GUE Instructor resumé

Professional

• 2023 marks Mer's 20-year anniversary with GUE and Mer's 10-year anniversary as a dive educator with GUE
• Small business owner and entrepreneur
• Founder: Wet Rocks Diving, a TEAM of GUE Instructors and professional guides
• Full time Professional Scuba Educator: Cave Guide and GUE Instructor, 2012-present
• Owner/Partner: Exclusive Homes Group – Keller Williams Realty, 2004-2013
• Training Director: United Divers, Somerville, MA 2003-2004
• Astronomy-Physics Public Outreach Educator: Boston Museum of Science, MIT, Harvard Smithsonian, and Dexter-Southfield, 1998-2003

Education

• B.A., Astronomy-Physics-Geophysics, Colgate University, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa
• Edwin Foster Kingsbury Prize for performance and promise in Astronomy-Physics-Geophysics
• Certified Residential Specialist, a real-estate-specific graduate-level degree
• Small Business Development, Systems, Customer Service, Business Growth, and Team Leadership - Keller Williams University
• Former American Red Cross Head Lifeguard and Water Safety (Swimming) Instructor

Diving Qualifications

• GUE Instructor: Cave 1 & 2 & Cave DPV, Tech 1 and Cave Triox Upgrade
• GUE Instructor Trainer: Fundamentals
• GUE Instructor Evaluator: Learn-to-Dive (Rec 1), Rec 2
• GUE Instructor: Recreational 1 - Nitrox (Learn to Dive), Recreational 2 - Triox and Rescue, Recreational 3 - Trimix and Recreational Deep.
• GUE Instructor: Triox Primer, Navigation, Rescue Primer
• GUE Instructor: Fundamentals, Drysuit, Doubles, Tech Upgrade, Documentation Diver, DPV1, Gas Blender
• One-on-One coaching: Divers of all agency certifications.
• Dive Guide: Rec, Tech and Cave
• GUE Tech 2+ Diver
• GUE Cave 2 Diver
• GUE JJ-CCR Diver
• GUE Documentation Diver
• Nautical Archaeological Society – Level 1 Diver
• NAUI Technical Divemaster & Cave Guide
• NSS-CDS Cave Mentor/Supervisor
• NACD/TDI Cave DPV Diver
• TDI Cave CCR
• PSAI Overhead Sidemount Diver
• Prism Topaz CCR Diver
• PADI Master Diver
• Trained in Human Factors for Diving, also Instructor Candidate
• First Aid, CPR, AED trained
• Hyperbaric Chamber Operator/Hyperbaric Oxygen Administration
• Aqualung/Apeks Regulator Technician, Deep6 Regulator Technician.

Diving Experience

• Certified 2000, GUE Diver since 2003, Teaching for GUE since 2013.
• Wrecks, caves, reefs, significant cold-water experience in New England and Great Lakes, and more. Cave diving experience in Florida, Mexico, Hawaii, France, cold-water mines, and more.
• 4500+ dives
• 3200+ Cave dives/hours
• 3900+ Drysuit dives
• 1800+ Decompression dives
• 1300+ Dives utilizing DPVs
• 1000+ eCCR hours (Prism Topaz and JJ-CCR)
• 300+ Science/survey dives, including both ocean and cave
• 80+ Sidemount dives in sidemount-preferred cave passage
• 40+ Dives accompanying or coordinating with manned submersibles
• 1 Dive buzzed by humpback whale
• 1 Dive during Earthquake magnitude 4.0+
• NSS-CDS Sheck Exley Safe Cave Diving Award, 2014

Community Involvement

• Dive Safety Officer for Project Baseline's R/V Baseline Explorer and other major missions
• GUE Training Council Member, 2022-2023 term
• Former Guide, Indian Springs - Site is now closed.
• Guide, Hart Springs
• Guide, Cathedral Canyon
• Guide, Mill Creek Sink (Alachua Sink)
• Former Member/Co-Founder, North East Underwater Explorers (NEUE)
• Former Member, GUE Ontario
• Founding Member and Advisory Board Member, Southeast Underwater Explorers (SEUE)
• Founding Member, Midwest Underwater Explorers (MWUE)
• Member, National Speleological Society (NSS), Cave Diving Section
• Member, Wakulla Springs Alliance
• Member, Hawaii Underwater Explorers (HUE)
• Member, Florida Underwater Explorers (FLUE)
• Member, South Central Underwater Explorers (SCUE)
• Member, Massachusetts Underwater Explorers (MAUE)
• Member, Florida Speleological Society (FSS)
• Member, Hawaii Grotto of the NSS
• Member, Cave Conservancy Hawaii
• Member, Hawaii Speleological Survey
• GUE Global Conference, Cave-Fests & NSS-CDS Conferences - Too many to list
• Karst Symposium 2017 @ FSU
• Florida Springs Symposium 2018
• TekDiveUSA2018
• GUE Community Day 2020 Presenter
• Diver, Project Baseline/Baseline Explorer, FL Deep Wrecks 2015
• Diver & DSO, Project Baseline/Baseline Explorer, Port Everglades FL Reef Documentation 2016
• Diver & DSO, Project Baseline/Baseline Explorer, Bermuda Nekton Deep Reefs 2016
• Diver & DSO, Project Baseline/Baseline Explorer, NC Battle of the Atlantic/NOAA 2016
• Volunteer Submersible Support and Tender Driver, Project Baseline/Baseline Explorer, NOAA/U576 2016
• Diver, Battle of the Egadi Project, Sicily, Italy. GUE/Italian Government, 2017. Artifact search and recovery.
• Project Manager, Project Baseline: Kona, HI
• Project Contributor, Project Baseline: Florida Springs, Florida Wrecks, Gulfstream
• Diver, Woodville Karst Plain Project (WKPP) 2010-2018 (Wakulla, Black Hole Swallet, Punchbowl, Chips Hole, Turner, Deep Salt and other projects)
• Diver and Surveyor, Karst Underwater Research (Twin Dees/Weeki Wachee, Cathedral Canyons, Deep Salt, Madison, Rose, McCormick, Lineater, The Cracks, Morgan, P3, and other projects). 2015 - current. Focusing on survey, cartography, and mentoring rising support and exploration divers.
• Frequent speaker to regional dive clubs on exploration projects and grassroots Project Baseline efforts
• GUE Instructor Mentor

Special interests

• Human Factors
• Dive leadership/mentorship and project development.
• Cave survey and cartography.
• Caving: Cave Diving and “Dry” Caving
• Sailing, Snow Skiing, Hiking, Running
• Geekiness, Puns, and Satire
• Crochet

Publications

• DAN's Alert Diver Magazine, Model, Q2 2023.
• Fundamentals of Better Diving, 2nd edition, 2020, co-author
• Quest Dive Magazine, cover, Vol 20. No 4.
• Dykking, a Norwegian Dive Magazine, June 2017.
• Multiple speaking engagements on GUE, Project Baseline and other exploration projects
• A Day in the Life of A Dive Safety Officer, NOAA Ocean Explorers Website
• Photometric Observations of Classical- and Beta- Cepheids: Eclipsing Binary Star Discovered
• Optical Variability of the Blazar BL Lacertae
• Former Editor: GUE Digest
• Active Contributor to various GUE materials and books, including as a Tech Manual Editor and a Creator/Editor for parts of the Fundamentals and Recreational Manuals.

Languages I teach classes in

• English

Additional languages

• English
• Native Imperial, Fluent Metric

Additional Info

Mer is a cave-addicted tech diver from Boston who splits her dive time between Kona, Hawaii and High Springs, Florida. She enjoys pairing her coaching skillset with her diving passion. She has an affinity for working with women/shorter divers as well as with cave divers to refine their skills for more overhead enjoyment. She learned to be a team diver, to dive a backplate/wing, cave dive, and tech dive through GUE training: she understands her students' process as she personally has been in their shoes; this allows her a unique perspective to appropriately challenge her students thus facilitating growth and improvement while remaining sensitive to the psychological element of the process and human factors. Mer is GUE's first female cave instructor since the late 1990s, is one of only two women actively teaching both cave and tech for GUE, and currently, the only woman teaching a Level 2 Cave or Tech course for GUE. On any given day you can find her surveying cave in North Florida, exploring lava tube dry caves, or seeking rare finds on Kona's coast. If you're thinking of coming to Kona or North Florida, Mer wants to dive with you! Wet Rocks Diving regularly travels to USA's Northeast, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions to support growing GUE communities in these areas. Check out http://www.WetRocksDiving.com

Favorite Quotes
"Beware the lollipop of mediocrity. Lick it once and you suck forever." - Brian Wilson
"First law of survival: seek the best." - Ayn Rand
"A'ole makou e ho'ohikiwale kela!" - We wouldn't want it to be easy. - Hawaiian saying

Evolve. Excel. Explore. Enjoy!