Sandia Snorkel and Scuba     http://www.SandiaSnorkel.com   2430 Alamo Ave. SE - Suite 101, Albuquerque, NM    87106 Monday thru Friday 10 AM to 6:30 PM - Sat/Sun. Please call Ahead   Phone:  (505)  AIR-TODAY  or  247-8632 Find Your Way Through Our Easy To Navigate Menu CLASSES CALENDAR eSTORE SERVICES PLACES LINKS INFO HOME Welcome F.A.Q. Phone # Where Lodging Altitude Check List Food Staff Air QC Signals Flags

T´was the Year of the Dragon - 1940, when I was born.

My first exposure to diving must have been around 1949, at a regional fair in my home town of Malmö, Sweden. AGA was exhibiting an under-water gas welding operation in a big glass display tank. I was impressed. The welder-diver was cutting thick steel plate with a torch and then welding the pieces together again. A few years later, one of my friends had gotten a hold of a little oxygen cylinder with a Carbon dioxide scrubber canister. His father worked for the Malmö fire brigade, and these units were used by their "Smoke-Divers." As both of us were very active swimmers, we could not help try it out under water. We didn´t have a clue of how or why it worked. Our pre- and early teen curiosity were further satisfied with garden hoses, bicycle compressors and other makeshift equipment to make us stay under water. From there, sketchy memories of reading about many of the early names in diving.

After graduating from a technical college in Sweden in 1961, I moved to the U.S.A. Enrolled at Wake Forest College, Winston-Salem, NC and learned, among other things how to become a champion "Watermelon Seed Spitter" and to my dismay, would not be allowed to ride in same area of the busses as my friends.

A year later I went to work for Hercules Powder Company and moved to British Honduras. The memories of the devastating Hurricane Hattie plaugued the country With disposable income, memories of some of the last installments of the Sea Hunt series on television and opportunities galore, it didn´t take long before diving was on my mind as a past time in this wonderful little paradise of a colony. A quick letter to AGA in Sweden bought a complete SCUBA package. The compressor similarly, came directly from Bauer in Germany. On one of my trips up to Brunswick, GA, I purchased a Dacor double hose regulator with cylinder and backpack. This was Scuba Diving with absolutely no other instructions than what the service manuals provided. I enjoyed every bit of it though, the 200 - 300 lbs. sea turtles, the manatees, and the abundance of pretty fishes.

A few happy years later in my life, New Mexico became my home. The compressor, I left behind in British Honduras. Some of the rest of the equipment is still in my possession, but most of it slowly disappeared as time went by. I did not, even in my wildest imagination, guess that one could scuba dive in New Mexico.

As a student at University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, NM, I worked myself through college as a FAA Certified Instrument Flight Instructor. I don´t really remember if I was more interested in flying or studying mechanical engineering. If I was not teaching flying fixed wing airplanes, gliders and engine powered alike, I was working on my parachuting and ballooning skills. FAA awarded me the title Designated Flight Safety Sentinel.

As an aircraft owner and pilot, I became fascinated with flying the northern Atlantic. My little single engine Cessna 172 (SE-ELW) took me over Greenland to Europe and back. Computers started to fascinate me, and in between flying and studying, I became a teaching aid at the University of New Mexico for computer programing and operation.

I earned a degree in Mechanical Engineer and went to work for Dow Chemical Company. The company moved me to Freeport Texas. As a community involvement, I became a Junior Achievement Advisor and was teaching high school students on how to set up and run corporations. Although I brought my plane with me, the income generator of instructing pilots for 3,500 hours came to a natural end during my capacity within Dow Chemical Company.

Soon enough, the company sent me overseas and most of my years with Dow Chemical Company were spent in various countries of Europe. I made good use of the language skills that I carried with me. One significant technological patent was granted in my name, while working in the Styrofoam production area of Dow Chemical Company. When the recession hit the chemical industry in 1982, I was a technical manager and decided to retire from industry.

I moved back to Albuquerque, NM with Maria, my wife and Cal our son. I enrolled at the Anderson School of Business within the University of New Mexico. This gave me a great background. We started a computer service and sales company that we successfully operated for 15 years with 7 employees.

Our son Cal wanted to take up the sport of Scuba Diving. He had no knowledge of my background interest in scuba diving. By the time he came to me with a proposal, he had researched the subject thoroughly and ...... If, I would join him as his buddy in the PADI Open Water Diver Course, the course fees would be waived ........ IF, I bought some equipment. The company was Water-sports, Inc. and the Instructor team were Morys "Peaches" Hines PADI CD-3604 and Darlene Maxwell PADI MI-8000 The best in the field. Both with more than 20 years with PADI. The Open Water Training Dives were in our Blue Hole in Santa Rosa, NM

From there on, PADI instructors Glede Holman, Kyle Bayless, Karen and Ralph Erickson shaped my way through the IDC (Instructor Development Course) and the IE (Instructor Examination) and then onward to IDC Staff and Master Instructor.

On a separate note, my daughter Cristina became a diver in Sweden and has since turned in to an accomplished technical diver

The city of Albuquerque planned an Aquarium, and as a family of divers, we became involved as Charter Members in The Albuquerque Aquarium Association. Thanks to the great effort of all the charter members and their involvement in various fund-raising activities, donations and just plain hard work, it has become a fantastic asset to the community.

The computer industry turned computers into a commodity. We started laying off our employees of many years and Sandia Snorkel and Scuba, Inc. became a reality. We incorporated in the summer of 1997. The computers slowly but surely got replaced by scuba diving gear. Encouraged by Morys "Peaches" Hines, now retired from the scuba business that he had operated for 25 years, we pushed on. The walls with peg-boards full of computer cables and printer ribbons were transformed into more professional slat-walls and replenished with scuba gadgets. Soon enough we became a PADI 5-Star Dive Center.

Maria, who had been an assistant instructor and a great service technician for some time, took the big step and became an instructor in her own right.

Cal, our son, another great service technician, became a Divemaster, helping his parents in the business.

When the year 2000 rolled around, I became interested in becoming a Course Director within PADI. My application was approved and after a lot of background work, I arrived at the next level of my career within scuba diving.

Click Here For

Copyright © 1997-2008 http://www.SandiaSnorkel.com

Click Here To