Meet the Staff of the Progressive Diving Institute.

R. Peter Den Haan

By profession, Peter has been a Mechanical Engineer for more than 25 years. He has taken his engineering experience and implemented a high standard of training at Progressive Diving Institute and with its staff. With over a 3000 logged dives, Peter specializes in pushing the state of the art in both training and equipment, while maintaining the enjoyment of scuba diving as the priority for himself and the students.

Peter founded Progressive Diving Institute in 1994 with his mission to provide high quality instruction in all aspects of Scuba Diving from Basic to Instructor, as well as Technical and Rebreather Instruction. As an Instructor Trainer & Course Director he passes this philosophy on to his instructors.

Today Peter is a full time Scuba professional and Manufacturer’s rep. He has been training divers & instructors on rebreathers for the past 15 years starting with the Drager and including the MK 15 series, Megalodon, KISS, Inspiration and Evolution. He’s a Workshop Director for NAUI & NAUI Tec and conducts most of NAUI’s technical training in the US.

Peter has been involved in the development of training standards to make Closed Circuit Rebreather diving saver. He travels throughout the US & Europe to conduct technical training for NAUI and is their West coast representative as well. He’s also the National Sales Manager for Silent Diving Systems, the distributor for the Inspiration & Evolution rebreathers in North & South America.

Peter is an avid videographer shooting High Definition exclusively with the Sony Z1U  & EX1 with the Gates UW Housing and beliefs that the rebreather gives him many of the special encounters he’s gotten on film. Typically without the bubble noise, marine life doesn’t hear you coming, but instead DenHaan says, you will startle the fish. Recently, Peter has acquired a Nikon D200 with the new Light & Motion Housing for still photography.

Closed Circuit Rebreathers are a match made in heaven says DenHaan for Videography, Photography and exotic expeditions as it allows you to stay longer, go deeper and get that once in a lifetime encounter.
 

Tony Chan

Tony is the Assistant Director of Training for Progressive Diving Institute. He received his NAUI Instructor and Instructor Trainer certifications from PDI. He has also earned certifications of SDI Open Water Instructor, CPROX and TDI Advanced Nitrox, Decompression Procedures, Trimix, Advanced Trimix, VIP and Nitrox Instructor certifications.
He is a 1993 graduate of UC Santa Barbara, where he acquired significant teaching and coaching experience. A Santa Barbara resident since 1988, he takes advantage of the World Class diving at the Channel Islands whenever possible.
When Tony is not working or diving, you can find him relaxing on the golf course or refereeing College, High School, Pro Beach and USA Indoor and Outdoor Volleyball.

Rachel Hansen

Rachel is one of the original students of Progressive Diving Institute. She has come up through the ranks to become one of its Instructors. Her dive experiences have taken her all over the world from exotic Fiji to the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, but the Channel Islands are still her favorite diving.

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