Paddy Ryan

Paddy did his first dive in December 1977 and has been diving pretty much ever since. He has now logged over 1000 dives in a variety of habitats ranging from the sub-Antarctic Auckland Islands to the equatorial tropics. He's written four books with a strong diving component. The first, Fiji's Natural Heritage includes the marine environment in a general over view of Fiji nature. The Snorkeller's Guide to the Coral Reef followed and then he wrote Fiordland Underwater: New Zealand's Hidden Wilderness with friend and colleague Chris Paulin. He is currently working on a new edition of Fiji"s Natural Heritage. His last book was the self-published Kri Eco - Raja Ampat.

Paddy is a full professor at the Denver campus of Johnson & Wales University and an Associate Adjunct Professor at the Colorado School of Mines. It goes without saying that he is a keen nature photographer. He has also been known to enjoy the occasional microbrew and the occasional glass of wine.

He currently shares a house with Kathy (see below). He has two children, Sarah (25) and Lucy (23) who live with their Mom in New Zealand.

Photo courtesy of Dave Herrick

Kathy Ryan

Kat snorkeled in New Zealand's Fiordland while on a dive trip organized by Chris Paulin and Paddy. This trip had the unfortunate result (for Kathy) of her eventually marrying Paddy and the fortunate result of stimulating her to learn to dive. Since that time Kat has recorded over 150 dives in Fiji, Belize, Cozumel and Florida and is now an Advanced Open Water Diver. Kathy currently teaches math at Front range Community College and at several institutions that teach online. She is also the owner of Pacific Island Books (www.pacificislandbooks.com) another result of meeting Paddy ...

Kathy is a book-lover but laments that she doesn't get enough time to read. She is also an inveterate traveler having been on such exotic trips as a cruise on the Nile and a visit to the Seychelles ('cos it sounded interesting). She has two daughters, Becca and Sarah, both of whom are accomplished divers, Sarah has completed her Rescue Diver qualification. Kat hates diving with Paddy and wants a dive buddy.

Dave Herrick

Dave has come on nine of Paddy's twelve annual dive trips. Dave can always be relied on to have a beer with me (so I don't drink alone) and has never ever turned down a dive when requested. He is good to dive with as his bald pate can be seen from some distance away. On occasion high flying aircraft have mistaken it for an airport landing light.

Dave is an excellent underwater photographer whi finally made the move to digital on this year's Belize dive trip. He's a very experienced diver (he's been diving since 1975). He's been to Sulawesi, Fiji, Raja Ampat and Belize with me and has dived extensively down the East Coast. In real life Dave has retired after working as Assistant Principal in a special education program for emotionally disturbed secondary students yet still managed to remain more or less sane.

In addition to diving, Dave's interests include drinking, photography, playing guitar, boating and travel.

Brian and Rebeca

Brian Fleischer and Rebeca Quezada have been married for seven years and spend every vacation they can under water. "There are fewer things in this world we would rather do". Brian is all about becoming a decent underwater photographer (Paddy here - he is already) and Rebeca loves to find great subjects for him to shoot, not to mention enjoying the sensation of floating and flying underwater.  Recent trips include Palau aboard the Aggressor, Loreto (and Fiji with Paddy and Co) and Belize to name a few. As Brian now has a new Canon 7D and an Ikelite housing his photos are now professional quality.

Shannon Mayes

I’m Shannon Mayes and I have been diving since 1998.  I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 dives, probably more, but I have not logged all of my dives.  I met Paddy and Kathy in 1999.  I am a former student of Paddy (Metropolitan State College of Denver) and went on my first dive trip to Fiji with Paddy and Kathy in 1999.  I went to Fiji last year on my 11th dive trip with Paddy.  Paddy, Kathy and I have become good friends over the years, to the point that Kathy’s departing words for me are usually, “don’t let him do anything too stupid.” 

Dawn Riccobini

I'm Dawn Coplin Riccoboni, mother of a son, Dominic who is 14, a daughter, Jordan who is 12, divorced over 6 years now.  My undergrad is in Finance and my Master's is in Education Administration.  I'm the Chief Business Official of two districts in the city of Exeter, California.  I've been in the school finance field for 21 years.  I love to travel, love to dance and read and listen to smooth jazz (though going to the concerts and drinking fabulous wine is even better - you can dance, listen and drink all at the same place and time).  Did I mention that I love to travel???  And scuba dive, too, though I am in the beginner'ish range when compared to everyone else!!!  And I love trying new things, eating new things, seeing new places and meeting new people.

(Note from Paddy: Dawn was a 'newby" in Fiji and was a huge hit with everyone. An extremely competent diver and the life and soul of every party - when she's not dancing that is).

Peter and Kerstin Rawlins

Kerstin
Kerstin pronounced Shastin, a name to confuse you all.

At the age of twelve, in 1976, I went for my open water certificate but was not allowed to participate in the final open water dive because I was under age. In January 2008 we stayed overnight on a dive boat on the Great Barrier Reef in Cairns where we had seven dives under twelve metres. On returning home we endeavoured to get our diving certificates, better now than never. Diving was fantastic in Fiji, January 2009 which encouraged me to complete  my Advanced Open Water Certificate because there are so many great dives beyond 18 metres. Here we met Paddy for the first time at the dining table of the Garden Island Resort in Taveuni Fiji.  Later we found ourselves standing on chairs on the balcony next door at the First Light Inn, where our accommodation was, no we were not drunk, trying to catch a rare moth for a photographic shoot. After a few songs and viewing Paddy’s last photographic book on Fiji, he handed us his business card and invited us to join him on his next dive trip to Fiji. Back home, the March Advanced Course was cancelled due to lack of numbers and also again in April leaving May, absolutely freezing in Melbourne in a wet suit and I wasn’t going to wait until next Summer. So here I am with a certificate in hand and about 40 dives in my log book. When out of the water, I enjoy listening to music, preferably Jazz, eating healthy food, dancing, watching good documentaries, gardening and spending one on one time with my children which isn’t often these days as they are all adults.

Peter
Peter has his Open Water Certificate with about thirty dives in his log book. He has been working in the building industry for 33 years. For the last seven years he has worked as a Building Site Construction Manager building Nursing Homes in Victoria. He enjoys listening to music and plays the guitar, piano and sings. Peter also loves to cook with a glass of good wine in hand and taking photographs.

(Note from Paddy: Kerstin and Peter came on the dive trip to Fiji last year and were a hit with everybody - we are delighted they have decided to join us again).

Robin Ekholm

I am an Osteopathic Family Physician in practice for 24 years in both Family Practice and Urgent Care. I presently work in a community clinic and teach part time at the Osteopathic Medical School in Northern California. I have been diving since, as they said in Hawaii, "diving was dangerous and sex was safe". I got certified in a stone quarry in South Dakota and then got my experience diving every weekend for 3 years out of Miami Florida. I maintained my own 100 gallon salt water aquarium while going to nursing school. Those dive sites included Bimini, the Keys, and the Virgin Islands. I then went to Medical School and dived the Turk & Caicos Islands, Grand Cayman, Cancun and Hawaii. In 2006 I joined Paddy's group for 17 dives in Belize and again in Fiji (2007), Raja Ampat (2008), Baja California (2009) where I was trip physician and Fiji (2010). My biggest job in Baja California was to help pull cactus spines out of Paddy's bum.

Doug Span

Doug Spann retired from Anheuser Bush as a systems engineer after 35 years. (See the baseball cap logo!) Although he started as an aeronautical engineer for Lockheed, when the contract dried up he didnt mind his new job with Bush, where he as a new college grad as greeted with a can of "Bud" for his daily breakfast meeting! He has 3 grown sons and 2 dynamite grandchildren who live in Honolulu requiring frequent visits and thus his first helicopter flight as seen here with his fiancee Dr Robin. (Given his background, flying has always made him nervous). He played semi-professional soccer for 35 years even tho he is only "39". LOL! Although he loves to snorkel and do anything on the water, his asthma precludes scuba. None-the-less, he is excited to see all the colors of Kri Eco and meet the folks he has heard so much about.

Welcome aboard Doug!

Emily Rosenberg

Born and raised in NYC (where I met Kathy in high school), then moved to Oklahoma City and spent 30+ years there, where I went to graduate school, medical school, married (and divorced), raised two lovely children and worked as a psychiatrist. Two years ago, I decided to get a new job: now I work as a psychiatrist for the State Dept. I currently live in Manama, Bahrain - but in the not too distant future I'll be moving to Jakarta, Indonesia. In addition to diving, which I haven't done enough of, I enjoy all kinds of folk dancing, including international, Scottish, English and contra.

Ryan Photographic, 2802 East 132nd Circle, Thornton, CO  80241  USA  Phone 303-457-9795