Larry Antonacci

Larry Antonacci is a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer.  He has 15+ years of diving experience and has been involved in diver education for over 10 years.  In addition to his participation in scuba training through Fluvanna Dive Center, he is the Director of Training for the Lake Monticello Water Rescue team and is involved in scuba education through CATEC (Charlottesville-Albemarle Technical Education Center).

Brian Cohen, Vice President

Brian is a multihull sailor, longtime snorkeler, fairly new scuba diver, lifelong coastal inhabitant, and lover of long showers; so you could say he's very comfortable in water. His earliest memory of wanting to be a “skin diver” was when he was eight years old, donning his dad’s single-pane, Sea Hunt mask and “swimming” under the living room table in a Bronx apartment investigating a wreck (he's proud to admit that he had a G.I. Joe with the rubber frog man outfit). Plus, he never missed a Jacques Cousteau TV special.

He finally made his dream a reality during a Discover Scuba outing in Kauai in July 2019, then became OW certified in October and AOW in June 2021. He also obtained his full face mask and nitrox certifications. He's since dived Maui and Key Largo while refining his underwater videography and photography skills. Brian's favorite underwater experience was diving in Maui with his grown kids among turtles, blacktip reef sharks, humuhumunukunukuapua’a  (Hawaii’s state fish), and many other salty denizens, creating an ocean of unique, adventurous memories.

Brian retired from public relations and marketing in 2019 with extensive experience in copywriting, videography, photography, audio engineering, and social media management, which he hopes to use to benefit the RDC community. He’s been a member of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and Ocean Conservancy for over 20 years, because the health of the oceans determines the fate of our economies, the survival of our species, the destiny or our planet, and the viewer ratings for National Geographic documentaries.

 

Leslie Andrus, Secretary

Leslie began swimming when she was just a baby and has always loved anything water-related. She finally fulfilled her dream to scuba dive in the summer of 2022 when her life situation made it more conducive for it to become a hobby. As her diving friends like to say, she “dove” fully into the dive world, achieving her Padi Open Water Certification summer of 2022 and her Advanced Open Water Fall of 2022. Her diving “resume” is building; so far she has been to Lake Phoenix, of course, and to Bonaire. Her next trip is the Blackbeard Liveaboard departing from Nassau, The Bahamas. She lives just outside of Charlottesville with her hound dog, Cooper. She has a career in learning and organizational development and human resources.

Tonya Langenstein, Treasurer

(Bio and photo to follow later)