About Us | The Dive Team

What We Do

With over 100 years of scuba diving experience, The Dive Team has extensive knowledge of the underwater world. Our goal is to bring this amazing underwater world to those who may not have the opportunity to see it in person and to show how incredible this world can be. We promote safe and respectful use of dive sites and heritage areas. We believe in the preservation of these special places and are trained to dive respectfully and in accordance with conservation dive standards.

All of The Dive Team members have a great reverence for the underwater world. We document each new place with zero impact to wildlife and integrity of heritage sites. We have in-house photographers, videographers, video and photo editors, scuba instructors, and dive masters. We film and edit our short films from start to finish, including music and narration. Our dream is that more people will have the opportunity to discover and appreciate the underwater world and gain an interest in the vital historic sites and immeasurable biodiversity that make up our planet.

Who We Are

The team members that make it all happen

David Gilchrist

David Gilchrist

Photographer

David Gilchrist has been scuba diving for 45 year, Over that period he has earned Instructor ratings with ACUC, CMAS and a Master Scuba Diver Trainer rating with PADI.

He attended Brock University, majoring in Biological Studies. With an interest in biology, scuba diving and photography, it was a natural step to pursue all 3 interests. He has taken underwater photographs in the Great Lakes, the East and West coast of Canada and, with support and funding through the Canada Council and the Arctic Awareness Program, in the High Arctic at Resolute Bay. He has also explored and photographed the beautiful coral reefs of the Caribbean , Hawaii and Micronesia as well as the Meditteranean Sea in the south of France.

Read More about David Here

Jimmy Lockard

Jimmy Lockard

Photographer, Videographer

A long time resident of Niagara, Jim (Jimmy) Lockard grew up in Queenston. The Niagara River was a favorite playground. Jim’s passion is diving and underwater photography along with underwater archaeology. Jim contributed to Ontario’s Ministry of Citizenship & Culture as a avocational archaeologist for many years. He continues to work at and monitor underwater archaeological projects in the province. This diving career has taken Jim to Canada’s North Magnetic Pole, Resolute Bay, Barrow Strait and Lancaster Sound.
SOS, Save Ontario Shipwrecks, was a part of Jim’s life. Serving as President, of SOS in the 1980’s, he helped Rick Jackson, the founder of SOS, promote Diver Awareness of Wreck Preservation. A member of OMHC, Ontario Marine Heritage Committee, for the past 35 years, Jim has participated and continues to be active in many of the group’s historical projects.

Read More about Jimmy Here

Bill Lindberg

Bill Lindberg

Photographer, Videographer

Bill is a long time resident of the Niagara Region. He was instantly addicted to the underwater world after he tried scuba diving while on vacation in the Dominican Republic. Bill has been diving since 2004. He has explored the waters around southern Ontario, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Cuba. His certifications include open water, advanced open water, drysuit, and enriched air (nitrox). Bill also assists the team with Underwater photography and videography.

Jaia Konik

Jaia Konik

Videographer and Narrator

A native to the Niagara Region, Jaia Konik first began scuba diving in 2008 and hasn‘t looked back. She earned Divemaster status with PADI before shifting her focus primarily to underwater videography and is the video editor of The Dive Team. Her voice is also the narration you will hear in many of the videos. Jaia loves to explore and share the underwater world with those who can’t join her in the water. She has been concentrating most of her video documentation on dive sites local to her Ontario home, this includes the vast network of wrecks in the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence Seaway, Niagara River and the world renowned wrecks of Tobermory.

Francois Lauzon

Francois Lauzon

Dive Master

Born and raised in Quebec, Francois began diving in 1975. Over the years he has enjoyed recreational diving in many interesting locations in Quebec, Ontario, Florida and the Caribbean.

Despite challenges related to a traumatic accident, he has a renewed enthusiasm for both scuba and free diving. He recently completed the HSA advanced open water/ SDI solo diving and SDI diver propulsion vehicle course. He also participated in strong current diving with Jill Heinerth. He has been involved with Freedom at Depth, an organization who’s mission is to train people with disabilities to scuba dive.
One of his goals for the future is to experience cave diving in Exuma.

Erinn Lockard

Erinn Lockard

Divemaster, Archaeology

Erinn was raised, educated and now operates a small business in the Niagara area. Living on the cusp of two Great Lakes, recreational diving has been a part of her life since her teenage years. Erinn completed her BA at Brock University.

Her studies of the classics led to an interest in marine archaeology.
She hopes to explore more regions of the Great Lakes and other underwater sites worldwide. Experiencing the wonders beneath the waves and learning more about them continues to fascinate her.

David Gilchrist

David Gilchrist

Photographer

David Gilchrist has been scuba diving for 45 year, Over that period he has earned Instructor ratings with ACUC, CMAS and a Master Scuba Diver Trainer rating with PADI.

He attended Brock University, majoring in Biological Studies. With an interest in biology, scuba diving and photography, it was a natural step to pursue all 3 interests. He has taken underwater photographs in the Great Lakes, the East and West coast of Canada and, with support and funding through the Canada Council and the Arctic Awareness Program, in the High Arctic at Resolute Bay. He has also explored and photographed the beautiful coral reefs of the Caribbean , Hawaii and Micronesia as well as the Meditteranean Sea in the south of France.

His photography has been displayed at Underwater Canada, several galleries and libraries, the Vancouver Aquarium and, most recently he donated a collection to Heartland Forest an Outdoor Education Centre. A collection of his photos were displayed at the Ontario Science Centre for 15 years. He has produced photographs for interpretive display for Fathom Five National Marine Park and Pukaskwa National Park on Lake Superior and written articles for several magazines, including Diver, Immersed, Scuba Press, The Undersea Journal, Photo Digest and Seasons. He has recently been accepted as a contributing photographer for the Florida Museum of Natural Sciences online Aquatic Image Gallery.

As a member and Past Chair of the Ontario Marine Heritage Committee(OMHC), he has been involved in numerous underwater archaeology projects. Avocational training through the former Archaelogical Conservation Program, POW/ SOS and the Parks Canada Marine Archaeological Unit and NAS Level 1,2,3 programs has allowed him to develop skills and an interest in recording and helping to preserve a variety of underwater archaeological sites throughout the province. Currently, he partners with Jimmy Lockard to assist professional archaeologists, on a volunteer basis, to record, photograph and report on underwater sites.

Dave Gilchrist - The Dive Team

Dave Gilchrist – The Dive Team

Jimmy "Deepsea" Lockard

Jimmy Lockard

Photographer

A long time resident of Niagara, Jim (Jimmy) Lockard grew up in Queenston, the Niagara River, a favourite playground. Jim’s passion is diving and underwater photography along with underwater archaeology. Jim participated with Ontario’s Ministry of Citizenship & Culture as a avocational archaeologist for many years. He continues to work at and monitor underwater archaeological projects in the province. This diving career has taken Jim to Canada’s North Magnetic Pole, Resolute Bay, Barrow Strait and Lancaster Sound. First in 1987 with Dr. Mike Dickman, Brock University for limnological studies.Then again in 1989, with David Gilchrist, participated in the Arctic Awareness Program, part of the Polar Continental Shelf Project. This underwater photographic project took place in the very,very cold waters off Resolute, Cornwallis Island.

SOS, Save Ontario Shipwrecks, was a part of Jim’s life. Serving as President, of SOS in the 1980’s, he helped Rick Jackson, the founder of SOS, promote Diver Awareness of Wreck Preservation. A member of OMHC, Ontario Marine Heritage Committee, for the past 35 years, Jim has participated and continues participation in many of the group’s historical projects.

Jim keeps active in travel with his wife Sylvia around the globe. Always exploring and documenting with cameras. Adventures in diving and underwater photography worldwide have been, to name but a few places, Antibes, France, Almalfi, Italy, Truk Lagoon, Micronesia, Korea, Hawaii, Haida Gwaii, BC’s coastal inland passage waters, many US and Caribbean destinations.

David Gilchrist - The Dive Team

David Gilchrist – The Dive Team

Jaia Konik

Jaia Konik

Webmaster and Videographer

A native to the Niagara Region, Jaia Konik first began scuba diving in 2008 and hasn‘t looked backed. She earned Divemaster status with PADI before shifting her focus primarily to underwater videography and is the video editor of The Dive Team. Her voice is also the narration you will hear in many of the videos. Jaia loves to explore and share the underwater world with those who can’t join her in the water. As a registered Handicapped Scuba Association divemaster she assists those with special challenges who wish to dive. Jaia has been concentrating most of her video documentation on dive sites local to her Ontario home, this includes the vast network of shipping lane wrecks in the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence Seaway, Niagara River and the world renowned wrecks of Tobermory.

Jaia has travelled and lived across Canada and participates in a variety of outdoor sports including snowboarding, mountain climbing, hiking, running and personal fitness. She currently studies New Media and Web Design in her final year at Niagara College. Her sense of adventure leads her to capture a new perspective in all of her multimedia. Jaia is also the webmaster for The Dive Team website.