Mike Engle
Service Manager, Dive Rite, Inc.
Mike was destined to work for Dive Rite before he even knew it. He was born in New Jersey but when he was 8 his family moved to Lake City, FL… only a few miles away from Dive Rite’s office.
He started diving in 2000 but his interest in diving really took off once he started studying at the University of Florida. He took an Open Water class offered by the Academic Diving Program in a search for an ‘easy A.’ It turned out the class wasn’t a push over and he got more than he bargained for – he developed an unquenchable love for diving.
It wasn’t long before Mike was heavily involved in all aspects of the UF program; he took more classes, and was soon working as a dive master and later an instructor. In lieu of taking a job in the field of advertising he decided to pursue something diving related and worked full time as an instructor at Water World. To this day Mike actively teaches at UF and at his local dive shop and loves to pass on his passion and wealth of experience to his students.
He discovered cave diving and immediately became addicted. A short swim down the Gallery in Ginnie Springs during his cavern class got him hooked and he is now a fully certified cave and DPV diver. It is not entirely unusual to see Mike sneak away from work a few minutes early just to fit in a dive in on the way home.
Mike became a part of the Dive Rite family in 2007 and although his career brought him back to Lake City, he continues to reside in Gainesville. Outside of diving, he keeps busy riding sport bikes and watching the Florida Gators play. If it was up to him Gator game days would be declared public holidays!