Erik is the owner operator of Extended Horizons, which he started in 1983 with two sets of dive gear and a lot of youthful energy! He is a US Coast Guard 100 ton Captain, PADI Instructor, SDI Instructor, regulator repair tech, Visual Cylinder Inspector, Certified Interpretive Guide, as well as our trailer repair tech, sometimes head mechanic and all-around maintenance and fix-it guy! If you’re lucky enough to dive with Erik, hold on to your hat! He is probably the most passionate, animated dive guide on our staff!

Victoria began her diving in 1986 in Nashville, TN, and has been with Extended Horizons since 1998, when she came out on a Lana‘i charter as an Open Water Diver and decided not to go home! She is Director of Operations, our lead Captain with a US Coast Guard 100 ton license, PADI Instructor, SDI Instructor, a Certified Interpretive Guide, as well as a Published Professional Underwater Photographer. Victoria is also a certified professional for Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (in her former life she was a horse trainer, but now she trains people instead!). Victoria developed the training program for our guides and captains; she does a lot of the organization projects around the shop, usually is our Costco runner, and she’s handy with a toolbox for our various projects around the shop! Of all of those skills, her passion as a dive guide is probably her greatest strength!

Iʻll never forget being 15 yrs old in New York, sitting 25ft below in 56ºF waters on the confined water platform, when in-between confined water skills a fish swam up began to peck at the small bubbles which collected on my mask from my exhales. It was like nothing I had ever experienced. I didnʻt remember I was cold, I forgot I was with 6 or so other people, all that had my attention was this fish and it was the coolest thing ever! What started as a Christmas gift turned into passion immediately. Over several years of study and diving class after class, I became a PADI Instructor and set out on a journey to travel the world… first stop: Maui, HI. Traveling the world has brought me great joy, but calling Maui home is the best of all. Becoming more than an employee at Extended Horizons, Iʻve learned so much about tropical diving and marine ecology. After a few years, I advanced my abilities and acquired my Maritime Captain’s license. This has given me the ability to be more familiar with the weather above the surface as well as the marine life below. Making sure our guests get to the best dive sites given any day variable conditions, makes for better diving, more fun and the hope for return guests. Working alongside some of the greatest people in the industry, we all look forward to meeting you for the first time on your hundredth dive with us 😉

Chris was serious about diving, and he had to be because he learned to dive (Open Water through Instructor) in the frigid waters on Lake 16 in Michigan! He decided diving full time was better in warm water, so he made the jump to Maui, where he began dive guiding at Molokini in 2016. He is also a kite surfing instructor – much better in warm water too! He started at Extended Horizons in early 2018 after gaining his US Coast Guard 100 ton captain’s license, and has since become a Certified Interpretive Guide, as well as completed captain training at EH! Chris’ kind, Michigan boy-next-door demeanor puts everyone at ease and his enthusiasm for sharing the marine life makes each dive, as one diver said, ‘an underwater detective’ event!

Captain Aarika grew up sailing in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts and has been working on the waters of Maui since 2008. She earned her 100 ton Masters license with a sailing endorsement in 2011, following in the footsteps of her Great Great Grandmother, Mary, who was the first female Captain in the merchant marine. Aarika is an avid diver and loves learning about new marine life! She’s in her element out on the water and enjoys sharing her passion with others!

Melanie was born and raised right here on Maui, and has been answering the phones for Extended Horizons since 2007! She commutes each day from Makawao, that’s how much she believes in and loves Extended Horizons! She manages a lot of our social media posts, and enjoys expanding her knowledge of the marine animals vicariously through our photographers! She’s also our go-to gal for renting gear, as well as filling tanks! Plus she’s a whiz at making complex, multi-day dive reservations!

Chris Doerr started his diving journey in 2015 on the small Caribbean island of Utila in Honduras, and in these few short years he has over a thousand dives under his belt! Diving has ignited his passion for the ocean and allowed him to travel and explore. His dives have been in the Caribbean, Taiwan, and now here in Hawaii! His favorite part of being an Instructor is seeing the absolute joy and excitement on new diversʻ faces, and helping them overcome any misconceptions they might have about diving. Chris uses his friendly, easy-going, calming skill-set to teach students not only to dive, but more importantly he tries to foster a new insight and appreciation for the ocean and all its creatures. He loves how rewarding scuba diving can be: “you create new divers, but more importantly you create new underwater ambassadors.”

Gu (Goo) was born and raised on a small island is South Brazil and speaks English, Spanish & Portuguese. In 2007 Gu came to USA 12 years ago following his musical career as a signer-songwriter, and began a new passion with his Open Water certification in 2014 in Florida. His dive experience ranges from the wrecks along the East Coast to places like Cozumel, Belize, Ratan, Dominica and St. Lucia thanks to a few cruise ship contracts he took as a musician. His final cruise contract in Hawaiian waters made him both an Advanced and Rescue diver. Once back in Florida he had no other thing in mind than to become a DiveMaster and move permanently to Maui to live his days diving in the morning, playing music in the afternoon and surfing on his days off. Guʻs easy-going energy translates into the perfect slow-paced dive for a guided tour or refresher for folks who want to get back into diving.

Howdy Ya’ll! Shelby is from Texas and began her dive career as Junior Open Water Diver in 2009. Driven by her curiosity into the underwater world, Shelby earned a Degree in Environmental Science, and soon after graduation moved to Honduras to pursue her Instructor Certification and begin her professional Scuba Diving career. She has participated in Coral Restoration Projects and Eco Programs, and began teaching at Extended Horizons in June, where she loves sharing and obtaining knowledge of the Worlds Oceans.

Dave is an avid scuba diver and loves the ocean. He has spent time diving in California, Fiji, Kauai, and now Maui as a PADI Instructor. He has been leading dives since 2013 and has extensive knowledge of Hawaiian marine life. Additionally, he is an accomplished underwater photographer and has published photos. ProTip: his favorite things in the ocean are nudis!

Hannah was born and raised in Kentucky, but has always had a craving for saltwater and sunshine! During college working toward her degree in Biology, she participated in a coral reef research program while studying abroad and fell in love with diving and the underwater world. Days after graduating college, she packed her bags and moved to Honduras where she completed her Divemaster and Instructor courses. Since then, she has worked on Kauai Island and has now joined our team on Maui. With over 1000 dives, Hannah is passionate about marine conservation and education and looks forward to sharing her passion and knowledge with each of her divers!

Noe was born and raised on the island of Kauai, where she became a PADI Instructor after gaining a degree in Biology with an ecology emphasis and minor in chemistry (nerd?). She joined the team at Extended Horizons in 2015 when she moved to Maui. In 2017 Noe dropped down to part-time guiding to pursue a new career. She is now a Registered Nurse who works in the ICU at Maui Memorial Hospital. She’s a smart cookie who can stay calm and think on her feet! On a dive, Noe is a wealth of knowledge and specializes in showing off marine life behaviors and other oddities underwater!

Maren began her dive career in 1999 at UC Santa Cruz, where she went from Open Water Diver through to DiveMaster, while earning a Bachelors degree in Psychology. She decided Maui would be the ideal place to follow her dreams and became a PADI Instructor in 2004. She started with Extended Horizons in 2005, and hasn’t looked back… in fact that’s kind of her thing, always looking forward. She’s now dive guiding with us as a fill-in only, because she has started a new career as a Paramedic and a mom! Maren’s can-do attitude and focus on quality customer service makes each charter with her special