Bill Oigarden

Bill grew up on the water. He learned to swim off the back of a sailboat in Long Island Sound. In 1968 Bill had the chance to dive off of Islamorada using a Johnson Air Buoy. He was overwhelmed with the beauty of the ocean and excited by the exploration involved in finding the best reef to dive on. When he moved to Florida he decided three things: he would get a boat and sail to the Bahamas, he would learn to fly a plane, and he wanted to go the Keys to learn to dive. In 1972 Bill walked into Hal Watts dive shop in Orlando and since Bill was not 16 yet he had to settle on snorkeling for a bit. In 1974 Bill earned his diving certification and by the end of the year had made over 100 dives including more than 50 cave and deep dives, and yes Bill made it to Cay Sal, Bahamas. Throughout the 70's Bill was fortunate enough to have been in the right place at the right time. Organized cave diving was only a few years old and Bill got to dive with, and be mentored by, many of the original cave diving explorers and educators. Bill completed his cave diver training with Rory Dickens, David Cameron, Dale Malloy, and Barry Kerley and became NACD instructor #36. Bill was also one of the original NSS-CDS cave diving instructors and like so many others worked and lived at Ginnie Springs. Today Bill dives with the WKPP, his wife Karen, and many friends that he has known for over 30 years. Bill is an IANTD instructor and still holds a valid Captain's License. Bill is willing to share all (well most) of his stories of the early days of organized cave diver training and exploration.
Today Bill is a doctoral candidate and later this year will earn a PhD in Counseling. Bill's research interests include: novelty seeking, sensation seeking, risk-taking behaviors, and personality development. Bill is a psychotherapist specializing in individual, couple, and family counseling