KEN KURTIS Ken Kurtis was kicked out of swim class twice by the time he was six. (He didn't like putting his face in the water.) Hardly an auspicious start to a diving career. But Ken always loved being around the water, loved looking at fish, and in 1978 while running a radio station in Richmond, VA, was offered a chance to get certified and took advantage of it. Ken then became a NAUI Instructor (Top Candidate at his 1980 ITC) and has taught thousands of people over the years. He doesn't teach as much as he used to when the brick-and-mortar store was open, but still likes teaching Fish Identification and a few others. Ken's logged over 6,000 dives all over the world in such varied places as the Maldives, Indonesia, Yap, Tahiti, Bonaire, Cocos, Alaska, Easter Island and, of course, his beloved waters of Southern California. As the owner of Reef Seekers Dive Co., he speaks frequently to dive clubs about diving and especially safety issues. Ken's been chairman of Chamber Day/Eve since the early 90s, served as a member of the Statewide Interests Group for the MLPA (Marine Life Protection Act), and is a volunteer Dive Team Leader at the Aquarium of the Pacific. Ken's an accomplished photographer and his photos and stories can be found in the pages of the California Diving News, Sport Diver, Skin Diver, Undercurrent and other scuba publications, along with the monthly Reef Seekers newsletter. Since 2003, Ken has been a Forensic Consultant to the L.A. County Coroner for scuba fatalities, doing accident analysis. With all that he still finds time to maintain an acting career and leads all of the local and foreign trips for Reef Seekers. He's a very good cook, avid Scrabble & Boggle player, chases total solar eclipses, ran five L.A. Marathons, and is kind to animals and small children. Be sure to ask him his mantra about divers. He also claims to hold the Reef Seekers deep diving record of 3500' . . . but we have to add the caveat that he did it in the Alvin submersible for a PBS special so that might be cheating.

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