FIND YOURSE. DIVING WITH CAPT BILL COLE
ADVENTURES
Captain Bill has been running dive/snorkel vessels for over 30 years and is one of the most experienced boat captain’s in South Florida. Bill started diving on his honeymoon in Grand Cayman in 1977 and it’s been hard to keep him out of the water ever since. Completing scuba instructor training in 1979, Bill began teaching diving at the University of Georgia. In 1988, Bill brought the first glass bottom boat to Fort Lauderdale that ran daily charter. He had spent the previous year training the fish on a shallow reef that he named “Fort Lauderdale Twin Ledges”. To this day the fish come to greet the boat when it arrives at the site.
Bill became a PADI Course Director in 1993, this is the highest instructor rating attainable with the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI). He has trained thousands of instructors who are now employed around the world. In 1993, Bill was among the first group of elite divers awarded the Platinum Pro 5000 certification by SSI (Scuba Schools International). Divers in this group have over 5000 SCUBA dives. Bill loves taking passengers out for tours to the coral reef whether it is in the water or just pointing out things of interest through the boat’s glass bottom windows.
Questions for Capt Bill Cole
Q: What is your favorite type of scuba diving?
A: Mid-reef, 40 to 60-foot drift diving with a camera.
Q: What is your favorite place to eat?
A: The Quarterdeck on SE 17th Street in Ft Lauderdale. That was the first place we ate when the pandemic ended. The atmosphere–you can sit outside underneath a giant tree. Music playing and the food’s good too.
Q: Where is your favorite place to dive?
A: Truk Lagoon in the central Pacific. Just the history and being able to dive the wrecks. You can see pictures of them before they were sunk and then you go down and check them out.
Q: What is your favorite thing to do when you are not diving?
A: I like gardening. I like being outside.
Q: If you could go anywhere in the world and money were no object, where would you go?
A: I’d just cruise through the Bahamas and just play.
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