Owner - PADI Course Director

Monty is Scuba Shack’s resident PADI Course Director and Public Safety Instructor Trainer. Monty started his diving career working for his father as a commercial diver. His love for working underwater led him to become a PADI professional. During his 19 years as an instructor, he has certified more than 1,000 divers from basic open water to IDC Staff Instructor. Monty is an instructor trainer in 19 different PADI specialties.

Owner - PADI Elite IDC Staff Instructor

Bill has spent his entire life in and around the ocean. His scuba diving career began in 2019 with Scuba Shack in preparation for a family trip to Hawaii and after a night dive with Manta Rays, his interest changed to a passion. Bill loves teaching and spends as much time as possible diving around New England, the Great Lakes and the Caribbean. He is also a technical diver, avid underwater photographer and supporter of ocean conservation.

Owner - PADI Elite IDC Staff Instructor

The first time that Mike jumped in the water for a dive, he was hooked! Since his certification in 2012, he has become a PADI Instructor. Mike's worldwide travels have allowed him to experience the dive sites in many different locations including the Philippines, Greece and Croatia but his favorite is Tobermory, Canada.

Owner - PADI Assistant Instructor

PADI IDC Staff Instructor

Tom’s passion for the water came at an early age. He enjoyed being in and around the local lakes, rivers, and ocean. Tom was certified as a scuba diver in 2007 and instantly fell in love with the sport. He rapidly moved on to the PADI professional ranks and has since made hundreds of dives. Tom joined the Scuba Shack family in 2018. Scuba diving has brought him joy in teaching new divers, meeting new people, and experiencing many new things above and below the water.

Since his passion for diving became a lifestyle, he has had the privilege of traveling to dozens tropical islands, several U.S territories and states, and 11 different countries. Tom continues to explore the waters of the North East, Caribbean, and one of his favorite places Florida. He currently has found interest in expanding his skills and exploration in technical diving.

PADI IDC Staff Instructor 

Ron has been diving since 1995, and happily went along as an Open Water Diver until his daughter Lizzie caught the diving bug. Since then, Ron and Lizzie completed their Advanced and Rescue Diver Certification, Divemaster in 2018, and then became Instructors together in 2019. 

PADI Instructor

Alex got his Open Water certification at Scuba Shack back in 2012 and since then he has continued improving his diving skills and learning about the underwater world. Now as an Open Water Scuba Instructor he is eager to help his students  learn and fall in love with scuba diving. His favorite diving spots are the Bahamas, Grand Cayman and the ABC islands. He is always down to dive in the cold and murky waters of the North Atlantic.

PADI Master Instructor

Peter is a PADI Master Instructor who started diving in 1987. Like many divers who have been diving for years, Sea Hunt and Jacques Cousteau got him involved with the sport. He enjoys diving the wrecks off Block Island and in the Bahamas.

PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer

Lizzie received her Open Water Certification in 2014 and has never looked back. After getting her Advanced and Rescue Diver Certifications with her Dad, Lizzie became a Master Diver. While working at Scuba Shack in 2017, she became a Divemaster and then became an Instructor, along with her Dad in 2019. Lizzie graduated from the University of Florida, where she worked as a Divemaster. 

PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer

Joel is a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer who started diving in 1982. He enjoys the vertical walls, great swim throughs and diverse marine life in the Cayman Islands (who doesn’t!). Jacques Cousteau made quite an impression on Joel and got him interested in the underwater world.

PADI Master Instructor - Retired

Jeff has been diving with his wife Donna and son Matthew since 2004. His passion for diving led him to the PADI professional ranks in 2006 with the goal of helping new divers discover the thrill of underwater adventure. He has numerous dives off the islands of Maui and Lanai and continues to explore new sites across the Caribbean and the Northeast. Jeff completed the PADI Instructor Examination and became an instructor in the fall of 2009.

Jeff is also the Founder and President of Scuba Educational Alliance of Connecticut - a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering the next generation of ocean stewards through scuba diving and related activities. He is also a member of the Diving Equipment and Marketing Association (DEMA) Board of Directors, having been elected in 2023.

PADI Instructor - Non-Teaching Status

Since being certified in 2004, the sport of diving quickly grew from a hobby to a passion for Matt. Diving has since opened up various areas of interest from marine ecology to sub-aquatic history to underwater photography. Matt’s been working at Scuba Shack since 2015, and has been privileged to dive in many locations from Hawaii, across the Caribbean to some of the fabled dive sites here in our own backyard.

PADI Assistant Instructor

Deb has been diving for over 30 years (don’t do the math!) and became a Divemaster and an Assistant Instructor back in the 1990s. Deb loves New England diving and is passionate about sharing the joys of local diving, including her weird but charming love of marine invertebrates, with anybody who will listen! She is particularly passionate about ocean and marine life conservation. Deb enjoys the outdoors, both above and below water, and co-owns Bicycles East in Glastonbury with her husband (and Divemaster) Steve.

PADI Divemaster

Ned has been intereseted in Scuba since snorkeling off the Coast Guard ship he was stationed on in Florida. Like a lot of his generation he was influenced by the TV show Sea Hunt and the Jacques Cousteau Underwater World specials. He became a Divemaster and Discover Scuba Diving Leader in 2017. Ned enjoys diving in Cozumel and the Bahamas. His dives in the Great Lakes over 10 years has made him an enthusiastic supporter of Project Aware. The Midwest also enabled several dives to Bonne Terre Mine in Misouri. He had also enjoyed dives at Truk Lagoon in Micronesia and dives in the Philippines

Tom Allen has been diving with Scuba Shack since 2021, when he first became certified on Labor Day Weekend. Pursuing a dream he’s always wanted to follow, Tom steadily worked his way up the training ladder and officially turned pro in June of 2023 as a PADI Dive Master. Tom has long been enamored of the outdoors and the joy found in nature, and he’s begun regular travels to places far afield in search of new adventures (and sea turtles, his favorite animal!). Tom would be the first to say that learning to dive is the best thing he’s ever done in his life, and he is thrilled to help others likewise learn and explore all that diving has to offer.

Shea has always enjoyed the water and as a child loved swimming and water skiing in lakes.  As an adult, she moved to New England and discovered the joy of the ocean, becoming scuba certified in 2019 during a family trip to Hawaii.  Since that time, family trips to the Caribbean and Florida, along with local recreational dives led to a desire to learn and experience more.  Shea became a Dive Master in 2023 and enjoys working with students to share her love of diving and our aquatic world.

PADI Divemaster - Retired

Donna got certified in 2004 and became a PADI Divemaster in 2006. She likes to share what she has learned with new divers, and enjoys diving on group trips because scuba divers are an adventurous bunch and really know how to have FUN! Her favorite dive spots include Mempachi Cave in Maui, Trinity Caves in Grand Cayman and the Mushroom Forest in Curacao. While she spends most of her days at Scuba Shack, she hopes to keep traveling the world to see new places, above and below the water!