The New Horizons Staff

We are a diverse group of diving professionals with a wide variety of experiences and interests. Meet us:

Lavon & Travis Land: Owners
Lavon & Travis bought New Horizons on March 3, 2010. They have been members of the New Horizons family for almost a decade; they did their beginner training here and have been active divers ever since. Travis became a PADI Instructor last year, and Lavon is an Advanced Open Water Diver with aspirations toward Divemaster in the near future.

Neil McEachin: Course Director
Neil is a Course Director, the highest level attainable in the PADI organization. He has extensive diving experience all over the world, and he has taught hundreds of people everything from beginnner to instructor level courses.

Justin Byall: IDC Staff Instructor
Justin has been teaching diving for over thirteen years. He often helps with the UK scuba course, and he teaches a wide variety of classes locally during the summer.

Greg Snowden: Instructor
Greg is a Paramedic by profession, and when he is not on the watch to save lives, he enjoys being under water or off road. His scuba background is extensive, including full (deep) trimix training in the Florida Keys. He is also a founding member of the Madison County Rescue Squad Dive Team.

Ed Gabe: Instructor & Equipment Technician

Ed is an instructor with both Global Underwater Explorers and PADI. Ed has been diving since 1991. He teaches a wide variety of courses, and he does the majority of the equipment service and repair work for New Horizons’ customers. He also teaches CPR and First Aid. His fun dives are often focused on the caves of Florida and Mexico, and he will be doing a lot of deep trimix diving in south Florida this year. Click here to visit Ed’s website.

Johnny Varner: Instructor
Johnny is a botanist with an environmental consulting company, and he occasionally gets to dive for work! When he is not in the field looking for endangered species, Johnny enjoys teaching others to dive. His experience is broad, from deep trimix dives in Florida caves, to warm Caribbean reefs.

Stephen Young: Instructor
Stephen learned to dive in 1978, and he has traveled the globe extensively in his scuba pursuits. After serving as a Divemaster for several years, he became a PADI Instructor in 2006. Stephen enjoys underwater photography and videography, particularly in places like Bonaire where he has led several trips. He is a member of Global Underwater Explorers (GUE), and plans on continuing his own scuba education with GUE in the near future.

Matthew Skaggs: Instructor & Shop Manager
Matthew started his scuba training at the University of Kentucky. His certification dives were done in the Bahamas, and he has been hooked ever since! Matt loves to teach scuba classes, and he is a great staff member to talk with about equipment choices.

Mike Sullivan: Instructor & Shop Staff
When Mike retired from a successful career in engineering, he immediately drove his energy into helping others enjoy scuba diving! Mike assists with numerous classes, and you can often find him working in the store. He is a PSI Certified Tank Inspector, and he can help you with all the latest scuba gadgets on the market.

Dan Lawson: Instructor

Clare McEachin: Shop Staff
Clare was introduced to scuba by her brother Neil, and since then, she has been around the world to visit some of the most exotic dive destinations. She leads an annual summer trip to one of our favorite places: the Little Cayman Beach Resort. And she is often working in the store, helping others to get into this great sport.

Doug Spaulding: Divemaster
One of our longest-term, most loyal Divemasters, Doug never hesitates to jump in the water. Often on weeknights, you will find him conducting Scuba Review sessions for divers who want a skills refresher. Doug particularly enjoys wreck and reef diving.

Maryanne O’Canna: Divemaster
Maryanne enjoys sharing her love of the underwater world by helping with classes, offering assistance on trips, and by serving as the Secretary of the Bluegrass Dive Club.

Steve & Tamara Williams: Divemasters
Steve and Tamara are our dive travel addicts! Their calendar always has something interesting on the horizon. If you want great information about Caribbean cruise ship trips and all the cool scuba locations, these are the two to talk with!

Jeff (L) and Chris (R) Disponette: Divemasters
This terrible twosome is responsible for helping (challenging) many students during their Advanced Open Water and Rescue classes. No watery environment is too tough for the Disponette brothers. They take pride in operating their side business, Bluegrass Underwater Recovery Professionals. If it is lost underwater, these are the guys to call for help.

Jason Carty: Divemaster

Don Cizik: Divemaster

Steve Gahafer: Divemaster

Jim Leemhuis: Divemaster

Gary Mahoney: Divemaster
Gary Mahoney has been a divemaster since 2008. He lives in Berea and enjoys working with open water classes. Much of his dive experience has been in the Caribbean where his focus has been on fish and invertebrate identification related to reef ecosystems. He also enjoys/struggles with underwater photography.

Travis McIntosh: Divemaster

Stewart Shelton: Divemaster
Stewart got his love for the water from his first dive on the Great Barrier Reef in 2007. After diving the warm waters of the Florida Keys to the cold Kentucky lakes and quarrys he decided it was time to share his passion. He became a Divemaster in 2009 and enjoys working with students from Discover Scuba Diving through the most advanced classes.

Keith Wray: Divemaster

Dan O’Canna: Instructor
In Memory of Dan: click here