Brad has often said “I wish I started diving when I was a teenager”, but like many others who took up diving later in life, he is making up for lost time. He was hooked from that first moment underwater. The sense of weightlessness and peaceful quiet set the stage for the exhilaration and discovery that was to follow. The first few years as an open water diver were primarily in cold Canadian waters. Since those days, it’s been a continual journey of discovery, exploration and trying new things. Brad now enjoys many types of diving, including simple recreational diving, Rebreather, OC Tec/Trimix, Cold & Warm water, Ice diving, Underwater Photo & Video dives and so much more. The store is a 100% AWARE facility, and has been actively advocating for the environment, especially Shark Conservation and Dive Against Debris, with Brad teaching both of these specialties. FNF has also officially adopted Gullivers Lake as their site under the ADOPT-A-DIVESITE program, and Brad organizes annual clean-ups and encourages the team to always leave the site in better shape than when they found it.
While Brad is a PADI Course Director, he still feels the same thrill watching a new diver take their first breath underwater in the pool, and is often active in entry level classes. Equally exciting is watching the excitement build for someone diving on their first shipwreck in Tobermory, participating in a new drift dive in the Niagara River, or taking their first underwater photo of some cool creature in the South Pacific.
His favourite local dive sites include the Arabia in Tobermory, the Daryaw in Brockville and The America on the US side out of Rockport. The wrecks of Bell Island, Newfoundland, are also spectacular. For warm water diving, the volcanic island of Saba in the Dutch Caribbean is one of his favourite warm water dive adventures, as the amazing diving with Sea Saba is only rivalled by the awesome topside experience.
For photography, Wakatobi in Indonesia can’t be beat, and for larger stuff, the Galapagos Islands are still one of the best havens in the world.
Now actively involved in leadership training, Brad enjoys sharing his teaching and diving experience with others so they are well equipped to go out into the world and share this amazing sport with others by turning their students into great divers!
Owner, Master Scuba Diver Trainer
Tammy Snyder
Tammy is the “behind-the-scenes” presence of Float N’ Flag and her contributions have contributed to the ongoing growth of the business. Tammy began to dive in 2007, encouraged by the viewing of her husband Brad’s videos upon his return from various dive trips.
Tammy immersed herself in the underwater world, gaining experience through diving and expertise through taking courses on an ongoing basis. This culminated in her becoming a PADI instructor in 2010.
Tammy enjoys working with new divers, both in the pool, during confined water sessions, and at Gulliver’s Lake, during check-out dives.
With each dive trip, Tammy is gaining valuable experience in dive travel. To date, her favourite dive sites can be found in the waters around Saba, especially Diamond Rock.
Her love of diving has expanded with her Tec training and now enjoys coldwater diving, which has shocked many people. Never say never! She most recently has launched a new division for the shop, Float N’ Flag Travel.
Course Director
John Swanson
Residence: Burlington, Ontario, Canada
1984 — Certified as an Open Water diver
1990 — Became a PADI Instructor
Became a DAN member & DAN Instructor
1994 — Became a PADI Course Director
Became a DAN Instructor Trainer
2014 — Became a EFR Instructor Trainer Examiner
2016 — Became a DAN Examiner
Travel: have had the opportunity to take part in many dive trips in the Caribbean and the Pacific
Favourite Destinations: Little Cayman and Palau
The best dives are anywhere that I can use my underwater camera.
IDC Staff Instructor
Michael Matthie
Michael, as an Staff Instructor, is a regular participant in our open water classes, refresher classes, Discover Scuba sessions and our Wednesday nights at Gullivers. When not in the pool or assisting on the shop floor, Michael can be found in the service lab working on your dive gear.
Master Instructor
Paul Finch
Paul has been with the Float N’ Flag team since 2003 and has achieved the PADI Master Instructor rating. He holds numerous instructor specialty certifications, including Deep, Wreck, Night and Cavern, and enjoys teaching divers at all levels, from those experiencing SCUBA for the first time in Discover Scuba programs, through to Instructor Candidates. Paul really enjoys the energy and excitement of new divers, those enhancing their range and capability through continuing education, and those moving to professional level certification.
Paul holds PADI Master Scuba Diver and IANTD Advanced Nitrox and Tri-mix certifications. He is also Full and Stage Cave Certified through NSS-CDS. There is not much diving Paul does not enjoy and is active throughout the season both at home and abroad. Locally, a few favourite dives include the Forest City and Arabia at Tobermory, and the Rothesay and Daryaw at Brockville. Further afield, Paul enjoys diving the Caves and Keys in Florida, and the many dive sites around Saba, Bonaire and Curacao.
Master Instructor
Mark Cline
Mark has been a scuba diver since 1979 and has hundreds of dives under his belt. With dive experiences across the Caribbean, Mexico, south east Asia, Hawaii and Canada, Mark has been able to experience some of the most enjoyable and interesting dives available. As a long term Float N’ Flag client, Mark decided to re-certify as a PADI open water diver in 1999 and continued his PADI training over the following years, reaching Instructor status in 2007. Mark continues to thrive on the excitement of diving, the enjoyment of helping others as they embark on and continue their diving education, but mostly, he enjoys the pure FUN of diving.
Mark is a PADI Open Water Scuba Diving Instructor, with certifications to instruct various speciality courses and is an Emergency First Response Instructor. He is currently working on his Master Scuba Diver rating and plans to continue his educational journey to becoming a IDC Staff Instructor.
Mark’s favourite dives include the Niihau dive in Kauai Hawaii and the Manta Ray dive in Kona Hawaii, the amazing waters of Sipadan in Malaysia, diving in the Cenotes (fresh water caves) in Cancun, Mexico and of course diving on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Mark’s first preference is warm water diving, but generally enjoys diving anywhere and anytime. Another favourite dive spot is the Aldershot training pool, it’s nice and warm and always full of fun, excitement and new experiences.
Mark lives in Burlington and is married with three grown children who all enjoy diving, and is a self-employed IT Consultant who, when not diving, enjoys playing squash and, like Jerry, also enjoys road trips on his Harley.
IDC Staff Instructor
Jenn Kerr
Jenn is an active participant in many diverse sports including boxing, rock climbing and running. However, her main focus has been competitive swimming and triathlons.
A resort scuba diving course taken on a trip to Jamaica a few years ago lead Jenn to Float N’ Flag where she became a certified diver. Her new passion motivated her to pursue her PADI dive education to become a Dive Master. She appreciates the dive education that she has received from Float N’ Flag and is excited to assist new divers in learning the skills required to safely enjoy diving.
Although Jenn prefers to dive in the warm waters of the Caribbean, she will never say no to the opportunity to go diving, even in Lake Ontario or Gilboa Quarry. Jenn’s favourite dive is always her next one and has had the amazing opportunity to travel all over the world on Float N’ Flag Group trips.
David’s interest in and fascination with the underwater world began in 2008 while on a snorkeling day trip as part of a vacation to Mexico. In the following year, David began his scuba diving education by completing his open water certification.
David is a year-round diver, enjoying both the cold waters of many local sites including Tobermory and the Niagara River, as well as warmer locales in the Caribbean and beyond.
David especially enjoys working with new divers and wants to help others share in and enjoy the experiences of what the world’s waters have to offer.
IDC Staff Instructor
Paul Cloutier
Paul’s underwater journey began while snorkeling on the Southern tip of the Great Barrier Reef in 2006. Float N Flag provided the expert training, safe diving mantra and contagious passion for diving in fresh and salt water, warm and cold water. His first salt water dive was in Wakatobi, Indonesia and has since done many dives in the South Pacific / Australian waters. His favorite dive sites include 1. Byron Bay, AU, protected marine-park where every dive is unique with incredible marine diversity & seasonal migration; 2. The black sand beach of Tulamben, Bali on the USAT Liberty wreck. He has pursued his strong interest of underwater photography making his dives exciting and memorable.
Paul lives in Burlington and has a career in IT management. He enjoys the occasional round of golf, biking, rudimental snare drumming and good music. Now that he has attained Staff Instructor, he is looking forward to new responsibilities with the teaching team.
Instructor
Gary Holmes
For Gary, the underwater world was open to him while snorkelling in the Caribbean. His fascination with a myriad of colourful fish and endless varieties of corals lead to the decision to become an Open Water diver in 2009. A dive at Gulliver’s Lake resulting in a close encounter with a small bass was the catalyst to further his dive skills and diver education. Both warm and cold water experiences coupled with taking several courses resulting in achieving Master Scuba Diver ranking. His desire to share his enthusiasm and experiences with new divers plus wanting to help them become certified propelled Gary to recently becoming a Dive Master. Gary’s favourite cold water destination are the wrecks of Tobermory while a return to Little Cayman would be a definite repeat dive trip.
Instructor
George Ward
George became interested in diving as a child, watching “The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau” TV Show with his Father on Friday nights. He made his first dive at the age of 11 in his grandparents pool and was hooked. At the age of 15, almost 40 years ago, he became certified with his Father through Float’nFlag and then dove with his Father for a few years until school, career, marriage and children took him away from the sport. He would snorkel on vacation with his young family and then in 2014 he re-certified with his teenage children, and has been enthusiastically expanding his experience and training ever since. An avid Caribbean warm water Recreational Diver, he also has a passion for the discipline, planning and challenge of Technical Diving in Canada’s cold depths. As a new Instructor with Float N’ Flag, he’s anxious to share his enthusiasm and love of the sport with anyone he works with.
Staff, Divemaster
Martin Smith
I have been diving for 4 years. What started out as snorkelling excursion 10 years ago while on vacation in the Dominican Republic lead to wanting to explore more of the underwater world.
What started out as something to do on vacation has lead to a lot more involvement and enjoyment of the sport than I ever would have imagined. I have a Master Diver certification almost 200 dives and have become a Divemaster. The chance to dive and work with the great community of Divers here at Float N Flag has lead to meeting a lot of great people, fun and adventures that I look forward to continuing for a long time to come.
Instructor
Les Thomas
Les got his open water certification in 89 but like many new divers didn’t keep at it. While on a trip to Thailand in 2006 he decided to take a refresher course and the diving bug was reignited. A self-proclaimed warm water diver for many years Les said he’d never dive in Canada or any other cold water. Wanting to keep his skills up between trips he took some specialty courses and saw that cold water can make for some great diving. After buying a drysuit (and then another) Les now dives year round and enjoys the wrecks around Tobermory, Brockville, Kingston and Lake Erie. Some of his favorite dives though are still in warm water with some great memories and stories after a bucket list trip to the Maldives.
Les is an active Tec diver and became an open water instructor in 2015. He is currently in the process of obtaining his Tec Trimix certification. He says Tec diving isn’t about the depths but more about learning new aspects of diving, becoming a more skilled diver and being a part of the dive community.
Instructor
Dale McKnight
Divemaster
Lisa Marshall
Lisa has spent many years in and around the water. She became an Open Water diver in the spring of 2015, and after a trip to Tobermory with the shop that summer she was hooked. Lisa is excited to help new divers discover the underwater world. She has just become a Divemaster and is excited to see many new open water divers.
Divemaster
Rob Longridge
Divemaster
Trevor Maclean
Trevor’s interest in underwater activity started at the age of 5 when he got to try out scuba diving from the shores of Georgian bay. The real adventure started with achieving his open water diver in 2010 with Float N’ Flag. Since then its been an ongoing progression. Having just completed the Dive Master course in July of 2019, he also looks forward to becoming a Technical diver. Although warm or cold water doesn’t matter, Trevor enjoys the warm waters of the south and relishes each experience. Favourite dive destinations include Cozumel, Roatan, Cuba and Tobermory. As for continuing his education, Trevor enjoys assisting new open water divers in their underwater journey and hopes to be an Instructor in the future. He can be found residing in the Muskoka area, but no dive is too far. “Having an opportunity to explore all of what the ocean has to offer will never cease to amaze me.”
Divemaster
Bruce Lord
Bruce completed his Open Water certification in the summer of 2017 so that he could do something epic on his 50th birthday, and turning 50 while diving fifty feet under the water in Bonaire was exactly that. This one trip sparked a passion that quickly grew — more courses, more training, more trips, and a growing appreciation for how kind, helpful, and supportive fellow scuba divers and the exceptional staff at Float N’ Flag were along the journey. Bruce has noted that providing help to new divers similar to what he received early on in his diving career has been immensely gratifying and was the catalyst behind becoming a certified Divemaster in 2019. There are two things that Bruce looks forward to in the future: seeing Manta Rays once again swim over his head in the South Pacific, and seeing the smiles that newly certified Open Water divers have as they begin their own lifelong scuba adventure.
Divemaster
Pat Boyle
At an early age, Pat showed a love for being on, and in, the water. He enjoyed a multitude of watersports activities such as sailing, canoeing, powerboating, water skiing, wakeboarding, fishing, swimming and snorkeling. Being drawn to the water, it only felt natural to learn to SCUBA dive. In 2007, Pat plunged into water and completed his open water certification, beginning his diving career. Since then he has progressed through his Advanced, Rescue, Master Scuba diver, Dive Master and a variety of specialty dive courses. Being able to share and pass on the passion for the water and SCUBA diving in particular is very important to Pat. His Favorite Canadian cold water diving sites would be the Arabia and Forest City in Tobermory.
Staff, Instructor Candidate
Chris Grieve
I began diving in 1999 after taking the ACUC open water course in Peterborough while in college. I moved over to PADI in 2000 when I took my Advanced Open Water diver course. The majority of my early diving diving was in the St. Clair River and Lake Huron. After a 10 year hiatus from the diving, I came to Float N’ Flag where my love of the scuba adventure was rekindled with some additional courses and dive travel, both in cold and warm waters! Underwater is one of the places where I get an escape from the craziness of life and work. I am a wreck diver at heart, but am always in pursuit of my next amazing aquatic animal encounter. In 2021, my son and I went on the FNF trip to the Amazon and Galapagos, which was a life changing experience for both of us! Outside of diving, I am classic and modern car admirer, an avid traveler and a player of bagpipes!! See you in the water!
Staff, Instructor Candidate
David Loveland
I began scuba diving in my teens, later taking time away from the sport to build a career and have a family. But now that my kids are adults, I have returned to scuba diving with renewed passion. I became a Float N’ Flag Staff Member and achieved my PADI Divemaster certification in 2021. I’m fortunate in that I enjoy both local diving and International travel, journeying to see the world underwater in places like Cozumel, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Aruba, and most recently, Belize. I’m looking forward to diving in such destinations as Curacao, the Maldives, Scapa Flow, Newfoundland, the BC Coast, Roatan and the Red Sea, just to name a few.
As noted, I’m proud to have earned the PADI Divemaster certification and I continue to have a lot of fun working at Float N’ Flag. Having been a coach for minor sports, I really enjoy helping Float N’ Flag Instructors show students the endless fun, learning and adventure that they will enjoy scuba diving.
If you don’t find me at the shop, then look under the water. You will most likely find me there!
I live in Burlington and am married with two grown children (also both divers trained by Float N’ Flag).
Divemaster
Mary Taylor
Mary began diving in 1985 and has had amazing diving experiences all around the world, with favourite places being the Maldives, the Great Barrier Reef, Indonesia and the Galapagos. She has been on more than a dozen liveaboard trips and loves them, as she feels they provide access to remote dive sites and chances to encounter incredible marine life.
After more than 30 years of recreational diving, Mary decided to add to her scuba training by becoming a Divemaster and taking TEC diving courses. Her future plans include putting her TEC diving skills to use in exciting places and revisiting cold water diving in Canada – in a drysuit this time around!
Instructor Candidate
Lisa’s Galeazza
Lisa started diving in December 2018 while on vacation in Dominican Republic, completing just over 40 dives in 5 weeks, she was hooked. Lisa has always had a love for the water, tropical fish and dolphins. Upon returning home, she pursued her career as a PADI professional, by completing various speciality certifications with the intention of becoming a Divemaster, which she achieved in September 2020. Lisa is excited to help new divers discover the underwater world and all its many wonders. Lisa looks forward to using her Divemaster certification to combat the invasive Lionfish problem which is harming the reefs and juvenile fish in the oceans.
Instructor Candidate
Kevin Towns
Kevin began diving in the ‘80s, however life and family occupied his time. He rekindled his love for diving while on vacation in Dominican Republic, where he introduced his girlfriend, Lisa to diving. Upon returning home, Kevin recertified as a PADI Rescue Diver in 2018. Kevin successfully completed his Divemaster certification in September 2020. Kevin hopes to combat the Lionfish problem with Lisa to preserve the reefs for future generations.
Instructor Candidate
Samantha Krbavac
Divemaster
John Nicholson
I commenced diving back in 2011 with a PADI Discover Scuba diving course in the Bahamas and ended up completing a wreck dive off Paradise Island – a little hesitant, not fully knowing what to expect but excited and filled with adrenaline! Float N’ Flag was such an awesome place to train, and I didn’t consider anyone else when it came to training my own children. The team at FNF was incredible with them and continues to follow their scuba journey with enthusiasm. I have just completed my Divemaster course with FNF in 2022, and I look forward to working with our new dive students as they embark upon a path of adventure and self-discovery of one’s self – both physical and mental! See you underwater!
Divemaster
Christen Flemons
Christen started diving in 2015 fulfilling a lifelong dream of breathing underwater. She started practising freediving from a very young age, and couldn’t wait to extend her time in the underwater world. She recently completed her Divemaster certification and loves helping new divers. Her favourite place she’s travelled to so far was the Galapagos Islands, the highlight being diving with whale sharks and hammerheads. She also loves local drift diving in the Niagara river, and spooky night dives on the shipwrecks in Tobermory. She enjoys spending more time behind the camera than in front of it, and is thrilled to have extended her dive season in style with a shiny new drysuit.
Divemaster
Colleen Williamson
I started my diving adventure over 30 years ago, and have been fortunate to have my dive journey take me to incredible destinations all over the world. While that was incredible, joining the community at Float N’ Flag a few years ago was a completely transformational experience. I took several classes and learned so much as a diver. My only regret is that I didn’t find them sooner. From high level skill development, and unwavering focus on safety and the most inclusive and welcoming community I’ve ever experienced, the staff team at Float N’ Flag has been amazing to work with, both as a student and as a fellow staff member. I achieved my Divemaster certification in 2019 and am looking forward to giving back while on the journey to Assistant Instructor.
Divemaster Candidate
Blake Snyder
Divemaster Candidate
James Jarvie
My first diving experience was way back in 1996 in UK when some friends of mine cajoled me into completing a PADI open water dive certificate course in a chilly 5DegC stone quarry. A few months later I ended up emigrated to Canada and life -and skiing- got in the way of diving so it wasn’t until 2003 that I went on vacation to the Dominican Rep and my diving journey really started. That said, despite really enjoying the warm water dive, it wasn’t until 2008 when Lisane completed her open water dive certification with Fn’F and we went to Roatan where we became great friends with a couple on the trip (as you do!) and with them diving became a thing we did for a break from skiing nearly every winter. If my log book tells a story it would suggest our favourite dive destinations are Cozumel and Roatan but I have been fortunate to dive in other great places including two memorable business trips that I made into dive trips to the gulf of Thailand and the gulf of Oman. I want to continually improve my diving knowledge and skills and with that in mind I am currently a divemaster trainee with Fn’F and I am hoping this gives me an opportunity to learn from others in the Fn’F team as well as share my enthusiasm for diving to others.
After 32 years as an aerospace engineer I am now retired and in addition to scuba I am a certified ski instructor.
VOTED AS CANADA’S #1 DIVE SHOP | TRAINING HAPPY DIVERS FOR OVER 40 YEARS
