Educator
Educator
Errol Kalayci
Born in 1968, Errol grew up in South Florida and participated in competitive sports most his life. A water baby his whole life, he was a stand out swimmer, surfer, water skier and free diver. Diving for years before taking a formal class, he was finally certified in 1986. He graduated University of Florida with a B.S. in Construction Management and then discovered technical diving while attending law school.
Errol started technical diving, in 1990, before it was officially called that. During this time, Errol was diving and learning as much as possible from the “big names” of the era. When the initial two training agencies (I.A.N.T.D. and T.D.I.) were formed, Errol was regular diving partners with the founders and contributed to the agencies training materials and became one of their first instructors. During this time he was also attending law school and graduated with his Juris Doctorate in 1994.
Errol’s diving evolved around 1995 as he joined the WKPP as a gas diver, was George Irvine, III regular dive buddy and fully adopted the “Doing it Right” (DIR) philosophy. It was a strong belief in DIR which conflicted with the other agencies that led Errol to support Jarrod Jablonski’s efforts in forming Global Underwater Explorers (GUE), contribute to the creation of some of the educational materials and become one of the initial instructors teaching all levels. Until his first daughter was born in 2000, Errol was a full time educator, explorer and charter boat owner (Grateful Diver). He held the highest levels of instructor status from IANTD, TDI, PADI, NAUI, and GUE. He taught technical diving and the Halcyon Rebreather, around the globe, before that was commonplace and even taught the Swedish Navy. If you consider who he trained, the number of explorers he taught during this time and the accomplishments they have since achieved and continue to achieve, you will understand the depth of his educational talent. In fact, his former client lists reads like a who’s who of diving.
With the birth of his first child, Errol joined the corporate world and served on various Boards, as General Counsel and COO of one of Florida’s top engineering firms, practiced law at one of the top Law Firms in the USA and continued to pursue education by implementing his DIR approach to education and taking post graduate classes from the likes of Harvard Law School, MIT and the Center for Creative Leadership to name just a few.
Now that his 3rd daughter is in grade school, Errol has returned from his sabbatical and rejoined the scuba industry. Teaching, exploration, fitness and film work are his passions. These passions have reclaimed him from a very lucrative, stable and successful career in the corporate and legal world, and brought him back to his love for the underwater world.
