Help us keep the Dive Masters of San Antonio Legacy Alive

Since 1976, Dive Masters of San Antonio has been helping people with their SCUBA adventures. Whether they were seasoned divers, people suffering from life changing injury or just beginning a new adventure, Tom Bartley and his team ensured they had the confidence to safely explore the 72% of our planet that is underwater.

In May of 2022, this legacy was under threat of evaporating. Tom passed away following a difficult battle with esophageal cancer. Tom was a great friend to all, and believed the best in people. He was an avid lover of books and outdoor activities to include triathlons, marathons, and water sports. Tom instilled many core values in his staff, to include honesty and integrity with customers and students to enable them to achieve their best and explore the beautiful underwater world with confidence. He believed this was attainable regardless of physical obstacles and partnered with organizations to take injured military, first responders and medical personnel diving--even those with little use of their arms and legs. He trained and dived with those with severe spinal injury and amputations, giving them a new lease on life.

After his passing, a small group of his divers has banded together with this goal in mind: to keep Tom's legacy and Dive Masters dive shop alive while remaining dedicated to his core values of honesty, great service and creating a safe, inclusive diving community. In February 2023, Dr (Col, USAF, Ret) Dan Murray and Travis Wentworth started San Antonio SCUBA and are now doing business as Dive Masters. Together with their other team mates (Linda White, Tom Wasson, and Jack Harris) they have been able to help more than 350 divers achieve their diving goals and adventures including kids and military personnel with severe injury.

Tom's battle with cancer, however, cost him his life savings and coming off the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, the shop suffered many financial setbacks. We are dedicated to continue his legacy while rebuilding the brand and the business. However, we immediately lost our air compressor and the shop vehicle and still need to repair the shop infrastructure to include the the air conditioning unit. We have now rebuilt many of the vendor relationships to be able to replace aged training equipment and rental equipment. We have also increased our safety standard with new safety and service equipment (not to mention having an Aerospace Medicine physician on staff) to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for all our customers, regardless of ability.

Would you help us with the start up costs of this effort? We are looking forward to continuing the long legacy at Dive Masters and opening the diving world to disabled veterans and those with spinal cord injuries or amputations, while also working to boost safety and the overall enjoyment of personal underwater exploration through SCUBA for all.

Thank you so much for your consideration, and please feel free to reach out with any questions you may have on our story and our goals!

-Dan & Travis