Andrea Stetson, Special to Grandeur From news-press

Southwest Florida scuba diving expert teaches people all over the world the beauty of our underwater treasures

Wayne Hasson often spends more time underwater than above it. When he sheds his scuba tank for some breaths of fresh air though, he shares his love of the sea with children and adults around the nation and beyond the United States.

“The volunteers —they are moms and dads and grandmas and grandpas,” Wayne says. “We teach [kids] things about the ocean. There are things that scare people, like sharks, and we make it not so scary.”Eighteen years ago, Wayne founded Oceans for Youth to inspire children to learn more about what is under our world’s oceans. The nonprofit organization is an underwater education program that promotes awareness, understanding and appreciation for the marine environment. His organization now has about 5,000 volunteers across the country, including roughly 30 in Lee and Collier counties that give presentations in local schools.

Wayne’s videos show him swimming right near sharks without being in any enclosure for protection. He says he has never been afraid to swim with sharks. His collection of DVDs are also used for education. “I have science teachers calling me wanting me to do a specific presentation on different species,” Wayne explains. “You think eels are really a scary creature, but you see the commentaries and listen to the information and you see eels are really not that scary.”

Wayne also wants to make diving less scary and dangerous for children. So he invented SASY, Supplied Air Snorkeling for Youth. The device has a small scuba tank attached to a floatation vest so children can learn the techniques of diving without leaving the surface of the water.

This well-known scuba diver and entrepreneur had a love of the ocean from a very young age but didn’t originally see it as a viable career. “I would watch Cousteau on television back in the ’50s,” Wayne describes. “I always just dreamed of becoming a scuba diver. I never thought I would become involved in a business.”

He earned a business and accounting degree from East Carolina University. “I was going for a CPA and just couldn’t do this,” Wayne admits. “I was in love with the ocean and just wanted a career in the ocean.”

Instead of taking the CPA exam, he operated a charter boat in North Carolina taking people diving. He also spent 10 years in the military. After leaving the Marine Corps in 1978, Wayne moved to the Cayman Islands where he managed a hotel. “It was a dive resort,” he says. “On my back steps right outside of the hotel door was the ocean and I could swim every day and swim with the creatures. I trained the creatures. It was known as the Cayman Islands petting zoo.”

Then in 1984, he came up with a new business idea. He bought an old boat used to shuttle workers to oil rigs. He remodeled the vessel into a luxury dive boat and had the first boat in his Aggressor fleet. He now operates 18 Aggressor boats around the world.

“Imagine you are on your own private yacht with your friends,” Wayne describes. “That is what it is like. Service is impeccable. We wait on people hand and foot. It is like The Ritz–Carlton. They eat, sleep and dive. They wake up in the morning and they are right on the dive site. It is a really incredible experience. We knew how to cater to people. Being in the resort business we just treated the people like family. I have a customer who was the conductor for the New York City orchestra that has been 58 times in 30 years.”

His business led to many perks. He met his wife when he taught her to scuba dive. His two children were the inspiration for SASY. He also met Jacques Cousteau, Jean-Michel Cousteau, the Queen of England and the Duke of Edinburgh. He also has a job that keeps him in one of his favorite places: underwater.

Wayne spends 17 to 20 weeks a year on his boats with customers sharing his diving secrets and giving underwater photography tips. He travels to exotic locations such as the Cayman Islands, Sri Lanka, Belize, Fiji, the Galapagos Islands, Indonesia, Hawaii, Costa Rica, Palau, Myanmar, Turks and Caicos and more.

With so many boats in foreign countries, Wayne developed another program called Sea of Change. Customers donate their leftover foreign currency that is then used for environmental causes. Wayne also uses a portion of the money he earns from his Aggressor business for Sea of Change. That money has helped several environmental causes.

“In Palau we put cameras on reefs because there was a problem with poachers from other countries,” Wayne explains. “The cameras were hooked to a satellite. They actually captured two boats that were poaching off the reef.”

Sea of Change paid for 100 coral trees to be sent to the Cayman Islands to enhance reefs. “All the work is done by volunteers, so none of the money goes to overhead,” he says.

Wayne leads by example by volunteering whenever he’s home. He not only volunteers in the classroom, but at Rookery Bay. This year he hopes to work with the YMCA and Rookery Bay to bring Try Scuba to local kids. This free program lets children try scuba diving in a little pool.

He volunteered to teach a young girl who was a quadriplegic to dive in the Cayman Islands. He also sparked a love of diving to many local children in Southwest Florida. “I don’t charge,” Wayne says. “I do everything complimentary. I do anything if I have the time.”

Michael Thorsen was just 10 years old when Wayne taught him to dive. “He was certifying all the people in the neighborhood,” Michael says. “I remember seeing all the cool animals he had photographed over the years. That is what drew me to it. It was a whole other world down there.”

Michael, who is now a Navy pilot, helps volunteer with Oceans for Youth to help inspire other children.

That’s exactly what Wayne hopes to accomplish. He wants children to have a better understanding of the creatures beneath the sea and he wants to instill a love for diving. “If I can give back, I want to give back,” he says. “It’s important to give something back to the world and to the people.”

For more information on Oceans For Youth Foundation or to schedule volunteers to do a presentation: www.oceansforyouth.org or 239-593-8652.

IMAGE: -GR-FacesHasson.JPG Buy Photom (Photo: Andrew West/Grandeur)

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