Blue Water Sports
Scuba & Travel, Canoe & Kayak

 sales@bluewatersports.net 

2320 Apalachee Parkway
Tallahassee, FL  32301
 (850) 656- DIVE (3483)
 850-656-5732 Fax

 toll free
866-302-DIVE (3483)

*Hours*

Mon-Fri: 10-7
Saturday: 9-6
Sunday: 9-4

Employment Opportunities

Staff

 Fleet Pride-Owner

Associate Instructors

Jeff M. Loflin - Course Director
Hector Marrero - Open Water
Nick Leone - Cave Diving
Jeff Bauer - Cave Diving

    Fleet Pride:       Click on image to enlarge.

"I can't remember when water wasn't a big part of my life. As a kid in Maine, we lived on the banks of the Piscataquis River and I was in the water or in a boat before I could walk. Actually, I was born shortly after my mom slipped on a rock, fell into the icy waters of the Piscataquis, and went into labor. It had to be, born in the year of the Rat, whose element is water and as Gemini, likewise ... water."

Later as an Air Force Brat I could only spend summers in Maine, but we had the greatest adventures. My underwater quests began when I was about eleven. My brothers and I would jump off a float into eight to ten foot waters with a mask, fifteen foot hydraulic hose and a backpack full of rocks. We'd gather crayfish and muscles off the bottom of Piper Pond. Occasionally a sucker or pickerel would meet its fate at the end of our homemade pole spear, sliced inner tube and a sharpened coat-hanger stuck into a broom handle. While living in Mexico Beach, my brother even survived an errant shot with that old spear that left a hole in his leg to this day. We learn from our mistakes. Life was great.

Now you may be thinking that a backpack full of rocks was dumb, well, it was, but actually there was a rope on the backpack that we pulled each other in with and we quickly learned to put quick releases on the shoulder straps. The hard part was trying to suck air through fifteen feet of hose and remember to exhale through your nose. It actually worked, but brothers have tendencies to play tricks at the other end. I soon realized that there was a better way. My first diving gear, purchased at the barn sale of a recently departed Harbor Master, consisted of an Original USD Aqua Lung two hose regulator that was at least ten years old when I picked it up along with a CO2 inflatable horse collar vest, fire extinguisher bottle that was out of hydro, an old Navy harness, and weight belt that I on occasion still use today. In the early sixties most Maine coastal towns had never heard of a C-card, so fills were no problem. Filters were seldom checked and air never tasted the same twice. (Which probably explains the Harbor Master's fate and some of my peculiarities today). As an Air Force Brat, I've been fortunate to travel extensively. And after a year of diving under ice or in the frozen North Atlantic while at the University of Maine, I decided to join up and see the world. Not long after, while stationed in Denver, I was refused an air fill because I didn't have a C-card. Colorado Divers Supply to the rescue. I got certified, soon thereafter started teaching diving and escorted a few trips to Mexico. Life was great. A year later I found myself as a cadet at the Air Force Academy and the only Certified Instructor there. So I taught my classmates and the officers that would later take over the training. A group of us started the USAFA Scuba Club and with the help of pilots anxious to go diving we dove wherever the Air Force or Navy had a base and water. The best spots, Puget Sound, near Seattle and Ramey Air Force Base, Puerto Rico, but Hawaii, the California coast, and ultimately diving off Tyndall AFB's Drone Recovery Boats and Panama City's Navy Research Stages were our most frequent spots. Life was great.

Diving and cadet life didn't mix too well, and succumbing to Organic Chemistry, I reluctantly departed USAFA (could it have been bad air back in the sixties?). I surfaced in Panama City where I spent a year teaching and diving. On to Tallahassee and FSU. Married, degreed, kids, responsibilities and real work. Diving was curtailed. Equipment was sold at garage sales to buy such extravagances as furniture and environmentally disastrous disposable diapers. Life was, … Ah well, different. However kids grow up, wives too. Single again, I move to Miami, South Beach to be exact, one block from the Atlantic. Close to the Keys, nine year old Tiffany, visits, and goes snorkeling with Dad in Pennecamp. Big brother Chris prefers the boat and a tight line. A few years later, now working in Atlanta, Tiff joins her Dad on vacation on the Great Barrier Reef and takes a resort course. The tolerant significant other of 7 years, Marilyn, also a diver (certified by Marty Glickman of Blue Water lineage) actually encourages such frivolities. We all dive with the White Tip Reef Sharks, Crowns of Thorns Starfish, and the slowly bleaching corals of the GBR. Life was great!

Fortune has always been by me. In 1994, I was selected to be the President of Southwest Florida College in Fort Myers. Now, I love Tallahassee, but FM had year around summer and though the diving wasn't great, the Gulf was only minutes away, the Keys a short boat ride, lots of kayaking and sailing. Life was great.

Being a college president had it's advantages, and well, after awarding myself a Masters and PhD in Dive Sciences and Technologies, spending a lot of time practicing my passion (Don’t you know the lawyers and physicians must practice their trades also, when do we ever perform?) Well, the college went non-profit and the new regents wanted a more distinguished image (bad air brain bleached dive bums need not apply). I returned to the ranks of such a Dive Bum. Actually I used any excuse what so ever, kayaking, bicycling, hiking, rock climbing, lots of traveling, anything to keep me from a real job. Timing is everything and just a BWS went looking for a new Business Manager, Marilyn was putting her foot down and, well here I am and I plan to stay. (When we’re not off diving.) I bought the shop in July of 2002 and added lots of new toys, canoes, kayaks, sail and kite boards and inflatable boats. Late 2002 saw an opportunity in Thomasville, Georgia and we acquired the old B & B dive shop.

Come in a say, "Hello!" Let's swap dive tales. And let me help you any way I can. Hey don't you know? Life is Great!

A little more about Fleet. After six years of active duty in the Air Force, he got out and joined the Florida Army National Guard, where he served as a Company Commander in Quincy, Apalachicola and Miami and as the Public Affairs Officer during the 1994 Hurricane Andrew Recovery Effort. He is now retired from the Army Reserve.  He is a member of Mensa, has bachelors degree in Religion and a Lay Minister in the Methodist Church, has completed a Masters Degree, and a PhD in Diving Sciences and Technologies, has been published by the University of Miami, Dept. of Oceanography, completed the Leadership Tallahassee Course in 1987, has served on the Boards of Directors for the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra and the American Red Cross. A former Scout, Scout Commissioner and member of Order of The Arrow, he is a sponsor of Boy Scouts of America Dive Venture Crew 909. Fleet has a Airplane Pilots License, over 100 parachute jumps, over 6000 dives. Fleet Sponsors many area events such as the North Florida Spear Fishing Tournament and the Big Bend Saltwater Classic. Fleet is a research diver and board member with the Organization of Artificial Reefs (OAR), also a National Geographic Dive Team Dive Master and he is still trying to figure out deep air divers. 

Fleet frequently goes diving to many of the local economy dive spots, St. Andrews State Park Jetties, Troy Springs State Park, Wakulla County Cherokee Sink, Jefferson County Wacissa River Blue Springs and others. These are usually test dives of new products and toys, refresher dives on old toys, or maybe a fresh water spring to rinse off his occasionally smelly equipment. Usually during the week and some times paddling is involved. others short forest treks, but if you want to go along, let him know, if anyone loves an audience, Fleet does. He usually picks up the tab on air, don’t ya know, Life is Really great!

 Jeff M. Loflin, PADI Course Director #18604 /Technical Instructor Trainer
JeffLoflin.com

  Tallahassee scuba diving canoes kayaks service rowing