Pro Dive International

KEEPING THE LEGACY ALIVE

Many years ago, Gregory Mackay was a young man with a strong passion for scuba diving and a keen vision for the future. Greg’s immediate love for diving quickly transcended into a desire to pass along his enthusiasm and knowledge to others. After college he became a PADI Instructor and began a new life. One year later in 1975, he established Pro Dive, which soon became one of the first PADI 5 Star Dive Centers in the United States.

The dive industry continued to grow. Greg quickly recognized the future need for quality trained industry professionals. In 1984, Pro Dive established our Scuba Career Development Program and the operation became one of PADI’s first Instructor Development Centers. In order to fulfill the specific hiring demands of dive resort operators, Pro Dive expanded the scope of their Scuba Career Training and developed and copyrighted the industry’s first Resort Operations Specialist (ROS®) program.

Greg and his staff have always been strongly committed to providing valuable, comprehensive, professional dive training to those wishing to pursue a career in diving. As a result, Pro Dive received an “Outstanding Achievement Award” for valuable contributions to PADI Instructor Development, and in 1996 was very proud to be awarded as PADI’s first ever Career Development Center in the world!

In 1998 PADI Headquarters recognized Pro Dive as “the most chosen PADI Career Development Center in the U.S.A.”

Sadly on January 11, 2000 the professional scuba diving community lost one of its most outstanding members when Greg Mackay and his wife Loren were tragically killed in a skiing accident in Park City, Utah. Greg was a true innovator. He devoted his life’s work to taking the training of PADI scuba instructors to a level of professionalism never before seen in the diving industry. Greg’s tremendous insight led him to build a flourishing business with an extremely solid foundation. This foundation is the key element that allows Pro Dive to continue on as an industry leader today and will insure our success well into the future. This is truly a legacy Greg would take pride in.

Greg had an extraordinary knack for attracting and retaining talented, experienced and enthusiastic people who enjoy working together as a strong and cohesive team. This spirit of teamwork still lives on today. Thanks to the environment that Greg created for his employees, the Pro Dive staff has formed a “family” bond over the years.

To show their deep appreciation for his leadership, the Pro Dive family has dedicated a favorite Fort Lauderdale coral reef site to the memory of Greg and Loren. The reef has been renamed Mackay’s Reef. Several times per week, Pro Dive’s Glassbottom Boat Tours and Snorkeling Excursions visit Mackay’s Reef.

Greg received a posthumous award when Diver’s Alert Network named him the 2000 DAN/Rolex Diver of the Year. This distinguished award honors an individual with an excellent record of public service in scuba diving, who is also a strong advocate of DAN and dive safety. DAN’s training programs have always been incorporated into Pro Dive training at both diver and instructor levels. This contributes greatly to dive accident emergency awareness. To this day, Pro Dive trains more DAN Oxygen Instructors than any other facility.

We remain committed to providing high quality, comprehensive dive training on a continuous basis year round. These are the programs that have earned us our outstanding reputation as dive industry educators.

We provide the best job placement program in the industry and we back it up with our exclusive Job Placement Pledge.

And Pro Dive still remains “the most chosen PADI Career Development Center in the United States!”

Pro Dive will move into the future by adhering to the same philosophy that has led to our success. We continue to develop and offer additional training programs in order to stay at the forefront of the ever-evolving scuba diving industry. We are dedicated to designing programs that better prepare instructors for the job functions they will encounter when entering into a diving career.

Greg Mackay not only built a successful business over the years, but he also established the Pro Dive family, which is truly devoted to keeping his legacy alive!