The Ocean Is My Passion:
I can remember as a small child growing up in Southern California the waves crashing against my legs, the salty air I’d breath into my lungs and looking out over the Pacific Ocean wondering what lay beneath the surface. One day while waiting in the doctors office for one of those nasty needles they'd stick you with to prevent an outbreak of some global pandemic, and looking at the fish tank. Not really looking at it but looking into it, deep into it and watching the fish swim around a fake sunken ship with a treasure chest close by opening up every few seconds to reales a small burst of bubbles. I’d see small coins stacked in piles just before the top of the chest closed. It was fascinating. I imagined how cool it would be to shrink myself small and dive in that tank with all the fish swimming around me as I explored the inside and outside of the toy shipwreck.
“Some day,” I told myself, “I am going to be a diver and explore the vastness of the blue ocean with all its amazing fish life and haunting wrecks.”
Years later when I took my first breath underwater I was hooked. I loved just being able to breath underwater. It was a sensation like nothing I had ever felt before. All my problems and stress slipped away and I was at peace when I dived. I decided I wanted to share my passion with other people so I became an open water scuba instructor.
Thus my journey began and it’s been one wild ride. I have over 5,000 dives, give or take. And have certified divers from all over the world. I Started teaching diving in a small dive shop in Irvine CA. called Liburdi's Scuba Center in 1993. From there I left the rat race and moved to the United States Virgin Islands and worked on St. Thomas and St. Croix. After a few nasty hurricanes I jumped on a plane to Aruba where I worked for Pelican Watersports.
I married one of my students towards the end of my island hopping hiatus. I now live a good distance from the salt water in Duluth, Minnesota with my wife Lori and two daughters Miraeya and Maddie. We get back to the ocean when we can and I still teach diving when I want to. I've already taken my young girls in the pool on scuba and they love it. "Dad, when I'm twelve, I want you to take me shark diving in the Bahamas," my oldest daughter Miraeya told me. That brought a great big smile to my face.
I'm not too sure why, but I had to write this book. I really can't explain it but there was something inside, a burning desire, to write my story. So I did.
“Some day,” I told myself, “I am going to be a diver and explore the vastness of the blue ocean with all its amazing fish life and haunting wrecks.”
Years later when I took my first breath underwater I was hooked. I loved just being able to breath underwater. It was a sensation like nothing I had ever felt before. All my problems and stress slipped away and I was at peace when I dived. I decided I wanted to share my passion with other people so I became an open water scuba instructor.
Thus my journey began and it’s been one wild ride. I have over 5,000 dives, give or take. And have certified divers from all over the world. I Started teaching diving in a small dive shop in Irvine CA. called Liburdi's Scuba Center in 1993. From there I left the rat race and moved to the United States Virgin Islands and worked on St. Thomas and St. Croix. After a few nasty hurricanes I jumped on a plane to Aruba where I worked for Pelican Watersports.
I married one of my students towards the end of my island hopping hiatus. I now live a good distance from the salt water in Duluth, Minnesota with my wife Lori and two daughters Miraeya and Maddie. We get back to the ocean when we can and I still teach diving when I want to. I've already taken my young girls in the pool on scuba and they love it. "Dad, when I'm twelve, I want you to take me shark diving in the Bahamas," my oldest daughter Miraeya told me. That brought a great big smile to my face.
I'm not too sure why, but I had to write this book. I really can't explain it but there was something inside, a burning desire, to write my story. So I did.