CALL TO BOOK YOUR TRIP
Scuba Travel Ventures, Inc., celebrating its 18th Anniversary, was founded in 1994 in beautiful San Diego, California. Our primary goal of providing worldwide assistance to dive and adventure travelers who wish to discover and explore the phenomenal reefs or perhaps the truly spectacular land excursions we can offer.
STV is a specialist dive tour and adventure travel wholesaler agency providing tours and travel arrangements for groups and individuals to destinations around the world. We are the preferred worldwide dive and adventure travel wholesaler for the discerning traveler. STV, is a registered California corporation.
STV’s Mission Statement - Providing the most complete and professional knowledge and service about where to dive, when to dive, and the most affordable way to get you there.
“With the most spectacular worldwide diving literally at your finger tips, enjoy what thousands of our clients have experienced over the last 18 years. I can assure you STV’s staff is the most experienced and has the genuine excitement, unmatched in the industry, to make your holiday venture the best it can possibly be. We welcome the opportunity to work with you.”
Teresa Cabading - Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Scuba Travel Ventures, Inc.
STV has, without a doubt, the most qualified, knowledgeable and experienced dive staff in the dive travel industry. From top to bottom, their expertise of diving, dive sites, destinations, resorts and live-aboard vessels remains unchallenged. STV staffers are invaluable resources to every kind of dive traveler, from newbies and open water dive vets to savvy technical divers and accomplished professional underwater photographers.
“When I think about going on a dive trip, I get excited about what marine life I should expect to see. But I also like to learn about the location or geography of the destination and its people, culture and history. So for me, it’s fascinating to learn that the former British Colony of St. Lucia’s two main towns have French names, or why English is the primary language of Honduras’s Bay Islands, when the rest of the country speaks Spanish, or why North Sulawesi, in Indonesia, is primarily Christian in an otherwise Muslim country. My favorite destinations really are based upon my interests and mood at the time and what type of experience I am looking for and how long I have for travel. I thoroughly enjoy helping clients explore their world and meeting their needs.”
Gene was first introduced to the ocean in his youth, growing up on Catalina Island, where during the summers he regularly dived for coins. At 15, he got certified as a Junior Scuba Diver and later in his adulthood, he became a PADI Dive Master. He went on to become an Instructor and then went to work for STV.
“A dedicated employee for 12 years - does a little of everything at Scuba Travel Ventures. He sells travel packages, works some of the consumer shows, assists other STV travel specialists, and finds and develops new places to go diving.
But Mike has another great passion besides diving. While driving in California, Nevada or Arizona, in his silver Honda Ridgeline four-wheel drive pickup, if he spots any enticing dirt road off the blacktop, Mike takes it.
“I love off-roading,” says Mike, who grew up in Soledad, a small farming community in California’s Salinas Valley. “I’m a truck man. I don’t pull out a dune buggy, drive around in the sand and go home. I like to go hiking and climbing and explore nature. I learned to do that as a child, with my family.”
Family is of paramount importance to Mike. He has both a stepdaughter and biological daughter and five grandchildren, ranging from 8 months to 23 years old. At least three times a week, he says, he attends his grandkids’ soccer and baseball games.
Just as with his off-road adventures, Mike loves challenging his dive clients to go off the beaten path by booking trips to destinations rarely visited by Americans. “Going to places many people don’t know about, or places that aren’t really written about requires a real adventurous side,” Mike says. “I love exposing my clients to them.” Mike lists destinations in the South Pacific’s Melanesian corner – New Caledonia and Vanuatu – and the Tongan island of Eau as hot new diving frontiers. So if you ever call Mike about booking a dive vacation, expect this as his first question: “How adventurous do you want to be?”
“By joining STV, I now get to do what I love most. “I scope out dive shops that are afraid to go back to doing travel." I'm a native of Port St. Lucie, Fla. when at age 10, I used my free-diving skills to help my cousin catch lobsters. “I convinced them they can do it and make money.”
Warren – who handled travel for Durham, N.C.-based, Water World Marine Services before joining the STV team – has held a variety of diverse occupations. He is a U.S. Air Force veteran who served in the Presidential Honor Guard, owned his own auto body shop, made custom wood furniture and is also a web designer.
Warren earned his open water certification in 1999, organized individual and group dive trips for clients to Fiji, the Maldives, Indonesia, and throughout Caribbean – all of which turned profit. That helped earn him the STV position, and he quickly impressed other industry professionals at the recent DEMA Show.
Warren highly relishes his dive experiences in North Carolina, Utila, Cozumel, and throughout the Pacific Islands, but is most eager to dive in Indonesia and Micronesia. He is a passionate environmentalist eager to get dive shop owners to get clients to dive globally.
"I get to sell the concept of diving in beautiful places. STV can offer the dive shops administration of the trips. All they have to do is sell them."
“I help dive shops, dive clubs, families and individuals plan their next dive adventures. I’ve logged more than 2,000 dives and have traveled to more than 50 countries worldwide, leading dive tours. In my hometown, Laguna Beach, Calif., I helped start and run the Laguna Sea Dwellers Dive Club, which has more than 200 members. I still lead about four to six trips a year and have even been fortunate enough to have some of my underwater photographs published.”
Twenty-five years ago, Tom was certified as a Dive Master. He ran his own dive travel business before coming on board three years ago, with the STV family.
“I have been photographing one thing or another for over 35 years. Once I started diving, it was inevitable that I would shoot underwater as well. I started out in still photography, shot pro video for 12 years, and am currently shooting stills again. I love to travel and experience new cultures. Sharing these experiences with friends and clients brings me great satisfaction and it is a pleasure to organize and/or lead trips for like-minded explorers. My “bucket list” of dive destinations seems to grow longer every year as I learn about new and exciting places to visit. I hope this never changes.”
Randy was certified in 1992 and holds a NAUI Master Scuba Diver rating. He has visited over 40 countries and dived in 30 of them. He has vast liveaboard boat experience and underwater photo experience. His favorite underwater subjects are marine mammals and he has worked on several environmental causes on behalf of endangered species. He owns his own photography business, concentrating primarily on wildlife subjects.
Leave it to Scuba Travel Ventures to find two lovebirds like Rod and Liz Tuttle, who tied the knot last fall. They not only own The Dive Shack, in El Cajon, Calif., but they’ve also come on board with STV as our newest dive travel specialists.
“Since we started working with STV, we’ve had customers we haven’t seen in a while,” Rod says. “And they’ve come back and helped bring the older customers back to the store.”
Fiji, Bonaire, Roatan and Cozumel have so far been the most popular destinations for Rod’s and Liz’s clients. Through their work at STV, the couple helps divers live out their undersea dreams.
“We love making sure people fulfill their bucket lists and making sure they have a great time on their dive trips,” Rod says. “Doing the planning for them relieves them of the pressure of putting together the logistics.”
Liz says joining the STV team has relieved the couple of the burden of feeling as if they have to be walking dive encyclopedias for the clients.
“Working with STV, we have a network of other agents now, that we can share information with,” Liz says. “If we’re not familiar with specific resorts, they can help us with answers.””
Diving and arranging dive travel packages for their STV clients, though, keep them both young at heart. They say they’re enjoying making the transition from organizing only group trips to setting them up for individuals.
“If you do just groups trips, independent divers are unable, due to timing or other factors, to join the group,” Rod says. “By working with individuals now, we can help them fulfill their desires and needs to have some great dive travel experiences.”
Liz and Rod still enjoy leading group dive trips and are planning to host a trip a year from now to Palau and Chuuk (Truk).
Until then, she and Rod are happily fielding calls and emails from STV clients, asking them where their next dive trip should be.
“I get excited when people ask me, ‘where should I go?’” Liz says. “I enjoy opening those doors for them.”
“My diving experience is extensive, going back to 1982. I probably have over 3,000 dives logged dives, so a long time ago, I stopped counting and keeping a log book. I’ve dived in Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives, Indonesia, the Philippines, Palau, Truk, Fiji, Tonga and Egypt. I’m hoping to add the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea in the near future.”
“Chim” was born in Thailand, and has been living in the United States for almost 20 years. In her native country she was a diving pioneer, becoming Thailand’s first female NAUI Instructor and NAUI’s first female Instructor Trainer. Those feats are impressive, but even more so for someone whose first profession was architecture. She is also an avid hiker, camper and snow skier."We can create an unforgettable experience customized to your needs.
