Instructors

Jeff Zilliox

Jeff has been a NAUI instructor since 1989. His favorite diving destinations are wreck diving in Lake Superior and anywhere warm and tropical. Through NAUI Jeff has earned the title of Course Director, which permits him to teach classes from Openwater Scuba Diver to Instructor. He is also an IANTD Nitrox Instructor, D.A.N. Oxygen Provider Instructor, Dive Rescue International Public Safety Diver Instructor, and P.S.I. Visual Inspection Instructor. At Western Wisconsin Technical College Jeff teaches a Public Safety Scuba Diver Course to local Fire and Police Dept's.

In 1996 Jeff was awarded the NAUI Outstanding Service Award, but if you ask him, his greatest award is the excitement on the faces of his students as they see how much fun diving really is.

Rob Lee

Rob is a native of Mankato, MN. and a graduate of Minnesota State University - Mankato. Rob, his wife Pam and their oldest son, Mike, moved to La Crosse in 1972. Rob started working at Trane then and still works there today. Rob was first certified with one of his sons, Mark, in 1997 at Marineland. His other sons, Mike and Bill, are also certified divers. Since then, Rob has dived in the waters off Southern California, Hawaii, the Florida Keys, Cozumel, Bonaire, Grand Turk, Lake Superior and Lake Michigan. Rob also works with the Boy Scout Venture Crew sponsored by Marineland.

Joe Hansen

Joe is a native of La Crosse and has worked for Frank Liquor of LaCrosse since 1982. Joe's addiction to diving started when he was certified in 2000, then decided to share his love and excitement of being underwater by becoming a NAUI Dive Instructor in 2005. The best feeling he gets as an instructor is when a student returns from a dive with a huge smile on their face and a great appreciation for this new environment.

Luckily for Joe, his wife Cheryl became a diver and is now a NAUI Dive Master for Marineland. When they aren't teaching at beautiful Wazee Lake, they can be found visiting exotic locations such as Bonaire, Belize, Cozumel, Costa Rica, Dominica, Roatan, St.Croix, the Galapagos Islands, Palau and Fiji as well as wreck diving in the Great Lakes.

So Joe can stay connected to diving when he is on land, he has been the service technician for Marineland since 2002. Stop in the dive shop almost any Monday and say hello to Joe.

Wayne Holm

Wayne grew up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan but has lived in Rochester, MN since 1984 while working for IBM as a software developer. Wayne first learned to dive in 1998 and became an instructor in 2003. Besides being a NAUI instructor, Wayne is also a DAN instructor and a PSI cylinder inspector.

Wayne has traveled to a number of unique diving destinations, both cold water (Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and the Bonne Terre Mine) and warm (Cozumel, Bonaire, Costa Rica, Dominica, Grand Turk, Puerto Rico, and Roatan), but he has yet to cross over to the Dark Side of ice diving!

Jason Zwiefel

Jason has lived in LaCrosse and surrounding areas all his life. On vacation in Jamaica, he stumbled on a 'crash course' diving class and was bitten by the dive bug. Upon returning from that trip he immediately signed up to be certified with Marineland and was headed off on another trip to Mexico. Since then he has been to Curacao, and back to Mexico a couple times for diving on Cozumel, the mainland, and cenotes of the Yucatan. Jason is a NAUI Instructor, as well as being certified in Advanced Nitrox, Decompression Procedures, and Advanced Mixed Gas Blending.

Jason also likes to spend time at Marineland servicing scuba equipment and assisting customers with their diving needs. He loves to dive at Lake Wazee and enjoys sharing the sport with new divers.

Divemasters

Cheryl Hansen

Cheryl has lived all over our great country from Elgin, IL to Honolulu, Hawaii and Fargo, ND where she graduated from high school. For thirteen years she tried her hand at sales and has a degree in Interior Design, but chose to become a licensed day care operator for the past 9 years. Cheryl has assisted with training Marineland students ever since becoming a NAUI Divemaster in 2004. She also does the party planning and event coordination for Marineland.

She and husband Joe have both completed continued dive education classes including Advanced, Rescue Diver, Ice Diver, Wreck Diver, Nitrox Diver, DAN Oxygen Provider, DAN First Aid Provider for Hazardous Marine Life Injuries, Underwater Photographer, Master Scuba Diver and Divemaster. They hope to continue traveling, teaching, and assisting new dive students.

Todd Hunter

Todd is a native of La Crescent. He has worked for Frank Liquor for 15 years, and is currently a salesman. Todd learned to dive in 2004, and became a NAUI Divemaster in 2007. Besides diving, he enjoys pheasant hunting, watching movies, swimming, camping, hiking, and most recently traveling. He has traveled to Las Vegas, Alaska, Munising, Cozumel, Ecuador, and the Galapagos Islands.

Todd likes diving because it is relaxing, and what he likes most about divemastering is working with students.

Mike Quinn

A West Salem native, Mike has lived in Eau Claire, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Milwaukee before settling back to Onalaska. His wife Jenny and son Nick both hold NAUI advanced certifications and are his favorite dive buddies along with traveling buddies daughters Michelle and Molly. Originally certified through YMCA in 1980, Mike crossed over to NAUI in 2000 and has taken several NAUI courses, is a DAN member and became a Divemaster in 2009. Despite the fact that all of his training has been in cold Wisconsin lakes, Mike's favorite dive destinations are in the Caribbean and have included Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, Nassau Bahamas, Barbados, Antigua, St Lucia, Dominica, St. Martin, St. Thomas, Grand Cayman, Jamaica, Grenada, Roatan, Cozumel, Cabo San Lucas and Lake Superior. He has no plans to Ice Dive - he is perfectly happy with wet suits!

When not diving, Mike is a podiatrist and foot surgeon at Franciscan Skemp Healthcare in La Crosse where he has been for the last 20 years. Like Rob he has also been a Boy Scout Leader for many years.