Saul Preker
Hi! I’m Saul, the co-owner of Underwater Safaris. I did my first dive in college in 1968 and became an instructor in 1986. I opened Underwater Safaris in 1987. I am a PADI Master Instructor with over 2000 dives in Caribbean and Pacific locations: Cozumel, Akumal, Bahamas, Cayman, Cuba Bonaire, Turks and Caicos, South Africa, Virgin Islands, Galapagos, Australia, Belize Roatan, Red Sea, Baja, Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Columbia, Costa Rica, Cocos and Socorro Islands, Indonesia and Hawaii.
I am a TDI and a PADI Master Instructor. I have been a repair technician since 1985 currently certified in US Divers, SeaQuest, Mares, Poseidon, Sherwood, Apollo, TUSA, Interspiro, PSI, Spare Air and Scubapro.
I am certified to teach through PADI Equipment, Nitrox, Semi-closed Circuit Rebreather, Drysuit, Draeger Ray Rebreather, Deep, Night, Navigation, Photo, Drift, Boat, Underwater Hunter and Underwater Archeology. I am on the US Divers Cousteau Advisory Commute as well as the SeaQuest SeaTeam.
Favorite Dive? My birthday dive in a shark cage in South Africa: we met up with two five-meter Great White Sharks. We were in the BBC chum line. Sometimes life doesn’t get any better. Favorite local dive? I was fortunate enough to be one of the first divers (with Underwater Archeology Society of Chicago) to survey the Wells Burt after it was found in the 80s, seeing a wreck that was only touched by time and weather since 1860. There was a caulking hammer on deck, bilge pumps that had fallen from their mountings and every dead eye in tact (the dead eyes have since been stolen off the wreck and are probably in someone’s basement rather than in the Lake’s museum where they belong for all of us to appreciate…).
I was also involved in the USAC’s surveys of the Lady Elgin, and the Shedd Aquarium’s Dive Safety Committee as well as the construction of the Shedd’s Oceanarium.
I am on the board of USFMA (Underwater Safaris Fund for Marine Awareness), an Illinois 501(c)3 not for profit organization which raises $$ to support scuba and ocean related projects. Currently USFMA supports programs for inner city teens, schools in Roatan and Papua New Guinea and our program for deaf divers.
Favorite part of my job? Exploring dive destinations, seeing and evaluating equipment from manufacturers and diving and meeting people. My wife tells me that I am the best instructor in the world for those that have trouble clearing their masks. (Ed. note: Saul’s wife is always right — Marianne)
