Nic is a Dive Professional working at Bamboo Reef Dive Center and living locally in Monterey. He enjoys all aspects of diving whether it’s freediving, SCUBA, spearfishing, taking photos, or scientific diving. He has been diving for 6 years and has over 1000 dives all over Monterey County. He is a Dive Master in SCUBA with both NAUI and SSI. He recently earned his Freedive Assistant Instructor for NAUI. Outside of recreational diving, he is also certified as an AAUS scientific diver. Nic conducted the majority of his scientific diving while pursuing a degree in marine ecology. He focused on fish and their natural history. He enjoys his time volunteering for Moss Landing’s Ichthyology Lab, Monterey Bay Aquarium, and now assisting Reef Check for a Kelp Restoration Project. Working with a diverse community, the different aspects of his diving career has provided him a deeper insight for his purpose. Priding himself on dive safety and inclusion of anyone interested in diving. In 2015, with the help of a couple friends, he founded a group called Monterey Freedivers. This community run group is about providing information to divers so they can be safer diving in Monterey. As the group grew, he wanted to increase his involvement by hosting an open meet up every Friday called “Friendly Fridays”. His mission is to maintain a pay it forward environment.
“I was awful when I first started, fortunately I had colleagues who showed me the water. I would like to provide that same opportunity to others.” - Nic Ta
