Joe Laposta

Joe Laposta is the “Joe” in Joe’s Scuba.

Joe’s passion for scuba diving began after taking his initial scuba course in 2008. He was immediately hooked and spend every spare moment working on the boat, diving in his backyard lake or volunteering at the South Carolina Aquarium.

In 2017, Joe took a month long extended trip to Florida doing an intense instructor training course to become a PADI Master Scuba Diving Trainer, Handicap Scuba Instructor, and Tank/Equipment service technician.

Joe loves to travel for scuba diving and has dove all over the world. Some of his favorite dive locations are Belize, Bonaire, Indonesia, and Timor-Leste. Another of Joe’s favorite types of dives are blackwater dives in the Cooper River. It is quite satisfying to come back from a dive with a megalodon tooth souvenir!

The SDI specialties Joe can teach are:

  • Adult and Child Emergency Care
  • Advanced Buoyancy
  • Air Fill Station Technician
  • Bloodborne Pathogens
  • Boat Diving
  • Booster Operator (TDI)
  • Computer Diver
  • Computer Nitrox
  • Deep
  • Diver Propulsion Vehicle (DPV)
  • Drift
  • Dry Suit Diving
  • Equipment O2 Service Technician
  • Full Face Mask
  • Lionfish Awareness
  • Lionfish Eradication
  • Marine Ecosystems Awareness
  • Night/Limited Visibility
  • Nitrox Gas Blender
  • Oxygen Administration
  • Research Diving
  • Scubility
  • Search and Recovery
  • Shore and Beach Diving
  • Snorkeling
  • Solo Diving
  • Surface Supplied
  • Underwater Hunter and Collecting
  • Underwater Navigator
  • Underwater Photography
  • Underwater Video
  • Visual Inspector (VIP)
  • Wreck
  • The PADI specialties Joe can teach are:

  • Boat Diving
  • Deep
  • Dive Against Debris
  • Diver Propulsion Vehicle (DPV)
  • Drift
  • Emergency Oxygen Provider
  • Enriched Air Nitrox
  • Equipment Specialist
  • Full Face Mask
  • Gas Blender
  • Night
  • Peak Performance Buoyancy
  • Search and Recovery
  • Self-Reliant Diver
  • Underwater Navigator
  • Wreck
  • James Comfort

    James Comfort brings a ton of experience to the table! James started diving with the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office Underwater Recovery Team in 2016, learning to conduct underwater crime scene investigations to recover victims, weapons, vehicles, or other evidence, and frequently conducting searches for underwater explosive devices with other state and federal agencies.

    James is currently certified as a Trimix Diver / Closed Circuit Rebreather diver and his favorite dives are deep wrecks, but does frequently conduct blackwater diving for fossils locally in the Cooper River, or spearfishing offshore Charleston.  He is looking forward to instructing more students as one of our newest instructors!

    The SDI specialties James can teach are:

  • Adult and Child Emergency Care
  • Air Fill Station Technician
  • Bloodborne Pathogens
  • Computer Diver
  • Computer Nitrox
  • Deep
  • Dry Suit Diving
  • Oxygen Administration
  • Snorkeling
  • Solo Diving
  • Wreck
  • Micah Leigh

    Micah Leigh is a brand new PADI and SDI scuba instructor. Micah started diving in 2020 and just couldn’t stop! Micah’s open water class with Joe was actually halfway through when the world shut down for the pandemic. He didn’t give up, and he finished a few months later.

    Micah rapidly progressed through his diving certifications and got to spend almost a month in Florida completing his Divemaster and Open Water Scuba Instructor certifications in early 2022.

    He is super excited to share his passion for diving with new students and continue to grow in his scuba experiences!

    The SDI specialties Micah can teach are:

  • Adult and Child Emergency Care
  • Advanced Buoyancy
  • Bloodborne Pathogens
  • Boat Diving
  • Computer Diver
  • Computer Nitrox
  • Deep
  • Marine Ecosystems Awareness
  • Oxygen Administration
  • Shore and Beach Diving
  • Snorkeling
  • Underwater Navigator
  • Wreck
  • The PADI specialties Micah can teach are:

  • Peak Performance Buoyancy
  • Mendi Johnson

    Mendi Johnson has been diving since 1999 and has been an instructor since 2001. Her diving started in the west – Washington, California, Montana, Wyoming and Idaho with a favorite spot being the Firehole River in Yellowstone National Park.

    She moved from the west to be an Instructor on a live-aboard in Belize which then led her to a resort in the Dominican Republic, and finally to a dive store in Florida. She has enjoyed many Caribbean destinations.

    Mendi has been an independent instructor in Charleston since 2009 and has been offshore diving here as well as blackwater diving in the Cooper and Wando Rivers for relics and fossils. Her bucket list dive trips are the Red Sea and Indonesia.

    The SDI specialties Mendi can teach are:

  • Advanced Buoyancy
  • Altitude Diving
  • Boat Diving
  • Computer Diver
  • Computer Nitrox
  • Deep
  • Drift Diving
  • Dry Suit Diving
  • Marine Ecosystems Awareness
  • Night/Limited Visibility
  • Shore and Beach Diving
  • Snorkeling
  • Underwater Hunter and Collecting
  • Mark Weninger

    Mark Weninger’s diving career started late in life. Looking to fulfill his dreams as a professional, he started interning, divemastering, and working as a deck hand on a charter boat. He has travelled for diving to such places as Bora Bora, Honduras, Barbados, Grenada, and Cozumel.

    Mark realized teaching and helping others learn was what he loved most. It was time to step up as an instructor. Mark earned both his PADI and SDI instructor ratings. He is also a volunteer diver at South Carolina Aquarium.

    Mark loves the smiles from his students when they take their first plunge into his underwater classroom!

    Why does Mark dive? Simple. It’s fun!

    The SDI specialties Mark can teach are:

  • Advanced Buoyancy
  • Boat Diving
  • Computer Diver
  • Computer Nitrox
  • Coral Conservation
  • Deep
  • Full Face Mask
  • Full Face Mask Communications
  • Marine Ecosystems Awareness
  • Night/Limited Visibility
  • Research Diving
  • Search and Recovery Diver
  • Shark Awareness
  • Shark Diver
  • Shore and Beach Diving
  • Snorkeling
  • Underwater Digital Photography
  • Underwater Photography
  • Underwater Naturalist
  • Underwater Navigation
  • Wreck
  • Melannie Bachman

    Melannie Bachman is a published marine scientist by training, and has been fortunate to have experienced our underwater world from both scientific and recreational standpoints around the globe. After working in remote areas of Indonesia studying coral reefs and marine mammals, she began her journey as a dive instructor. She felt she could make a bigger impact with preserving our marine ecosystem by improving connections between people and the environment through diving. She is both a Scuba diving and Freediving instructor with numerous teaching specialties as well as a certified Yoga Instructor.

    As a breast cancer survivor, she aims to create an alternative healing program for other survivors integrating the wonderful benefits of diving and yoga. Mel has instructed through PADI & SSI, and is excited to now teach for PFI and SDI.

    The SDI and PFI specialties Melannie can teach are:

  • Advanced Buoyancy
  • Boat Diving
  • Computer Diver
  • Computer Nitrox
  • Drift
  • Marine Ecosystems Awareness
  • Mermaid
  • Night/Limited Visibility
  • Search and Recovery Diver
  • Shark Awareness
  • Shore and Beach Diving
  • Snorkeling
  • Turtle Diver
  • Freediving
  • Underwater Navigation
  • Wreck
  • John Baker

    John fell in love with diving in high school. During college he worked as a divemaster for several shops and spent a serious amount of time underwater. After graduation, he earned his dive instructor certification.

    Besides teaching scuba, John’s passion is exploration and technical diving. John has dived to 300+ft on some of his adventures, dived the Andrea Doria, the U869, dives rebreathers, and has salvaged everything from airplanes to cars.

    John has taught 1000’s of dive courses ranging from open water to technical trimix diving. He is also an instructor trainer, technical diving instructor trainer, and a course director trainer. John can help you achieve your goal of becoming a diver, dive instructor, and even a course director!

    John is a USCG Master Captain and runs dive charters for spearfishing, wreck, and ledge diving off the South Carolina coast. His favorite place to dive in the world is offshore Charleston, SC.

    The SDI specialties John can teach are:

  • Adult and Child Emergency Care
  • Advanced Buoyancy
  • Advanced Gas Blending
  • Advanced Nitrox
  • Advanced Trimix
  • Advanced Wreck
  • Air Fill Station Technician
  • Bloodborne Pathogens
  • Boat Diving
  • Computer Diver
  • Computer Nitrox
  • Decompression Procedures
  • Deep
  • Deep Six Equipment Service
  • Drift
  • Dry Suit Diving
  • Extended Range
  • Helitrox (TDI)
  • Intro to Tech Diving
  • Lionfish Eradication
  • Marine Ecosystems Awareness
  • Night/Limited Visibility
  • Nitrox Gas Blender
  • Oxygen Administration
  • Research Diving
  • Scubility
  • Search and Recovery
  • SF2 ECCR Air Diluent
  • Shore and Beach Diving
  • Sidemount (SDI/TDI)
  • Snorkeling
  • Solo Diving
  • Technical DPV
  • Trimix
  • Underwater Hunter and Collecting
  • Underwater Navigator
  • Underwater Photography
  • Underwater Video
  • Wreck