Adventure Scuba Owner

BRENNAN BENDER

SSI ADVANCED OPEN WATER INSTRUCTOR, PADI MASTER SCUBA DIVER TRAINER, SSI & PADI SPECIALTY INSTRUCTOR

BRENNAN, A RENO NATIVE, TOOK HIS FIRST BREATHS UNDERWATER IN THE CAYMAN ISLANDS IN 2011, AND INSTANTLY FELL IN LOVE WITH DIVING. FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL YEARS, HE DOVE IN MANY EXOTIC LOCALES, INCLUDING HONDURAS, THE RED SEA, THE BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS, AND THAILAND, NOT TO MENTION SPENDING A LOT OF TIME IN OUR OWN BEAUTIFUL LAKE TAHOE AND OTHER LOCAL DIVE SPOTS.

IN 2015, HIS PASSION INSPIRED HIM TO MOVE TO AO NANG, THAILAND TO FULFILL HIS DESIRE OF BECOMING A PROFESSIONAL DIVER, FIRST AS A DIVEMASTER, THEN AS A FULL OPEN WATER INSTRUCTOR, ULTIMATELY WORKING HIS WAY TO BECOMING A PADI MASTER SCUBA DIVER TRAINER.

AFTER RETURNING TO HIS HOMETOWN, BRENNAN PURCHASED ADVENTURE SCUBA CENTER IN 2021 FROM SCOTT AND AMY HAGEN, FOR WHOM HE HAD WORKED FOR AS ONE OF THEIR PREMIER INSTRUCTORS.

AS BRENNAN AND HIS STAFF LOOK TO THE FUTURE, HIS PASSION FOR DIVING AND INSTRUCTION IS APPARENT IN EVERYTHING HE DOES, AND IS THE INSPIRATION BEHIND ADVENTURE SCUBA CENTER'S DRIVE TO BE NORTHERN NEVADA'S FAVORITE "PERSONAL TOUCH" DIVE CENTER.

Adventure Scuba Team Members

Andrew Rothwell

SSI Advanced Open Water Instructor, SSI Specialty Instructor

Born in Rhodesia and raised in South Africa, Andrew began his aquatic explorations at a very early age, playing and snorkeling in the tidal pools of the Indian Ocean at every opportunity.

Andrew moved to the United States in 1999, and settled in Reno in 2012 with his wife Amanda. He began his diving career in earnest in August of 2018 when he received his Open Water certification. He recounts his first breaths underwater as the exact moment he realized scuba diving was going to become a permanent part of his life and etching in stone his desire to become a dive instructor.

Less than two years later, Andrew achieved Divemaster, immediately followed by Assistant Instructor. In April of 2022, Andrew realized his dream, becoming a full Open Water Instructor at the SSI training and exam series held in the Dominican Republic.

Andrew prides himself on the multitude of specialty certifications he is qualified to teach, including Dry Suit, Sidemount, DPV, and many more. His current passion is his quest to achieve his "Classified Diver Instructor" rating, and to develop Adventure Scuba Center's adaptive training program, allowing him to bring his love of diving to students with limited mobility and/or sensory disorders, who would otherwise be unable to experience the wonders of the underwater environment.

Steve Clark

SSI Advanced Open Water Instructor, PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor, SSI Specialty Instructor

Steve is the latest addition to Adventure Scuba Center's Instructor cadre. Steve grew up in Incline Village on the north shore of Lake Tahoe, and has always called the Reno/Tahoe area home. Steve received his Open Water certification in the Spring of 1997, and completed his Advanced and Rescue Diver programs by the end of Summer that same year. He spent the next 25 years diving up and down the West Coast, Baja Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and of course, Lake Tahoe.

In April of 2021, Steve retired as a Captain from the Reno Fire Department after a 30-year career as a fireman/medic, public safety diver, and swift-water rescue technician. To keep the grass from growing under his feet, Steve wandered into Adventure Scuba Center in March of 2022 and restarted his pursuit of his PADI Divemaster certification, something he had begun some 20 years earlier. Achieving his goal in September of that same year, Steve set his sights on Instructor. In February of 2023, Steve received his PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor rating in Destin, FL, and crossed over to SSI in April, receiving his dual-agency instructor rating. Steve also teaches a variety of dive specialties including Enriched Air/Nitrox, Dry Suit, Night/Limited Visibility, Altitude, as well as CPR and First Aid.

Steve's passion for the sport is evident in his "uniquely irreverent" style of instruction, blending an emphasis on the fun of diving, with the importance of mastering the safety and fundamental skillset necessary for his students to become confident and competent divers.

Tia Speirs

SSI Assistant Scuba Instructor, SSI Mermaid Instructor, SSI Specialty Instructor, SSI Ecology Instructor, CPR/AED, O2 and First Aid Instructor.

Tia received her Open Water Certification with NAUI in 1994 in the Florida Keys and her PADI Advanced Scuba certification two years later.

In 2000, Tia moved back to Reno, her hometown, but continued diving the warm waters of Hawaii, the Caribbean and Mexico. She also continued her dive training, earning her PADI Rescue Diver rating as well as a multitude of PADI specialty certifications. In 2013, Tia started her professional diving career, becoming a PADI Divemaster, crossing over to SSI in 2020, and ultimately becoming an Assistant Dive Instructor with Adventure Scuba.

Aside from being an avid diver, Tia was also a Pediatric/PICU and NICU RN for 30 years, retiring in March of 2020. During the SSI crossover process that same year, Tia learned SSI offered a Mermaid Instructor certification. Delighted by this discovery, Tia immediately flew to Catalina, spending a week learning how to be a freediver, because Mermaids hold their breath rather than carrying a scuba tank on their back. Tia is now a “Real Mermaid” and teaches classes to children and adults on how they too can become Mermaids and Mermen just like her!

Tia prides herself on her ability to make people feel comfortable in the water, be it with scuba gear or with a Mermaid fin and tail. Her favorite class to teach is the Scuba Refresher, seeing the happiness on her students' faces as they rediscover the joy of diving!

So, if you have ever wanted to meet a “Real Mermaid”, we have one at Adventure Scuba!

Cassie Brown

SSI Divemaster

Raised in coastal Northern California by an avid surfer-dad, Cassie’s always felt most comfortable in the water. She grew up swimming competitively and playing in the ocean, with a nagging curiosity for what it might feel like to breathe beneath the surface.

Initially certified in Utila, Honduras in 2011, Cassie immediately fell in love with the sub-aquatic world. And while the demands of “surface life” kept her dry for the next decade, her passion for scuba diving still burned in the back of her mind. Insistent that she’d never be a “cold water” person, but itching to dive again, Cassie apprehensively enrolled in a refresher course in her current home, Lake Tahoe, in 2021. From that moment forward she was a woman changed, consumed by the underwater world, and eager to experience as much of it as possible.

Since then Cassie has split time between her homebase in Lake Tahoe and in the caves and coasts of Florida. It was the Sunshine State that sparked her passion for cave and wreck penetration, and where she pursues technical training every year. When back West, Cassie oscillates between the mountains and the sea to dive her two other favorite environments: alpine lakes and kelp forests. So much for not being a cold water person….

Cassie completed her Divemaster training with Adventure Scuba in the summer of 2023, and is eager to continue the path to instructor in 2024. As a career educator, she’s both passionate and methodical about inspiring “aha moments" in her students, enabling them to achieve what they might otherwise think is impossible.