Have you ever had that thought of “What if I could turn my favorite hobby into a dream career?” Well for Dan Schindler this was a very distant thought at one point. As many of us in this town have know Dan Schindler, as the Deputy Chief for Montezuma Fire Protection District for many years. Well as he finally started to enjoy life outside of the fire department he found a new passion for scuba diving. Danny’s adventure with scuba diving didn’t start in the traditional way…where all your friends are divers and you are simply a little curious about the hype. Dan wanted to take his son Daniel to Hawaii for his 21st birthday, just the boys. So in April of 2016, this vision began with an underwater Scuba adventure. After realizing this world below the ocean’s surface had so much more to offer, the guys decided to try a Discover Scuba Class. This was where the dream hatched. Little did Dan know his very first instructor Thea Brown, would not only become one of his dear friends, but would later be a key part to helping him attain his Instructor certification. The guys came back from their Hawaiian adventure excited to see where this new underwater adventure would go next. Of course in true Dan Schindler fashion, he did the research to find somewhere to take the next step to become an Open Water Scuba diver. Sports Cove in Vacaville offered all they would need to get started. By August 2016, the guys were officially certified scuba divers. The Schindler Boys were hooked!! Through Sports Cove they found UpDiver’s Scuba Club sponsored by Sports Cove. Owner’s Lloyd and Betty Wiley recognized very quickly that Dan would make a great instructor if they could ever convince him that chasing fires throughout Northern California wasn’t as cool as a career in Scuba Diving. January 2017, Dan and Daniel were paired up with Instructor Joel Aldrich, who took them to an Advanced Open Water level. Now the real fun began. With Advanced Open Water complete the next underwater adventure plans began with an opportunity to go to Cuba with UpDivers. The Schindler boys joined the club in Cuba in June 2017. They had more fun than they could imagine. But this is where Dan realized he was natural at helping others feel comfortable underwater. While they were on a particularly difficult dive in Cuba, the waters became unpredictably rough and many of his fellow divers needed help fighting the current to get back on the boat. The first responder instinct kicked in and Dan helped all those needing help out of the rough waters. Later, Lloyd would plant the seed to Dan starting the very long road to becoming a Divemaster.
After a particularly rough fire season, Dan was finally able to start his Divemaster journey in August 2017. This where Dan and Joel’s professional relationship began. Joel used Dan for many classes along the way. Whether they were playing in the altitude of Lake Tahoe, fighting the waves at Monastery Beach , enjoying the beauty of Catalina, the easy waters of San Diego, the mystery of the Channel Islands, wherever Dan was needed, he was there to help out. While Dan loved being his journey to Divemaster, he started to see the real fun would start when he became an Instructor. He continued to work hard on his required skills and assisting with classes. After a year of some of the hardest work his body would go through, Dan achieved DIVEMASTER!!
Now that Dan had achieved his professional status, it was time for the Schindler boys to head out on another adventure. This time they were headed to Southeast Asia to spend 10 days aboard a live-aboard boat with the Aggressor Fleet in Palau. To this day, Dan says this was some of the best diving he has experienced. The friendships that were made on this trip would later play out to be some of the closest friendships for Dan, Daniel, and Pocket (Schindler’s future bride).
What is diving without a trip of a lifetime…Dan took his girlfriend, Pocket to Egypt to dive in the Red Sea with the same group he’d explored the waters of Palau with. This is where they dove with white tip reef sharks, explored several shipwrecks, and of course earned the IRON DIVER Award, with 23 dives. This trip also took the travelers all over Egypt. The got to visit the pyramids, Sphinx, a hot air balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings, and many other Egyptian sites. On the this trip the group got to sail the Nile River on a 140 foot sail boat. This trip was the true test of this couples love, 21 days straight together and they came back happier than ever, with memories to last a life time.
There was a point where Schindler thought all this hard work towards becoming a Divemaster would be a waste of time, when his good friend Joel moved away to Washington for work. This was a devastating situation for Danny. Not only did his good friend move away, but without an Instructor qualified to help him with teaching experience, his dreams of becoming an Instructor himself had vanished. This unforeseen circumstances left Sports Cove without an instructor for their shop. Fortunately, Betty and Lloyd knew they had big shoes to fill with the absence of Joel. They soon found Zach Sesar and then Brad Shimkus to come in and help fill a void. This ended up being a great fit for Sports Cove. Together Brad and Dan took on the teaching of current and new students that came through Sports Cove. They both loved the uniqueness of teaching together in Monterey and Lake Tahoe.
With the beloved Sports Cove owners needing to retire after owning the company for 40 plus years they sought out someone to take over the shop. They did meet a man named Jake, who everyone thought was the answer to the problem. With the peak of the Covid pandemic upon us, this new owner had a lot of great ideas for Sports Cove. He started with a complete remodel of the shop. While teaching during the peak of the pandemic was a tough task to make happen, this new team of three found ways to ensure the Sports Cove legacy continued on. With Dan’s connections in the fire service, this team of three had the opportunity to teach the Suisun City Fire Department guys. They started with the Chief and five of his guys. This became a fast paced process. The Suisun City guys were taught Open Water and Advanced Open Water in one weekend and a month later they all became Rescue Diver qualified. This allowed the Suisun City Fire Department to do much needed water rescues in the city of Suisun.
The Sports Cove team put together their first adventure to La Paz, Mexico. This trip would be the reason Brad and Dan decided to change things as they knew it. While, the diving was beautiful and the locals were friendly, there was turmoil within the Sports Cove team. Due to the new owner of Sports Cove going back on his word, Brad didn’t go on this trip. On this trip, Dan decided to ask his girlfriend of two and a half years to be his wife, while surrounded by many of their close scuba diving friends. They continued to celebrate with friends while in Mexico. However, Jake’s true colors were shining through. It was this trip that brought forth a lot of the frustrations for those that went on the trip. When everyone got back it was obvious there was changes that needed to be made.
Once back from Mexico things with the Sports Cove team began to really fall apart. Owner Jake, started to make decisions that made a negative impact on the image of Sports Cove. With this Brad and Dan decided it was time to make the dream of owning their own company happen. Quickly the guys made the plan to venture off on their own. Brad had previously owned the scuba diving company Recreation Scuba. After a weekend in Lake Tahoe, they guys came back and started all the paperwork to make this dream a vision. With all the drama of Sports Cove closing the owners made the decision to sell all the scuba equipment to Recreation Scuba. Dan knew they needed a place to keep all the gear…his personal garage was spilling over with scuba equipment. January 2021, a custom storage container was purchased and is now stored on the property of Williams Mobile in Rio Vista. Dan turned the inside of the storage container into a makeshift shop, where students and divers could come to rent gear and tanks. Dan then purchased a dive boat and is in the process of getting his Captains license. Brad acts as the IT guys running the website and advertising for Recreation Scuba all while teaching.
With the reality that Dan was still an Assistant Instructor, he made the decision to head to Arizona where his first dive instructor Thea, lives and is part of No Limits Scuba. He spent two weeks there studying 10 hours a day to become an official Scuba Instructor. In April 2021, Danny officially received the prestigious title of PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor. The relief he felt could not have been expressed in words. The accomplishment he didn’t know he wanted until he that trip to Cuba.
With this new title, the first class taught officially as Recreation Scuba took place in Monterey in March of 2021. This was an amazing experience for the guys to see their dream become a reality. Along with the support of their significant other’s Gabby and Pocket, and a few members of the UpDiver’s Scuba Club, Recreation Scuba held their first Open Water Class with three students.
Recreation Scuba isn’t just about the classes, travel is another big focus for the duo. The two love sharing the underwater world with as many divers as possible. Plans to go to Scuba Club Cozumel in Mexico became the focus for the business. All the planning, advertising, and hyping up the beauty of the scuba specific resort, paid off. In October 2021 Brad and Dan took 16 eager divers on Recreation Scuba’s inaugural trip. Things went so smooth on this first adventure. Everyone enjoyed their time exploring reefs, ship wrecks, encountering nurse sharks, and some amazing night dives.
Recreation Scuba’s shop remains in Rio Vista. Fellow divers can rent gear, take advanced and specialty classes, have their gear serviced, and of course travel as the company plans their next adventure. If you are interested in taking your first step to becoming an open water diver or advancing your diving skills you can reach the guys on their website www.recreationscuba.com. Check us out on Instagram and Facebook at Recreation Scuba…we love to show off our underwater friends and scenery. Good news is Joel is back and will be joining the team. His experience stems from his time in the Navy.
This just goes to show you can take a light hearted conversation and turn it into a dream come true. Where Deputy Chief Schindler doesn’t plan to hang up his bunker boots just yet, he does have his retirement job in place…that is if you can call teaching scuba and traveling the world a “job”!
For more information Dan can be reached at 707.819.4149 or 707.372.1264