David Miner
Senior Technical Writer, GE Security, Inc.
From before second grade, I can remember being engrossed in diving. Jacque Cousteau was my hero, and I had many of his books…I still do. I would swim around in the community pool snorkeling and trying to act as if I were a diver on Cousteau’s team. My dream was to dive a coral reef and be like him. My parents would take me to the local springs to snorkel, which was awesome, but I couldn’t wait to be a real scuba diver. My first pair of ScubaPro Jet Fins required me to wear tube socks so that they would fit because I had no booties.
When I turned 15, my parents paid for my open water certification for my birthday present, and I haven’t looked back since. That was 1983. I dove avidly through high school and was able to dive on my first coral reef in Key Largo not long after getting certified…A dream come true! I worked Saturdays and during the summer at the dive shop and learned as much as I could.
After spending four years in the Navy, I started college at the University of South Florida and quickly joined their scuba club. After being a member for a year, I was voted in as President and ran the club for the next two years, taking trips to the Keys, Bahamas, and West Palm. While attending a dive expo in Tampa with club members, I saw a presentation by Wes Skiles on cave diving, and I was hooked.
I had already finished certifications through Dive Master, but after seeing the presentation, I had to get into cave diving. Finding Lamar Hires through a mutual friend, Lamar took me through Full Cave certification in 1993.
Cave diving has been my passion ever since. I have and continue to dive many of the caves in North Florida and have explored Sulfur Springs in Tampa and Twin Ds at Weeki Wachee. I was a member of the WKPP for 3+ years, where I learned a tremendous about cave exploration and got to dive and explore some of the most fantastic and largest caves in the state.
Always wanting to learn more, I got into shooting underwater video about two years ago using a Sony camera and Amphibico housing, which is a never-ending learning experience. Also, I was recently trained on the O2ptima Rebreather, which has been a lot of fun and a very new experience. I love learning new things, especially in diving, so getting into underwater video and rebreathers has been exciting. Being able to do a 2.5 hour dive on less than 30 cubic feet of gas is amazing, and getting close to the critters underwater with my video camera is fantastic.
I’m blessed to have a wife who also likes to dive (not in the caves), so it’s great being able to take diving trips with her and enjoy the sport together. I’m passionate about diving, whether it’s on a shallow reef or deep in a cave. It’s what I love to do. Being underwater is my favorite place on earth!