Owner Michelle Pugh will throw a big ‘thank you’ party at the dive center at 4 p.m., Saturday, May 13, to celebrate the 40th birthday of Dive Experience. There will be food from Rosanna the pate lady, music by RACHAEL, beer from Brew STX, Cake by Kathy and a lifetime dive pass will be chosen from the raffle.
Michelle Pugh, owner, instructor and boat captain started Dive Experience in the summer of 1983 with just a boat and a phone. She has the oldest dive center on St. Croix, now located at Kings Alley on the boardwalk. Dive Experience conducts daily excursion boat dives as well as training dives; it offers discover scuba diving and open water training dives all the way through PADI Instructor. Dive Experience became the first PADI 5 Star Instructor Development facility on St. Croix in the early 1980s.
Michelle became a diver at age 16 in Los Angeles. After obtaining her PADI Instructor rating, she came to St. Croix in 1977 to teach diving for three months. She is still here 45 years later! She has dived all the continents and still takes dive vacations when off-island. In 2004 she was inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame.
At the party on May 13, Dive Experience will have a major raffle: a lifetime dive pass! Tickets are available at the dive center. A purchase of $10 or more is all you need for a raffle ticket. The winner will be drawn at the party.
“We have had many parties at Dive Experience over the years, but this one is a major milestone for us, and we would like to thank the people of St. Croix as well as all the local and visiting divers who have made us successful,” said Pugh.
