When you meet Joel you will find he really loves diving! It is a release from the everyday stresses of life and it is quiet; there are no phones or text messages to answer.
And yes, Joel is related to “that” family. His Uncle John was the head of the Milton Hershey School, in Hershey Pennsylvania. However, his background was far from the chocolate factory. He was raised on a farm in rural Ohio. He will tell you, I was raised on a chicken and egg farm with 10,000 chickens, 100 steers and 100 pigs, along with some brothers and sisters.
He moved away from the farm and did a number of things over the years including managing bars in Hawaii and Houston. Today, he owns his own company, Loop Legal Services, which provides a number of services to small to medium sized law firms including serving legal documents.
Joel started his diving education with his youngest son Travis. Thirteen years later, they both still love diving. But like many of our staff, his hobby slowly got out of control and he moved up into the Dive Leader program a few years later.
In addition to being an Open Water Instructor he is a technical diver and a Closed Circuit Rebreather diver. He finds this level of diving to be a challenge and it keeps him learning new things which he can then turn around and share in a different way with his recreational students.
He is fun to be around and enjoys meeting people and talking about a variety of topics including diving. Perhaps it is due to the time he spent managing bars and clubs but, Joel will talk to anyone. On non-diving weekends, you may find him at the Redneck Country Club listening to live music or riding his motorcycle on a quiet Texas road.
His dive travels have taken him throughout the Caribbean and the United States. He especially loves diving in Grand Cayman
