Marianne Preker
Hi! I’m Marianne. I am the one on the left in the above photo (the beluga on the right is a good friend). I am owner, CFO and CGC (chief garbage collector) for Underwater Safaris. I did my first dive in 1968. In 2001, I was inaugurated into the Women Diver’s Hall of Fame. Lots has happened in between.
I became a PADI instructor in 1986 and left my counseling career in 1987 to open Underwater Safaris. I never forget the exhilaration of my first breath underwater nor have I forgotten the fear of clearing my mask. Through the years, I have trained way over a thousand divers.
I’ve been lucky to have logged over 3,000 dives in Caribbean and Pacific locations: Cazumel, Akumal, Bahamas, Cayman, Cuba, Bonaire, Turks and Caicos, South Africa, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Galapagos, Australia, Belize, Roatan, Red Sea, Baja, Palau, Chuuk (Truk), Papua New Guinea, Costa Rica, Cocos and Sicorro Islands, Indonesia and Hawaii. I have 24 years experience in SCUBA instruction at the high school, college and adult education levels.
In 1987, I became co-founder and president of the Underwater Safaris Fund for Marine Awareness (USFMA), an Illinois 501(c)3 not for profit organization which raises $$ to support scuba and ocean related projects. Currently, USFMA supports the Underwater Safaris deaf diver program, programs for inner city teens, schools in Roatan and Papua New Guinnea.
From 1987-1995 I divemastered for the Shedd Aquarium’s Reasearch Vessel in the Bahamas. I think Sheed liked that I was a girl with a big insurance policy. It was great! I absorbed info on marine life from some the smartest folks in the business.
Through the years, I have acted as scuba consultant for Encyclopedia Britannica, Hardy Boys Books, Field Museum of Natural History and Baltimore Aquarium. Shedd Aquarium hired me as a Marine Biology Instructor and Dive Safety Committee Adviser.
In 1991, I became a Handicapped Scuba Association Instructor and a HSA Course Director in 1998. Our program for disabled divers received international acclaim. Currently, our program for deaf divers is the only one of its kind in the country.
In 1998, Sam Frank (Underwater Archeology Society of Chicago) and I founded the Lake Michigan Shipwreck Buoy Program, organizing fund raising among Chicago area dive stores to purchase and install permanent buoys on many of the favorite wrecks.
Favorite part of my Job? I love talking to people about diving and dive travel. I feel lucky to earn my living doing what I love. I still enjoy teaching and selling gear. I have never forgotten what it’s like to take your first breath underwater. I haven’t forgotten the fear either.
Best Dives? (1) My friend Maryellen and I hanging out with the hammerheads in Galapogos, 2001; (2) My husband Saul, me and a disabled diver Sue Burka hanging with dolphins in Cozumel (see the story in Chicken Soup for the Ocean Lover’s Soul, 2002); (3) Great White Shark diving in South Africa.
Gear? I love my Libra BCD and my Poseidon Cyclon 5000 Regulator. I have a Cobra computer and learned in Truk 2004 that a backup computer is a good idea. My backup? A Yellow Suunto Mosquito. Check out my fins… the Twinjets… I have dove with just about every fin on the market. They were fine. Then I tried the Twinjets… whoa! I could paddle upstream in Cozumel’s currents for the first time.
Oh, that Women Diver’s Hall of Fame thing, I guess they think that diving with Quadriplegics or people who are deaf is unusual. To me, it’s just part of an ordinary days work. Looking forward to seeing you underwater.
