Not Your Typical Lost & Found Story
by Heather Criswell:
I moved to Seattle about 2 months ago and maybe it happened when I was moving, but somehow I lost my scuba diving equipment. I had moved everything into my apartment and storage unit, and everything else was accounting for.
The next Friday morning I received a call from someone at SDI (I believe his name was Jordan), who asked my permission to give my phone number to a man claiming to have found my dive bag. Minutes later, I was talking to that man who had found my dive bag and equipment! This wonderful man named Graham found my dive bag, which contained all of my equipment. Now this is a huge backpack, and it somehow ended up behind a dumpster at his work. I used my SDI eLearning kit I got as part of my certification, to keep my log book, and pens and cards from dive shops. On that bag was SDI’s website URL, https://www.tdisdi.com and my old eLearning code. That information, along with some initiative was enough to find my contact information, and track me down. What a great investigation from Graham and SDI Customer Service! Amazing!
My bag had all my dive equipment, but more importantly, had a mask and snorkel that belonged to my father. In 2006, my father was on a live-aboard with my mom vacationing on the Great Barrier Reef, and after the swim back to the boat, he died from a heart attack. The heart attack was brought on from physical exertion, and nothing adverse from diving. About 6 months later, I completed a dental hygiene program, and my mother took me to Maui for a graduation gift. She brought my dad’s snorkel and mask for me to use on the vacation and started teaching me about snorkeling! It was my first time in the ocean and then couple days later we did a scuba diving trip! I loved it, and ever since, I have made it a priority to travel around the world diving, only using his mask and snorkel. For my birthday next July, I am planning a vacation, including a live-aboard on the Great Barrier Reef, and I can’t imagine not having my dad’s mask and snorkel with me! I am so very thankful that SDI was able to find my contact information, and give it to Graham. I am blown away by SDI’s customer service, and everything that has happened, I can’t thank them enough!