Tom Hemphill was attracted to the water and the underwater world as a very young boy. His father was a research biologist at Hanford, Washington where he conducted studies of the animals that lived near and in the Columbia River around the nuclear reactor reservation. His Dad was also an avid tropical fish breeder at home and Tom grew up watching the fish in the many aquariums around the house.
In summer of 1959, at the age of 14, Tom experienced Scuba diving for the first time. He recalls that he felt no fear or concerns. Although he could not see much underwater in this rock quarry, not even another diver unless they bumped into each other, he enjoyed looking at the little snails and crawfish.
Through the 1960s, Tom made hundreds of sport dives from northern California to Canada, primarily spear fishing and food gathering. He made his first Columbia River commercial dive at the Vancouver, WA shipyards in 1966. He began assisting with dive classes in 1967. He got his first Nikonos underwater camera in 1969.
In 1971, Tom successfully completed a NAUI Instructor Certification Course and began his career as a Scuba Instructor. He taught classes for Aquarius Underwater Center in SW Portland for four years. Aquarius was built in 1971 and was the most professional diving center on the west coast. The facility had a deep indoor pool and large class classroom for training. The retail store was well laid out and well stocked. The primary theme for the store was training and travel. The owner, Gary Rubottom, was a former Aqua Lung (US Divers) sales rep and had a lot of experience diving in tropical destinations.
Tom founded Underwater Instructors, Inc. in 1974 and established a diving retail store and training facility in Vancouver, Washington. From 1971 – 1983, Tom trained more than 3,000 new divers. He also trained scores of divers to Master Diver and Leadership levels. He led numerous dive group vacation tours to many tropical destinations, including Hawaii, Micronesia, Mexico, Grand Cayman, Bahamas, and many other destinations from southern California to Alaska.
1983, Tom accepted a position with The Ocean Corporation in Houston, Texas. His mission was to develop a new Commercial Diving Specialist program for specialty dive teams, including scientific research, public service dive rescue, underwater investigation, marine engineering and inspection, underwater film crews, etc.
1985, Tom was hired by NAUI as a regional representative for Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi and New Mexico. In 1986 he moved to NAUI Headquarters in California and assumed the position of National Sales Manager and Senior Business Consultant.
1987, Tom established Emerald Seas International, Ltd. 1988, he moved back to the Pacific Northwest. While still working for NAUI as a contract consultant, and managing the Commercial Diving Specialist programs, Tom focused on training Scuba Instructors and assisting dive stores with their new business start-ups and marketing.
1989, Tom organized a pilot dive destination program for a resort in the San Juan Islands, on Orcas Island. After one successful season, he decided to move the operation to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island and in 1990, he and his wife Linda moved to Friday Harbor to run their new venture, Emerald Seas Diving & Marine Center.
1995, Tom was elected to the NAUI Board of Directors. He served on the board for eight years and was an officer every year, including Chairman of the Board in 2002.
1999, after 10 years of operating Emerald Seas Diving & Marine Center, Tom & Linda decided to sell the business. Tom continued to focus on NAUI Instructor development and business consulting.
Tom lived through the years of diving development. His passion is in education and the preservation of diving history related to the people who pioneered diving.
Tom’s Interest in Preserving Diving History
When I began diving in 1959, we did not have submersible pressure gauges, buoyancy compensators, integrated weight systems, etc. We did not have a formal, organized and standardized Scuba training program available to us. I read The Silent World, by Jacques Cousteau, and learned about diving techniques from that. Then I went underwater.
I have lived through the evolution of sport diving and diving education for the past 50 years. I still have the first new regulator that I bought in 1966. I started diving with a well-used regulator that I got from a former Navy diver.
I began collecting old diving equipment, books and other memorabilia more than 40 years ago. I have a modest collection of diving equipment dating back to the 1940s.
My primary interest is preserving the stories of the people who pioneered Scuba diving. I especially would like to document events and contributions to the development of diving that honor the many common people who made a difference.
I believe that the success of the diving industry is directly related to the quality in diving education. I would like to focus my efforts on documenting and presenting the stories of the many Scuba instructors that devoted their lives to training people to enjoy the underwater world.
Many of these “unsung heroes” are not well known throughout the greater diving industry. But they are local celebrities.
There are hundreds of diving educators who devoted many years to improve diving educational techniques, develop specialty diving programs, guide divers to experience new adventures, and motivate divers to move on to become educators and other diving professionals.
Teaching diving and mentoring people who are pursuing business and careers in diving have been Tom’s primary passion.
My plan for my personal contribution to the NW Diving History Association is to seek out the diving leaders of the past and get their stories and photos. I believe that the true history of diving is with the people.
Tom Hemphill
NAUI Instructor 2491