Meet Our Staff
Jack Aaron

The man behind Aaron's Dive Shop. Jack has owned and operated Aaron's Dive Shop for 35 years. He is known as the 'Instructor to the Stars.' After his work on the "LOST" set, Dominic Monaghan (plays Charlie on 'Lost' tv series and was Pipin in Lord of the Rings) and Evangline Lilly (plays Kate on 'Lost' tv series) came in to take their Open Water Course at Aaron's.

Recently Jack worked on the set of Ultimate Survival a popular British tv series. He was the show's water coordinator/producer responsible for water safety, hiring of the boats, hiring of support staff and finding the set locations. They went to the fantastic locations of Lanai Lookout, Blow Hole, Turtle Bay, Shark Cages outside of Haleiwa and the Mokumanu Islands.

Currently Jack is working on a commercial for a major national company invovling water shots.


Randy - Floor Manager

Locally born and grown, Randy is our resident shop guy. Is it broken? Randy can fix it. Want to go diving? Randy can book it. Have a question about fishing in Hawaii? Randy can answer it. Son of Jack Aaron? No... but he sure gets called that a lot! He spent some time on the mainland getting an economics degree from Willamette University before the Hawaiian oceans called him home. He is a water boy enjoying surfing, fishing and diving. He is a certified mechanic and a boat captain. Recently Randy was instrumental in captaining one of the boats for the crew filming Ultimate Survival. When asked what he wanted posted on his bio, he said, "Well, I'm single and I own my own boat!" There you go ladies!

Jeff - IDC Staff Instructor
Born and raised in Santa Barbara, Jeff moved to hawaii seeking warm waters to dive in. He started off at Aarons 6 years ago as a Divemaster and has since become a PADI Staff Instructor, Naui and SSI instructor, Technical Diving Instructor and a DanO2 instructor. Whew! His next diving aspiration is to become a Tri-Mix instructor. PLUS he works for the Nature Conservancy in Palmyra getting to go there a couple times a year to guide divers. Jeff lives diving so much he goes diving when he is on vacation, recently spending three weeks in Thailand diving. Besides diving, Jeff is a very accomplished musician and a great cook. His favorite classes to teach are the Wreck Specialty and Technical Diving. This is the man who certified Dominic Monaghan and Evangeline Lilly, as well as former astronaut Buzz Aldrin's son!


Melanie - MSDT Instructor

This young lady comes all the way from Munich Germany. She did a lot of snorkeling there but decided there must be something better than murky cold water. She came to Hawaii attending school. A lot of her new found friends were divers, so she took a class. From there she met Divemaster (at the time) Jeff - yes the same Jeff listed above - and the rest is history. They are now married, and Melanie is now one of our instructors. She is also a DanO2 & Emergency First Responder Instructor as well as a National Registry First Responder. She is a technical diver and appeared as a Selma Hyak's stunt double in a diving scene for the movie After the Sunset! If that isn't enough, she owns a dance studio teaching Irish Dancing (jigthishawaii@yahoo.com) and is working toward her Tri-Mix Diving, EMT Basic AND Diving Medical Technician certifications. PLUS this gal knows a lot about the unique Hawaiian marine life - the Naturalist Specialty being her favorite class to teach.

Darren- Director of Training & Operations

Born in Colombo Sri Lanka, and now making New Zealand his home, this "adventure junkie" was born to be a diver. Diving since he was 10, coming from a long line of divers before him - being from New Zealand, must have been hard for a young lad to endure! Well endure he has. His credentials include: Padi Master Instructor, 20 Padi specialties incl Archeology, TEC Rebreather Instructor, EFR Instructor, MFA Instructor, DAN Instructor, Dan O2 Instructor and a Padi O2 Instructor. If that isn't enough, he is headed to Malaysia next year to complete his Course Director training and testing! Where do you go from there? We shall wait and see. Meanwhile he is here in Hawaii on holiday, and is a guest instructor for us at Aaron's! What is he doing when he isn't diving? "Anything that involves speed and cars" he says with a smile that seems to always be on his face!


Jeff - Instructor & Sales

If you ask this gregarious chap where he is from he will say (take a deep breath) - Pennsylvania, Boston, Myrtle Beach, Charleston, Daytona Beach, Lake Tahoe, Dutch Harbor .... to name a few. He calls this his 'wander list'!. This guy likes to travel. BUT his diving career started while bartending in Florida. One of his customers was an instructor and took Jeff on a Discover Scuba Dive in the Gulf of Mexico. Six months later Jeff moved to Thailand for an 8 month internship and stayed on for two years working as an instructor there. Now he is here enjoying spear fishing, and exploring new dive sites with Randy on their days off. This is also a rugby player and a three time all American wrestler from Pennsylvania State University, so you know you are in safe hands while diving with him!
Jason - IDC Staff Instructor
This young man comes to Aaron's ororiginaly from Jacksonville Fl but calls the States home as his father traveled often being in the military. He started diving in 1997 when he was given a scuba class as a wedding gift from his brother. He dove sporadically until 2001 when he dove wrecks and reefs in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It was there that his interest in diving was re-kindled. While his wife was on deployment, he became a divemaster and an instructor in Islamorada, Fl to pass away the lonely hours. He taught in Jacksonville while learning to cave dive. Then moved on to lake and river diving in San Antonio before moving to Hawaii. Somewhere along the lines, he has managed to get in a BS degree from Excelsior College, and an MBA from Regis University, as well as a devoted husband and father of 2.
Kirsty - MSDT Instructor & Military Sales
This is our international gal! She was born in Australia and raised in New Zealand, and England, and Hong Kong. She graduated from Duke University and ended up working for MTV with their marketing department in New York. Boy can she tell you some stories. She decided to pack in all in for 'peace of mind' and headed to Honduras for 2 years working as a divemaster. Now she is an instructor with Aaron's and in charge of the military sales. She recently married one of Aaron's former instructors, so we think she is staying put in Hawaii now! ... and she had the BEST wedding reception ever!


Dennis - Divemaster

Born in the small town of Hampton, SC. First certified to dive at 16, that was 19 years ago (I guess he revealed his age with that one). Started diving in the Florida Keys, Crystal River and the Florida Springs. Did huge amounts of black water artifact diving in the dark waters of the Cooper and Morgan Rivers of Charleston and Beaufort, SC. Joined the U.S. Marine Corps at 19 years old which has allowed him to dive all over the world. The Marine Corps is also what brought him to Hawaii. He figured there are worse places in the world to be stationed for the next 4 years. He spent 3 years working as a Divemaster at Aqua Dive Center while stationed in Beaufort, South Carolina. He has worked at Aaron's Dive Shop since March 2006.

Kama - Sales & Floor Support Staff
Diving has been a part of her life always, as her whole family are divers, well Mom is an avid diving supporter. She has been diving since she was 12 doing many diving vacations with her family. She did her Advanced and Rescue class in St John's, and has also dove in Cancun, Rocky Point and the Dominican Republic. She is working on her Divemaster now and enjoys the opportunity of sharing the whole diving experience with her family, especially now that she is turning PRO! She loves teaching, recently teaching leadership education in school and working with various organizations to help provide and teach kids positive after school activities. How did she come to Aaron's and start her Divemaster training? Her car broke down one afternoon, so she went to Starbucks to wait for the repairs. Across the street she saw Aaron's dive shop and wandered in! Now she is one of us!


Arnie - Instructor

Born and raised in New York City, Arnie eventually moved to Hawaii to retire—again. He has already retired from the US Army and from a US National Laboratory, where he was a staff physicist. Need help with the PADI dive physics questions? (He is currently working on his third retirement.) Arnie began diving for Aaron’s in 1999 as an Assistant Instructor and has since become a PADI Master Instructor, SSI Divecon Specialist Instructor, DAN Instructor (four courses), and UDT Technical Diving Instructor (all levels through Trimix training). He also teaches Emergency First Response as well as the professional-level CPR and First Aid course for the American Red Cross. As you might imagine, Arnie really likes teaching classes—especially scuba diving classes. Like many of the staff, Arnie also takes busman’s holidays, his last being two weeks at Bikini Atoll diving on the wrecks from the U.S. atomic tests in the Pacific. An avid underwater photographer (digital and film) Arnie’s images show up on the Aaron website from time to time.
Roz - Sales Staff & PADI Divemaster
Springing up from Kissimmee Florida... with a start like that you have to expect some amazing things from her! And Roz doesn't let us down. (Kissimmee is also the home of Disney World). She took her first scuba course in Gainsville while attending college. Her parents were divers, so she wanted to join them on their next dive trip! Once college was finished, just on a whim, she packed up and came to Hawaii (her brother was already here) where she was a math teacher for Intermediate school kids. But she has been there, done that. We find her at Aaron's while she is looking for the next career. Meanwhile this young lady finds time to train for triathlons! Last summer she ran the Tinman, her first triathalon. She came very close to placing. Encouraged by her success, she continues to train with the goal of doing the 'Honu' in June. This Big Island event is a 1 mile swim, 55 mile bikeride and 1/2 marathon run! WOW! Good luck Roz!


Kirsten - PADI IDC Staff Instructor and Webmaster Extraordinaire

This local grown gal does our website, teaches diving and tries to throw her 5 foot stature around the tennis court. She came to Aaron's first when she was about 5 (or so) when her Dad came into the shop to have tanks filled. She left to the mainland after graduating from high school because she had heard that folks could drive for 7 hours at a time! WOW! Living in the middle of the Tucson desert (one huge beach waiting for the big one in CA so it becomes ocean front) she decided to get herself certified. She tends to do things the hard way, doing all the training and fun dives in San Carlos Mexico. Getting tired of waiting for the ocean to come to Tucson, she came back to the islands, and Aaron's to finish up her Instructor training, and well she doesn't seem to be leaving any time soon.
Diego - PADI Instructor

Born and raised within an Italian family in Buenos Aires, he decided to start traveling the world when he was 18. Inspired by the Aquatrons, he has explored the world beneath the oceans for more than ten years. From the San Juan Islands to Belize, the mysterious cenotes of Mexico, glamorous Ibiza of Spain, the famous Similan Islands of Thailand and the murky Hudson River of New York City. Nevertheless, his heart remains with the vast and untouched oceans of his home at the southern most point of the Americas: Patagonia. He is an accomplished underwater photographer and videographer, and those are his favorite specialties to teach.


Elizabeth - Sales Staff

Born in Wisconsin, but moved around a lot growing up. So she also calls Nebraska, Colorado and Hawaii home. She came to Hawaii when she was 18 as a vacation.. and well she is still here! She is attending HPU studying - take a big breath - International Relations, with a minor in Spanish and another minor in Writing. Whew! Then in all her FREE time she is hoping to become a dive instructor. She loves to surf, hang out at the beach (no doubt checking out the cute surfer boys) and logging dives. Her goal in the long run is to work for a non-profit organization in foreign affairs.
Amanda - Shop Staff and Divemaster Candidate

Amanda is the newest edition to Aaron's Dive Shop. She hails from Texas, where she attended Texas A&M University (Amanda always follows this with a "Whoop!") and majored in Marine Biology. While in Texas, Amanda worked at Sea World as an animal trainer with the likes of Shamu and the Beluga Whales. But that's not her true claim to fame. She's the only person we know who's come in truly close contact with a stingray. So much so, that she had to have her new best friend peeled off her derriere. So, remember to bring your camera next time you go diving with Amanda...you never know what you'll see!

You'll find Amanda's smiling face in the store and out on our boats, as she's busily working towards her divemaster professional rating.