Nebraskaland

NEBRASKAland November 2018

NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.

Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/1040966

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40 NEBRASKAland • NOVEMBER 2018 A s Dean Hollis began to think about how he wanted to spend his retirement, his thoughts kept returning to the water. Hollis grew up in Florida "on, in and under the water." When a career with ConAgra brought him to land- locked Omaha, he continued to spend time scuba diving, swimming, boating and water skiing. When he retired as Conagra's Chief Operating Officer in 2008, he imagined opening a tiki- themed dive shop with Adirondack chairs in the storefront of a shopping center. After spending a career in business, though, Hollis couldn't open a shop without first doing his research. He talked to hundreds of dive shops, and as he did, he began to revise his plan. The small shop he envisioned grew larger and larger. The services it offered multiplied. In 2009, he opened DiVentures, a full-service scuba shop at 4303 S. 121st Plaza in Omaha. There, customers can become scuba-certified, rent and buy equipment, take swimming lessons and book scuba trips to places like Cozumel, Cuba, Fiji and the Galapagos. "You won't find a scuba shop like this anywhere in North America," Hollis said. "It's a one-stop shop." Nearly a decade after opening, DiVentures certifies more scuba divers than any other shop in North America, Hollis said. After realizing Omaha had a shortage of swimming schools, Hollis began offering lessons for both youth and adults. Now thousands of students learn to swim at DiVentures each year, first becoming acquainted with the basics of water safety and, in many cases, eventually becoming scuba-certified. Hollis has expanded from one location to six throughout the Midwest. In the process, Hollis has become a player in both local and international aquatic awareness, education and conservation efforts. On the surface, the success of DiVentures may seem strange. A bustling scuba school in the most landlocked state in the nation? To Hollis, though, the success of DiVentures makes a lot of sense. Surveys have shown that over 40 percent of people would like to learn to scuba dive, Hollis said. Less than 1 percent actually do. Naturally, the opportunities to learn are slimmer in places like Nebraska, which lack pristine beaches and clear lakes, than in places situated on large bodies of water. There was a need, and Hollis was happy to fill it. Just as Hollis didn't plan to open By Cara Pesek Photos by Eric Fowler Diving Nebraska Scuba instructor Ron Gorake leads students Andrew VanVooren and Allison Schubert of Lincoln and Kenzi Schneringer of Callaway in lessons at DiVentures.

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