diventrips.com - Our Staff

Dive N Trips' Staff

Gene Battaglia, Dive N Trips Owner:

Can you believe that it has been two years already, since we’ve opened the doors to the store? I want to wish each and everyone of you a big “Thank You!” for making us a huge success! It has been so much easier to conduct training, sales and all the fun stuff we do, out of a location other than my house! As the owner of Dive N Trips, I am looking forward to getting you involved with us and our wonderful sport. We will keep you diving, learning and traveling the world, exploring awesome dive sites in the Underwater World!

As far as who I am, here are just a few highlights:

Bachelors of Arts degree in Recreation Administration from Cal State Sacramento
Certificate in Training and Human Development from UC Berkeley
Retired Police Officer from East Bay Regional Park District
Scuba Instructor since 1988
PADI Course Director (Instructor Trainer) since 1994
Certified over 2,000+ students
Former Chief of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department Dive Team
Public Safety Diving Instructor Trainer
PSD Trainer for several municipalities including:

San Francisco Police Department

Alameda County Sheriff’s Department EOD Dive Team

San Francisco Fire Department

Designed, developed and implemented a dive instruction program at Cal State University, Monterey Bay
Past Senior Instructor for the US Army Defense Language Institute at the Presidio of Monterey
Owned and Operated Institute of Diving Technology out of our house since 1994
Developed strategic partnerships with other PADI Instructor Development Centers throughout the State of California
Offer Instructor training programs through these IDC Centers
Technical Diving Instructor and Instructor Trainer

Dorothy Battaglia, Dive N Trips Owner:

Well, it has been two years since we opened! Can you believe it! Time does fly when you are having fun. It has been great meeting new people, making friends and be part of the process whereby we get to introduce people to the underwater world. Not only oceans, but lakes and rivers! To coin an old phrase – It is totally awesome dude!

We now have a Dive Club, Venture Crew (Boy Scouts), Seal Team Club, annual activities and diving events like the recently completed Coastal Clean up Day. We have kids of all ages learning about our environment and what amazes me – is that they already know and understand so much. It is really exciting to see the growth and potential of these young people. They are truly the leaders of not only theirs but our future.

This is a personal invitation to join me on our many adventures! We need to keep on Imagining the Possibilities!

John (Master Yoda) Day, PADI IDC Staff Instructor:

John’s favorite diving is Night Diving and Altitude Diving. He loves to hoover and listen to the shrimp when they are chatting. He also likes Dry Suit Diving because he enjoys staying nice and warm and dry!

John enjoy’s teaching EFR and Hazardous marine life classes. John started diving with the Military. He has been diving as a professional with PADI for the last 5 years.

John has experience diving in the Monterey Bay Sanctuary. As an Instructor, John is able to teach quite a few specialties and looks forward to Altitude diving.

Rick Seifert, PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer:
Rick enjoys interacting with the local sea life when he is diving. He really enjoys interacting with various seagoing mammals.

Teaching students and broadening their experiences is a close second. Rick enjoys teaching because it all about sharing experiences and increasing perspective, both for the student, and the teacher. He really enjoys assisting someone in developing their skills and cognitive thinking processes.

Rick really enjoys diving in Mexico. His favorite place to dive is in and around Cabo. The sea life is plentiful, the visibility is good, the people are friendly, and the beer is reasonable. It’s also a change of pace to dive in swim trunks and a tee shirt. During Rick’s, last dive in Cabo, he had the good fortune to swim with over a 1000 plus rays that were in a school about 500 yards from the Cabo arch.

Rick would like you to remember that all of your dives are a learning experience and are something very special that cannot be replicated on land. During any dive remember to relax and leave the 8 to 5 world behind. Those who don’t dive are missing 2/3rds of what the world has to offer!

Rick started diving back in 1967 and still owns his original Clasps J regulator and Healthways backpack. Rick’s first dive was at Silver Lake which was a mountain lake on Highway 88 at about 7300 feet. This was before BCD's and SPGs. Rick finally became certified as a PADI Open Water Diver in 1976.

Dale Stone, PADI IDC Staff Instructor:
Dale has been diving since 1994 and a PADI professional since 1995. Dale has logged almost 1000 dives with the overwhelming majority in the Monterey Bay Sanctuary.

Dale’s favorite diving is night diving. It is so cool to see your favorite dive site transform from the daytime to night. The day creatures hide and go to sleep and the night creatures come out. Dale loves finding octopus camouflaged in the sand. He might even put one on your mask.

Dale loves to teach Open Water classes and see his students develop and overcome the challenges. He can’t wait to see the excitement on his students faces when they complete their dives in Monterey. He also loves to share the importance of being a good steward to the environment especially the oceans. Dale has certified students from the ages of 10 years old thru 82 years young.

Dale loves staying warm and dry in his dry suit and loves to teach this specialty. He is a big whimp when it comes to cold water.

As an IDC Staff Instructor, Dale can teach Open Water thru Assistant Instructor and can teach many specialties. Dale assists Gene in the preparation for new Open Water Instructors to take their exam.

Dale is also a Public Safety Diver for the Alameda County Sheriffs Office and assists Gene with diver training for that challenging and often dangerous environment.

Greg Varvell, PADI IDC Staff Instructor:

Greg started diving in 1992 and became an PADI Instructor in 1994. He says”it was a good excuse to go diving every weekend!”

In those 16 years he has taught for two dive shops in the East Bay and held classes in Hawaii, Mexico and Bonaire. Greg can teach most of PADI’s specialties classes. Greg has managed one dive shop and was part owner of another in the Bay Area for several years.

Greg loves to dive in the Caribbean and has lead several dive trips to many Caribbean dive locations. Greg also loves to dive the Channel Island in southern California and for the past 5 years has chartered the Conception for a yearly 3 day Live aboard trip.

One of Greg’s passions is Equipment repair. Greg is certified to repair most brands of SCUBA equipment and enjoys teaching the PADI Equipment Specialist class whenever possible.

Greg’s favorite in water dives are Search and Recovery. “Not only is it a fun class to teach, I always seem to find thing other dives lose”.

“Teaching Open Water to new student is by far my favorite class. Introducing people to the wonders the oceans holds, and ensuring that new students learn to dive safely and responsibly is extremely rewarding for me. I just love to teach SCUBA.”

Modify Website