Instructors
Anna Blevins
Anna is the heart of Adventure Outfitters. She has an unsurpassed passion for teaching people how to dive safely and to enjoy whatever the underwater realm has to offer. She takes great pride in ensuring that each dive student feels fully confident and has mastered every skill. She doesn't hurry her students and will take as much time as needed to ensure that they will be a strong, confident, safe and happy diver.
“When I started diving, I was a nervous Nellie and that is what encouraged me to take additional dive classes. Questions such as: Why is enriched air better? What’s that “random” number on my dive computer for? Why can’t I properly find the boat and have to swim back to it? were finally answered! As I continued taking classes I began to appreciate everything a little more and gained a better understanding of dive theory – why things work the way they work underwater. Most importantly, I understand what the nervous diver is going through and the best part is, the more training you do, the better diver you become. I make sure that classes are only as large as the individual diver can handle. We don’t do cattle calls and we always make sure that safety is top-of-mind.”
In 2014, Anna, along with her son Alex, took leadership of Adventure Outfitters. Anna is focused on bringing customer service to the forefront of the Tampa dive center along with a variety of activities, trips and speaking events for divers to enjoy. She is the champion of the dive center's city-wide dive initiative to help clean up our marine environments working with Project AWARE’s Dive Against Debris and local organization Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful.
Anna currently is a PADI Instructor Development Course / IDC Staff Instructor and Emergency First Responder / EFR Instructor Trainer. She is full-cave certified and likes to teach a variety of courses including divemaster, cavern, advanced, master diver, snorkeling, open water and many more specialties.
Anna became certified in 2004 along with her two sons and husband in order to dive while taking a trip to Puerto Rico. She is an Army veteran and served as a litigation paralegal for several years.
Alex Blevins
Alex Blevins is an IANTD, TDI, SDI and PADI MSDT instructor who just simply loves to dive. He lives for it. You will often find him in a cave somewhere on his choptima running lines or scootering along. When not caving, you can find him perusing tide tables to see if he can squeeze in a quick freediving or spearfishing trip.
Prior to opening Adventure Outfitters with his mother, Anna in 2014, Alex worked with USAA and the United States Social Security Administration. Alex graduated from the University of Missouri in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a minor in Mathematics. He is married to Jenny, who is also his life-long dive partner and cave buddy. They have a young daughter, named Athena together.
Alex is Adventure Outfitters’ equipment and gear guru and has a passion for rebuilding and collecting regulators. He enjoys the challenge of fixing and repairing them and the craftsmanship of their design. He also has a wide knowledge of technical diving and the gear that goes with these specialty activities. Ask him about rebreathers, sidemount, doubles or trimix diving any day!
Alex also loves teaching, especially when he is working with recreational divers who want to become more confident divers and pursue more advanced courses. Alex also teaches many specialty courses including Intro to Tech, Intro to Cave, Cavern, CCR / Closed Circuit Rebreather - O2ptima, Trimix, Equipment Repair, Enriched Air / Nitrox, Equipment Specialist, Wreck Diver, freediver or Sidemount but probably his favorite activity, is teaching others to cave or cavern dive, hunt, spear and fillet their fish! Alex is always learning and growing as a diver and instructor. He is currently pursuing his IANTD Instructor Trainer designation.
Jenny Blevins
Jenny was certified in 2011 and has always loved the water. Growing up in Missouri, she often went to the Lake of the Ozarks to swim, snorkel, boat and fish. Since getting certified, she has continued on to become a SDI and PADI instructor. She enjoys cave diving on her O2ptima with her husband, Alex. Jenny is the organizer, manager and scheduler of sorts. While maintaining a passion for the sport, she also helps with scheduling, managing the retail store and keeps classes and adventures going.
What you like most about diving/what type of diving you like to do:
Once we moved to Florida, I fell in love with the Florida springs, they are truly a hidden gem in Florida, and did my Cavern. I then continued on to get my full Cave certification and CCR certification. When I am in the Florida caves, I am the most relaxed I have ever been. I also really enjoy spearfishing, freediving, fossil diving, tech diving and photography.
What do you do outside of diving – what do you do for a living:
I have had lots of passions, including dance and musical theater. Before I started working at Adventure Outfitters full time, I was a Marketing and PR Manager for a national commercial real estate firm.
Outside of diving, I really enjoy hanging out with my husband, Alex, our pup, BMO and our baby girl, Athena, who is the love of my life!
What is your next dive class and/or your diving goal?:
I am currently working my freediving instructor and focusing on more technical diving courses. Eventually, I would love to share my love of cave diving with others and that the caves are more than dangerous, dark tunnels but beautiful, windows into Florida's past!
Robert Blevins
Robert is a certified TDI, SDI and PADI dive instructor for Adventure Outfitters. You can often find him diving with his son Alex in a cave or up and down the escalator in the USS Oriskany.
Robert is a retired U.S. Army Reserve veteran participating in Operation Desert Shield/Storm, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Robert has been married to Anna since 1984 and is a graduate of Colorado State University and Regis University in Denver. He enjoys all aspects of diving including recreational diving, spearfishing, cave, and deep trimix diving. He also is a Handicapped Suba Association (HSA) instructor, able to train disabled divers as well as their buddies. Robert will gladly share any aspect of diving and dive training with any interested student.
“Since my early years in Fort Lauderdale I’ve always wanted to dive and spent time in the ocean swimming and snorkeling. We started out in the muddy lakes of Missouri and northern Arkansas, but since then, I have enthusiastically pursued all types of diving and underwater recreation. I enjoy diving in perfect, gin-clear waters of a Florida spring or on a reef in the Caribbean as much as I do in poor visibility of a winter shore dive in the Gulf or exploring a silted wreck.”
Robert loves diving deep, unexplored wrecks and is currently pursuing his CCR Instructor Certification.
Kevin Emerich
Kevin is a SCUBA instructor who has been diving since 1992. His passion for the water started while spending summers at Trout Lake in upstate New York. He enjoyed his time snorkeling and freediving in Trout Lake, practically before he could walk. A bike ride by Dutch Springs in Pennsylvania cemented his love for the underwater universe and he was open water certified soon after.
As Kevin grew older, he felt the need to serve his country in the United States Air Force. He continued his love for the water by diving multiple state-side locations and during overseas assignments. In addition to diving, Kevin also found his passion for teaching, receiving a degree in Military Instruction Science. Kevin will retire from the Air Force in early 2021.
Adventure Outfitters became Kevin’s home base for scuba diving in 2018 when a colleague of his wife, Katrina, recommended the dive center. From day one, Kevin knew he had found his home and future. He progressed into the world of professional diving and continues his love for the underwater universe and teaching.
When Kevin retires from the Air Force, he plans to transition from the military to teaching and working in all things scuba on a full time basis. He is currently working to become a cave diver and expanding his knowledge and experience within the world of technical diving. You can find Kevin teaching classes, or in the shop working on scuba gear, filling tanks, or offering product recommendations.
Monica Miller
Instructor, MSDT #276958
How long you have been diving:
Been diving since 2001! Certified in Texas the weekend after 9/11!
What you like most about diving/what type of diving you like to do:
I like being on/in the water! Love cave and tech diving but also love looking at the pretty fish!
I love to hang out with family and my friend doing just about anything outside!
What do you do outside of diving – what do you do for a living:
Work for DIA at MacDill Airforce Base.
What is your next dive class and/or your diving goal?:
Next class is (hopefully) scooter and rebreather! If all goes well!
Carlos Miguel Colón, III
How long you have been diving:
I received my PADI open water certification while attending the University of Tampa for college credit and have been continuously scuba diving since 2012.
What you like most about diving/what type of diving you like to do:
I love to dive recreationally! What I love most about diving is that I’m able to explore a world that few people get the privilege to explore!
What do you do outside of diving – what do you do for a living:
Outside of diving, I love hanging out with my girlfriend, Sam and our new puppy Deco. I am also a Mobile Expert for T-Mobile.
What is your next dive class and/or your diving goal?:
I completed my PADI Open Water Instructor in 2020 and love helping out on the boat with customers and students. I hope to share my love of diving with many others at Adventure Outfitters!
Ed Nester
Divemaster
How long you have been diving:
I taught Red Cross swimming from 1992 to 1997 at the Princeton YWCA. Going into the Army my love for the water was put on hold for a few years. I got into diving in 2015 and have not stopped.
I started with a SCUBA class from the Vicenza Italy ODR shop for open water, then the Advanced Open Water. I worked as a Training Assistant through that shop, diving in Italy and Croatia. I decided to continue my diving education after attending cleanup dives sponsored by Adventure Outfitters.
What is your next dive class and/or your diving goal?:
The family atmosphere, professionalism and best quality of teaching is what made me want to become a divemaster. I enjoy all sorts of diving and try to ensure the people diving with me have a great experience. I also have a love of kayaking, snorkeling, and gardening. I’m looking forward to becoming a PADI SCUBA Instructor this year.
Rosalind Gatling
Rosalind Gatling is a certified Instructor for DAN CPR, AED Adult/Child/Infant, Swimming Water Safety and Master Diver, Dive Master
"I began teaching swim lessons to preschoolers and preteens to adults, or just anyone who has the drive and passion to want to perfect their breathing and stroke technique for 3 years now.
I am a natural born teacher; I also worked with children for the past 5 years as an Instructor/Coach. I have taught softball, tumbling.
I love teaching swimming. The joy I experience when I see students grow, and further enhance their abilities. I feel that nothing is greater than to see a person go from the fear of drowning to know that they have learned and mastered drowning prevention."