waves in countries such as Panama, Nicaragua, the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, Costa Rica, the Maldives, and Papua New GuineaÂ…To name a few. With over a decade as a professional sailing instructor, surf instructor, and windsurf instructor, he is looking forward to joining the 2013 ActionQuest Team and sharing his passions with its students in the BVI's.
Evan- dive instructor/mate Evan was born in Buffalo, New York and lived the first ten years of his life along the east coast of the United States. After that, he moved to the Middle East to spend the next eight years in Doha, Qatar. After graduating from high school in Qatar, he moved back to the US to attend university. As of this summer, he is a rising junior at the University of Miami studying Marine Affairs, Business, Spanish, and French. He spends most of his weekends underwater with the University of Miami Scuba Club. After three trips with AQ as a shipmate, he decided to come back as a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor along with the side qualifications of EFR Instructor, DAN O2 and First Aid specialty and Equipment Repair.
Catie- dive instructor/mate Originally from Massachusetts, Catie began scuba diving in the cold New England waters. Despite the cold waters, Catie fell in love with diving and grew to appreciate it even more in the warm waters of the British Virgin Islands during her first summer with Action Quest as a student in 2009. Since then Catie has gone on to become a PADI Scuba Instructor, holding a certification as an OSWI instructor as well as specialty instruction for the PADI navigation and PADI naturalist specialties. When not on the water, Catie is a current student at the University of San Diego where she is studying Environmental Studies and Business Finance.