The man behind Aaron's Dive Shop, Jack has owned and operated Aaron's Dive Shop for the past 40 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.

Jack is always around the shop or working on a TV/commercial shoot. Otherwise, you'll find him on the tennis courts, handily taking care of most of his challengers (as Ty...one of our DMCs recently discovered). Click here to see Jack Aaron's last dive

In 1997 while living in Guam Branwen discovered the fantastic world of scuba diving. In 2001 Branwen received her dive master certification and realized her love for the underwater world went further than just diving. Her hope was to one day become a PADI scuba instructor and share her love with others. In 2005 Branwen did just that and didn't stop until she received her Master Scuba Diver Trainer certification. Branwen had the wonderful opportunity of working in the Aquatics department for Cirque du Soliel at the Bellagio Hotel, Las Vegas as part of the production "O". After teaching in Las Vegas and Colorado, Branwen was thrilled to move to Oahu and become part of Aaron's team of Instructors. Their dedication to professionalism and high standards was the perfect match and just a year later she accepted the position as Manager. Branwen is thrilled to be living her dream. Click here to see Branwen's last dive

Larry became certified in 1972 in the cold dark waters of La Jolla, California. He came to Hawaii in 1987 with the military and started his professional dive career with Jack and Aaron's Dive Shop as a Divemaster in 1988 and Instructor in 1990. Larry left Hawaii to explore the world via the military but he couldn't keep away for long. In 1996, as a Course Director, Larry trained his first Open Water SCUBA Instructor right here at Aaron's Dive Shop. We are happy that Larry has returned to the Aaron's `ohana, now as our Director of Training ... and Head Pooba of all things diving. He is intent on helping divers realize what a precious resource our underwater world is, and teaching them to dive responsibly. Larry gets a little artsy when talking about his love of diving...he loves the colors, the three dimensionality of movement, the whale songs traveling through his body, laughing at dolphins squeaking, and eavesdropping on lobsters gossiping. Topside, Larry is married and a father of 4, with a love for sci-fi and writing his own poetry.

Originally certified in his native Puerto Rico, Pedro has navigated a lot of cold water to find his way to the beautiful island of Oahu. After diving the Florida Coast, Pedro moved to Wisconsin to complete his Instructor training. He established himself as a leader and became the General Manager of his local dive shop. When the allure of warm water became too much, he packed a storage container with nonessentials and dragged his dive gear out to Hawaii to join us at Aaron's Dive Shop. Pedro is usually in the shop, but if you look close he may pop up on your boat from time to time. Click here to see Pedro's last dive

Kit learned to dive while getting her bachelor's degree in 1996, in the cold waters of the Great Lakes of New York State. She hated the cold & didn't enjoy the mucky diving that much, but was preparing to go to the Bahamas to study Marine Biology and needed to know how to dive. When she got to the islands and did her first open-ocean dives in the crystal clear warm waters, her life was forever changed! She later moved to Florida and worked for a dive operator there for several years and got her Divemaster certification in the Florida Keys. Kit became part of the Aaron's team when she moved to O'ahu in September 2008 - becoming an Open Water SCUBA Instructor in December 2008, and a Master SCUBA Diver Trainer in October 2010. Kit says the best part of her job is seeing the thrill in the eyes of the new divers she trains & feeding off of their excitement! She is passionate about ocean conservation & has organized several beach/reef clean-ups for Aaron's over the years. Click here to see Kit's last dive

Elyssa learned to SCUBA dive at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Project DEEP may have been an easy four credits Freshman year, but her new found passion inspired her to change her major and then change her major again ... and again. Elyssa continued to learn from Project DEEP making dozens of trips to Sunny Key Largo from Massachusetts, these thirty hour drives are fondly referred to as hell rides. Elyssa broke into the biz at Cape Ann Divers in Gloucester, Mass. We hear they hired her because she wouldn't leave, like that stray dog they fed once. After graduating, it was thought best that Elyssa flee the country, before UMASS realized the mistake they made awarding her a degree. She found refuge in an isolated corner of The Bahamas where she helped with coral reef research at Cape Eleuthera Institute. Elyssa is a NAUI Divemaster and a PADI Instructor and we are happy to see her in a management role with Aaron's Dive Shop.  Click here to see Elyssa's last dive

Jeff has been with Aaron's Dive Shop for over 10 years. He is a PADI Master Instructor, DSAT Technical and Trimix Instructor, as well as a Technical Wreck Diving Instructor, NAUI Instructor, SSI Dive Control Specialist Instructor and DAN Instructor. Jeff has certified over 700 people from Open Water to Technical Diver and Assistant Instructor. He is a NOAA trained Medical Person in Charge and an Advanced Diving Medical Technician.

In his spare time, he works as a DMT at The Hyperbaric Treatment Center, and has worked a as Diving Safety Officer on films and television and on expeditions with The Nature Conservancy, National Geographic, the BBC and CH2M Hill.

He and his wife Melanie were also part of the 2nd expedition to identify the Tottori Maru, 245' deep in the Gulf of Thailand.

Originally from Santa Barbara, CA, Jeff grew up sailing, diving, free-diving and surfing the Channel Islands and the California coast.

 Click here to see Jeff's last dive

Melanie moved to Hawaii from Munich, Germany to study marine biology. She got her degree from HPU and started working for Aarons 8 years ago.

She is a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer, Dsat Technical Instructor and Trimix diver as well as a DAN o2 Instructor, EFR Instructor and National Registry First Responder.

She has worked as a stunt double - playing Selma Hyak's double in the movie 'After the Sunset' . She also works as safety diver on films. She and her husband Jeff (lead instructor here at Aaron's) were part of the 2nd expedition to the Tottori Maru in the Gulf of Thailand. She was the first woman to dive the Tottori Maru at 245ʻ deep.

Melanie has certified over 500 people with Aaron's at every level from open water up to technical diver and divemaster. Click here to see Melanie's last dive

Born and raised in New York City, Arnie eventually moved to Hawaii to retire -- again. He has already retired three times: from the US Army and from a US National Laboratory, where he was a staff physics -- need help with the PADI dive physics questions? -- and from a defense contractor at Camp Smith. 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 Intermediate Trimix training). He also teaches Emergency First Response as well as the professional-level CPR and First Aid courses for the American Red Cross. As you might imagine, Arnie really likes teaching class -- especially scuba diving classes. Like many of the staff, Arnie also takes busman's holidays, his last being two weeks in Florida and the Bahamas diving on deep wrecks. He has also dived the atomic wrecks at Bikini Atoll and the remnants of the Japanese sixth fleet at Chuuk Lagoon. An avid underwater photographer (digital and film) Arnie's images show up on the Aaron website from time to time. Click here to see Arnie's last dive

Chris started diving 15 years ago in the Japanese Ryukyu Islands, where he spent five years climbing through jungles and down craggy cliffs to get to good dive sites. While there, Chris had the unique experience of helping to feed big pillowcases full of shrimp to the whale sharks maintained in an offshore pen by the Japanese University of the Ryukyus. Ask him what it feels like to be bodyslammed by the tail of a 38-foot whale shark! Chris has dove in Australia, the Caribbean, the Dutch Antilles and on live-aboards in the Coral Sea. Besides scuba diving, Chris enjoys other pleasant outdoor activities such as hiking, kayaking, white-water river rafting, and arctic expeditions across Alaska in the dead of winter. Now Chris dives in Hawaii, where he can enjoy his love of teaching scuba diving, wreck diving, hearing humpback whales and the pinging of distant submarines. Chris's favorite dive on island is night diving at Hale'iwa trenches. And if you see him underwater, you'll probably find him with his GoPro HD video camera strapped to his head! Click here to see Chris's last dive

Tyler was introduced to diving by his Grandmother, who was in need of a dive buddy in 2000. His first dive vacation was to the Big Island, and after a night dive with mantas he was hooked. He worked as a Dive Master in Colorado while going to college, and after graduating from CSU, moved out to Hawaii to live out his dream of diving as a career. He recently passed his Instructor Examination, and is already enjoying teaching new divers and spreading his passion for diving. Most of his diving experience is split between the Caribbean, and Colorado, and his 100th dive was on the Great Barrier Reef, Christmas Day 2006! He also enjoys snowboarding, and is looking forward to learning to kite board in the near future.  Click here to see Tyler's last dive

Originally from Germany, Luke's diving career started together with his Dad in the Graveyard of the Atlantic off the coast of Carolina.
After finishing school in Chapel Hill, NC, Luke decided to give island life a shot and is enjoying every minute of it. Three hours after landing on Oahu he was in the shop to get a job and start his instructor course, and is currently looking to advance his tech diving knowledge. When not underwater, Luke is probably surfing, hiking, skydiving, golfing, or at a beach with his dog, Lady. Click here to see Luke's last dive

On a cold December morning 1991, just north of Chicago, Colin was born. 10 years later he learned how to SCUBA dive with his father in the northern Yukon peninsula of Mexico. Just a few years later Colin was helping his Father open a dive shop in San Pedro Belize. The Mesoamerican Reef, the largest reef in the northern hemisphere became Colin's backyard. Colin has racked up over 3,000 dives before he was 20... U betta belize it! After completing his dive masters at the age of 18 he decided to pursue his dream of being a PADI pro in Hawaii. He is currently living the dream at Aaron's dive shop.
 Click here to see Colin's last dive

Ryan started his diving odyssey by getting Open Water certified here at Aaron's back in 2003 by our favorite webmaster, Kirsten!

In recent days he has been instructing at Ryan's School of Basketball. Recent Facebook rumors suggested that his most prominent student, our owner Jack Aaron - recently got 'schooled'. However, the last one on one score was Jack-24 Ryan-6. Looks like Ryan may have to sign up for Jack's School!

He also has been attending graduate school in Sweden, and slowly working his way up in the dive world to become a Dive Master. After a two year stint working our sales floor, he took a little hiatus to travel the world and has now returned to us as a Dive Master and enjoys being in the ocean as much as possible. Ryan is always up to go dive! From the van ride through out the charter and back you are sure to have a great time and plenty of laughs with him.

Silvia is one of our international staff members. She is a snowboard instructor and a rock climber from Switzerland. While there are plenty of mountains to climb and ski in Switzerland there aren't that many opportunities to scuba dive. After graduating in Biology she decided it was time for a gap year. She completed her open water certification in the warm waters of the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. The diving motivated her to help protect the underwater environment. She volunteered for a company helping the Seychelles government set the fishing quota's and collecting data from reefs on the Mahe' Plateau. After returning home she applied to the University of Hawaii at Manoa in order to continue her education with a specialization in marine microbiology. Until the program starts Silvia will be enjoying diving with all of you! Click here to see Silvia's last dive

Born and raised in Central PA, Richard first began his diving career at an early age tagging along with his father exploring flooded rock quarries. These dive sites were far from ideal, with 45 degree water temperatures and 3-foot visibility, but nevertheless, he was thrilled just to be able to get wet. After his first taste of tropical diving in the Turks and Caicos Islands of the Caribbean, there was no turning back; he swore off his 7mm full wetsuit and hood and set out in search of warmer climes. His study of Marine Biology at Hawaii Pacific University brought him here to Oahu, where life on and around the ocean became a dream come true. Now, when he's not diving, he enjoys surfing, kitesurfing, sailing, and exploring the beauty of Hawai'i. He began his professional diving career here at Aaron's and now works as one of our talented Divemasters. His favorite types of diving are wall dives and wrecks, but just like that shivering little kid all those years ago back in Pennsylvania, he's happy just to get in the water.
 Click here to see Richard's last dive

Seth started diving in the Great Lakes of Michigan. Immediately he was hooked and within two years he left the desk job in Michigan behind in order to follow his new passion. He ended up in the sleepy waters of the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. He volunteered for an echo tourism company diving everyday and learning about marine life. After leaving the Seychelles he traveled around Africa. Sucba diving with Bull sharks in Mauritius, Great Whites in Cape Town, altitude diving in Lake Malawi, and reef diving in Zanzibar and Mombasa. Seth also enjoys bungee jumping, sky diving, and hiking and tries to do them as often as possible. He returned to the Seychelles to take a job with the eco tourism company that he had volunteered for. In 2011 Seth came to Hawaii to complete his Divemaster course with Arron's and now loves having the opportunity to take people diving here on Oahu!  Click here to see Seth's last dive

Leo has always has a passion for the water, but was only able to expand his interests recently when his father received orders last year to be stationed on the beautiful island of oahu. He is originally from the island with most of his family being in Kaneohe. Leo just graduated from Kalaheo High School, making it his third high school in the past 4 years. He plans to attend Windward Community college in the fall, while also learning as much as he can from Aaron's Dive Shop. He specializes in spearfishing as well as freediving.