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Tarpoon Skin Diving Center (NAUI 007)
3200 Palm Avenue, Hialeah FL 33012
The Tarpoon Skin Diving Center was established by Mike
Kevorkian in 1952 at 925 Palm Avenue, Hialeah, and moved to it's present
location at 3200 Palm Avenue, Hialeah FL, in 1956. It was expanded still further
in 1989 when an indoor, heated pool was added for student training. It remains
the oldest dive store in the South-Eastern United States under original
ownership.
Tarpoon Lagoon Dive Center (PADI
S-11244)
300 Alton Road, Miami Beach FL 33139
 Valerie
Kevorkian (NAUI 12041) opened the PADI 5-Star Tarpoon Lagoon Dive Center at the
Miami Beach Marina in 1997. It was, and remains, Miami Beach's only waterfront
dive center with a 2004 Newton 46' custom built dive boat departing just feet
from the store. The Dive Center has gone from strength to strength over the
years and continues to provide a range of products from Aqualung, Seaquest,
Cressi, Scubapro, Suunto, Bauer and others. PADI dive classes for novices to
Assistant Instructors begin regularly in our on-site classroom and outdoor pool
in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
Mike Kevorkian (NAUI 449)
Mike Kevorkian, who made his first scuba dive in the late
1940’s, loved people and diving. To try to list all his life accomplishments
would fill more than the pages of this entire magazine, wrote Tom & Patti
Mount in 1988 shortly after Mike’s death. A graduate of the University
of
Miami
with a Master’s degree in Science, Newsweek
Magazine voted him ‘Outstanding Teacher of 1959’ for programs in
underwater science education. Mike was the first ‘Mr. Wizard’ and produced
650 live programs for Miami’s Channel 2, becoming the nation’s first science television education
teacher. His series on marine flora and fauna was featured in Newsweek Magazine. In 1963, he became NAUI Instructor 0449L.
In the dive business, Mike Kevorkian was an innovator. An
avid spearfisherman in the early days, he developed the Tarpoon CO2 speargun, an
effective weapon for hunting fish. After 22 years of teaching, Mike retired to
devote full time to his diving activities and the Tarpoon
Diving
Center
he opened in 1952. It remains, to this day, the oldest dive shop in
Florida
to continue to operate under original ownership. He was coordinator of the
first underwater film festival in Florida, was responsible for one of Jacques
Cousteau’s first U.S. public appearances, and was an important early supporter
of John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, America’s first underwater marine
park. He was also instrumental in having the Christ of the Abysses Statue placed
in the waters off
Key Largo
in 1965 and helped choose the site for the location of the statue, carefully
studying the angle of the sun and the nearby corals. With the efforts of Captain
Spencer Slate, a bronze plaque was placed on the base of the Christ Statue in
1988 commemorating Mike Kevorkian’s ardent involvement in Keys diving.
Mike’s work was a landmark to diving. A believer in high
standards and safety, his pioneering work contributed greatly to the integrity
of diver training on national and local levels. Mike served on the board of
directors of NAUI and was South Atlantic Branch Manager. He earned NAUI’s
Outstanding Service Award and Continuing Service Awards for efforts in
underwater excellence. He was inducted into the NAUI Hall of Fame in 1991 and
the DEMA Hall of Fame in 2002.
Valerie Kevorkian (NAUI
12041)
 Valerie Kevorkian biography.
Stephanie Wilson (PADI OWSI-)
Stephanie Wilson biography.
Jake Shekels (NAUI 44066)
 Jake,
a third generation NAUI Instructor, is the grandson of Mike Kevorkian and son of
Valerie Kevorkian. Jake's roles within the organization are to run the Tarpoon
Skin Diving Center and as an Instructor. His immense experience gained from
years at the dive shop and diving & spearfishing in South Florida and The Keys is self-evident.
Jake is also undertaking his Bachelors Degree in Business Management. Oh, and
this is a picture of Jake's shadow!
Rodolfo Cotto de Jesus (PADI IDCS-165246)
Rudy biography.
Ron Griswold (PADI IDCS-172977)
Ron Griswold biography.
Galba Barros Brandao (PADI
MSDT-168416)
Galba Brandao biography.
David Kayden (PADI MSDT-171834)
David Kayden biography.
Geoff Sutcliffe (PADI OWSI-108658)
 Geoff has origins in South Africa and, most recently, Australia.
Until the end of 2000, he lived in Townsville, North Queensland, in the middle
of the Great Barrier Reef, where he taught for ProDive and organized trips for students at the
James Cook University. He is now a professor in the Department of Computer
Science at the University of Miami (UM). His main area of research is Automated
Theorem Proving ... but when he's not doing that he's diving! Geoff is the
Faculty advisor at the UM SCUBA Club and, on occasion, he instructs at
Tarpoon Lagoon. Geoff's favorite local dive is 'The Pipes' at night, and,
when overseas, the SS Yongala on the Great Barrier Reef.
Debbie Wetzel (PADI OWSI-187349)
Debbie was born and raised in Miami, Florida. She learned about scuba diving through
Mike Kevorkian, her 4th grade teacher, and started diving shortly after.
Eventually she got certified and enjoyed sport diving with her family for about
25 years. Debbie has been a private school Principal for the past 20 years and,
in 2004, finally decided to share her diving experience and knowledge with
others by becoming a PADI Instructor ... as her fun job! She has traveled and
dived all over the Caribbean and still greatly enjoys diving Miami and the
Florida Keys. She plans to dive in Micronesia, the Galapagos Islands, and
Australia in the next couple of years.
Thomas Druck (PADI OWSI-188839)
 Tom was born and raised in Munich, Germany. After
being cold for most of the first two and a half decades of his life, he decided
to shed his winter clothing and moved to Miami in 1998. Due to the lack of snow
and mountains around Florida, his love for snow skiing had to be put "on
ice" and replaced by a more locally accessible activity. Having always
loved the Ocean, as well as nature and wildlife, it was an easy decision to take
up scuba diving. He first got certified in 2001 and liked it so much that he
decided to turn his hobby into a part time profession by getting his PADI
instructor rating in 2004. When not at his
day job, or out on the water, he can often be found at various local bars,
tasting multiple flavors of beer....imported beer of course. You can take the
boy out of Germany, but you can't ...... you get it.
Captain Robert 'RJ' Arnove
RJ biography.
Captain Mike Beach (PADI MSDT-)
 Mike is one of the most knowledgeable captains in the Miami area,
a captain for Black Beards Cruises and co-owner of our dive boat, the Big
Com-Ocean. Born and
raised in Baltimore, MD (USA), Mike completed a Bachelors degree before working
on dive charter boats as a SCUBA instructor between Miami and the Bahamas.
Gaining a United States Coast Guard (USCG) Master’s license, he subsequently
worked as a captain, marine technician, SCUBA Instructor, and underwater
archaeologist while earning a Masters degree from the University of Miami’s
Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS). Mike then spent 4
years in Scotland at the University of St. Andrews working towards a PhD in
maritime history and underwater archaeology.
Captain Robert Doyle (PADI )
Robert Doyle biography.
Captain Richard Fuller
Richard was born in England, grew
up as a farm boy in Cornwall, received a Masters Degree from the University of
Dundee and lived in Scotland's Outer Hebrides before going to sea as a crewman
on privately owned yachts. Richard learnt to dive out of necessity to further
his career opportunities and, making the most of those opportunities, he cruised
from the Seychelles to Saba and Monaco to Massachusetts, diving when possible.
Over time Richard obtained his British Master's license and became the Captain
of a 192-ft (58-m) private yacht. But it was no way to live (!) and Richard has
settled here in Miami to join the Tarpoon team. He should be finishing his PADI
Divemaster certification soon ... but we've been saying that for a while now!
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