The Toronto Scuba Club is an organization dedicated to a superior level of scuba diving instruction using the PADI format. Successful completion of a course through the Toronto Scuba Club results in a PADI certification in the course chosen by you.
We are able to offer the open water portion of any of our courses in a local dive environment. On occasion Toronto Scuba Club organizes dive trips internationally. During one of these trips you can also complete a number of our courses.
Read MoreToronto Scuba Club is proud to have some amazing business relationships that help us help you get the most out of your diving experiences. Our primary teaching location is at the prestigious Bishop Strachan School, one of Toronto’s premier downtown private schools, conveniently located at St. Clair and Spadina. Teaching at such a venerable location offers our students the use of Bishop Strachan’s state of the art classrooms and private pool.
Peter Mikhail, Instructor
Peter Mikhail is an instructor and co-founder of the Toronto Scuba Club. Peter has been training students in recreational scuba diving for 10 years. Peter is rated as a Master Scuba Diver Trainer and teaches many of the speciality courses offered through the PADI system. Peter has created and published a course specifically for PADI which deals with fear and anxiety around water. The course is called ‘Breath and Relaxation’.
Originally from London, England, Peter trained as a PADI Dive Instructor in the Cayman Islands at the world famous Bob Soto Divers, a pioneer of scuba diving who worked with Jacques Cousteau in creating what we now know as recreational scuba diving.
Read MorePeter’s experience and reputation has been significant in making him one of Toronto’s most respected and frequently requested recreational dive instructors. He has created a solid base of students that continue to further their dive training with him and prove the point that good training and the ability to meet individual needs is what keeps students diving.
Peter’s experience led him to be chosen to train the cast of Cirque de Soleil in Toronto in 2008. Peter is also actively involved in introducing scuba to underprivileged communities and children. Peter began working with the Toronto Police Department in 2011 providing scuba diving experiences to children through their give-back community program TAVIS.
Chris Williams, Instructor
Chris Williams, one of the principal instructors and a co-founder of the Toronto Scuba Club, was formerly a Bay Street lawyer who left the practice of law to pursue his passion for diving. Along the way, Chris discovered that he has a natural inclination to teach. Chris is excited that he has the chance to both introduce more people to the world of scuba diving as well as teach them how to be safe and knowledgeable divers.
Having previously worked in the demanding environment of downtown Toronto, Chris also understands the time constraints and pressures that many of our students cope with on a daily basis. He is also an avid sportsman and knows what it is like to want to enjoy every second of your playtime.
Read MoreChris is rated as a Master Scuba Diver Trainer, the highest PADI recreational instructor-level rating. Chris spent a significant time diving on the island of Koh Tao, Thailand, teaching for one of the world’s largest diving outfits, Bans Diving.
He has also dived in North America, the Caribbean and the Atlantic and wants you to have the same fantastic diving opportunities that he has experienced. is originally from the United Kingdom, but has called Toronto home for over 9 years.
Tiff Laprise, Instructor
Tiffany took up diving in 2008 before moving to Australia to pursue a career in teaching. While in Australia she had the opportunity to dive some of the best sites on the west and south coasts, and fell in love with the richness of life in the sea. Since then, she has had the opportunity to dive in warmer waters including St. Maarten’s; Turks & Caicos and Belize which has some of the best diversity of sea life in the Caribbean. While diving she has come across reef and leopard sharks, sea turtles, eels, lobster and rays – although her dream is to dive with giant mantas. In the summer, Tiff can be found helping out TSC at the lake and in Brockville during their Advanced diving weekends, which aside from great drift and wreck diving are also a fun time to connect with other divers around a campfire.
For Tiffany, one of the best things about working for TSC is having the opportunity to share her experiences and passion for the sport with new students, especially children. Last year she worked with TSC and the Boy Scouts to introduce scuba to kids and in April 2012, she will be travelling to the Cayman Islands to complete her Instructor Development Course which will combine her love of teaching and diving. She looks forward to working with the TSC family to introduce diving to new students and helping existing divers reach their goals.
Chris Mulcahey, Instructor
Chris Mulcahey first tried scuba diving in 2004 in Koh Tao, Thailand. It was there that he completed the Open Water and Advanced Open Water courses. He had always enjoyed swimming and snorkeling as well as all types of wildlife, especially marine life, and so he instantly loved it. He was especially hooked after he did his first deep dive and was lucky enough to be circled by several reef sharks!
As he traveled for a few years after that, he usually gravitated towards the oceans and seas and dove every chance he got. During that time, he dove in Vietnam, Egypt, Panama, Honduras, Belize and Mexico. He says some of the most memorable fish he has ever encountered are manta rays, eagle rays, mahi-mahis, giant tunas, whale sharks and several other species of sharks.
Read MoreHe has since experienced a whole other world of diving here in Canada. From giant pacific octopuses to beluga whales and from ice diving to the shipwrecks of the great lakes, Chris looks forward to exploring all this country has to offer. After returning to Koh Tao, Thailand in 2010 and completing the Instructor Development Course, Chris once again moved approximately 5000 kilometers across the country and is now living here in Toronto. He is happy to be here at the Toronto Scuba Club teaching and sharing everything he knows about this amazingly addictive activity we call scuba diving.
Danielle Gaudette, Divemaster in Training
Inspired by the beauty and diversity of our marine world, Danielle Gaudette has been dive obsessed since her first descent. Having parents that are avid divers, she gained a familiarity with diving in the family pool at a young age. Danielle is a water baby that has taken swim courses to attain her lifeguard certification and has now reached professional level scuba diving as a Divemaster. Diving is her great escape from the everyday.
For Danielle, the best part of the teaching is the expression on a new divers face when they first experience diving. What a thrill! All in all, she believes proper training is the key to enjoying this amazing sport.
Read MorePaul Bradshaw, Divemaster in Training
Paul Bradshaw first experienced scuba diving in 1985 age 10, however it wasn’t until 2007 that he rediscovered the sport and took it up in earnest. A graduate of Toronto Scuba Club, Paul has worked with both principle instructors to obtain the level of divemaster. Paul took the extra step to the professional level of divemaster to improve his dive skills and allow him take his diving to the next level.
Paul also loves just jumping into the pool and passing on his dive knowledge and love of the sport to students of Toronto Scuba Club. Despite having dived at several locations across the globe, including Hawaii, San Diego and the Bahamas, Paul’s favourite diving occurs right here at home in the challenging waters of the Saint Lawrence River and, in particular, the wreck of the Keystorm.
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