January 8, 2017

Meet Ken Kurtis

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ken Kurtis.

Ken Kurtis was kicked out of swim class twice by the time he was six. (He didn’t like putting his face in the water.) Hardly an auspicious start to a diving career. But Ken always loved being around the water, loved looking at fish, and in 1978 while running a radio station in Richmond, VA, was offered a chance to get certified and took advantage of it. Ken then became an NAUI Instructor (Top Candidate at his 1980 Instructor Training Course) and has taught thousands of people over the years. Ken’s logged over 5,000 dives all over the world in such varied places as the Maldives, Indonesia, Yap, Tahiti, Bonaire, Cocos, Alaska, Easter Island and, of course, his beloved waters of Southern California.

Ken came to L.A. in 1981 to further his broadcasting career. He ended up spending 20 years as the main host for KCET’s Pledge Drives, did the weekend weather for KCET, spent about five years on “General Hospital,” five years on “Days of Our Lives,” and has done many commercials and infomercials. When he arrived in L.A., he started teaching for Sunland Sport Lodge in Beverly Hills. By 1988, Sunland was about to go bankrupt but Ken teamed up with a business partner (the son of the store’s founders) and bought the business, renaming it Reef Seekers Dive Co.

During the 90s and early 2000s, Reef Seekers was one of the largest and most active scuba stores in the L.A. area. As the recession started to take hold, business started falling off, although the store stuck around. In 2006, a developer made an offer on the Wilshire Blvd. property that Reef Seekers had been leasing (since 1994) and they were told to move out. Given the economy, the high rent that was being commanded for similar spaces, and the fact that his business partner wanted to retire, they decided it was time to forego the traditional brick-and-mortar retail store. Since what Ken loves doing so much is teaching scuba and taking people diving, he decided to keep Reef Seekers going as an Internet-based operation, specializing in dive travel and still doing some repairs on the side.

Now, ten years after closing the retail store (and not having to worry about the quarter million dollars annual fixed overhead that entailed), Ken focuses on taking people around the world on exotic dive vacations, generally doing about six trips each year. In 2016, he’s escorted groups to Yap and Palau, taken divers in cages to see Great White Sharks at Isla Guadalupe, Mexico, put people nose-to-nose with Whale Sharks in Isla Mujeres, Mexico, and just returned from an extended trip to the Maldives with a stopover to tour Istanbul on the way back. Ken says his new business motto is: I’m here to help you spend your retirement money.

Ken speaks frequently to dive clubs about diving and especially safety issues. He’s been chairman of Chamber Day/Eve – an annual benefit for the Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber – since the early 90s, served as a member of the Statewide Interests Group for the MLPA (Marine Life Protection Act), and is a volunteer Dive Team Leader at the Aquarium of the Pacific. Ken’s an accomplished photographer and his photos and stories can be found in the pages of the California Diving News, Sport Diver, Skin Diver, Undercurrent and other scuba publications, along with the monthly Reef Seekers newsletter. As an expert on diving safety, Ken has also been the Forensic Consultant to the L.A. County Coroner for scuba fatalities since 2003.

With all that going on, he still finds time to maintain an acting career, although it leans more towards voice-over now than on-camera. He’s a very good cook, avid Scrabble & Boggle player, chases total solar eclipses (next one is in the US in 2017), ran five L.A. Marathons, and is kind to animals and small children. He also claims to hold the Reef Seekers deep diving record of 3500′ . . . but we have to add the caveat that he did it in the Alvin submersible for a KCET/PBS special so that might be cheating.

Has it been a smooth road?
If it was easy, everyone would do it.

The biggest struggle with the diving market is that it’s a very small niche market and it’s not cheap, especially when you focus on the travel. But from the time we started Reef Seekers and through present-day, we’ve always felt that customer service was the key, And we will move heaven and earth to try to make sure that you have the best dive experience possible.

Especially with dive travel, this can be tricky. One time we were leaving LAX for a week in Mexico when I noticed numerous bags still sitting on the tarmac as the plane was being readied for takeoff. Worst of all, they were our dive bags. I flagged down a flight attendant and explained the issue and she notified the pilot, who directed the baggage handlers to unload the cargo hold and reload it so all the bags would fit. As this was a small regional jet (Horizon Air) where the stairs fold into the fuselage, I sat on the steps of the plane until all of our bags were loaded to make sure none got left behind.

There was also the time when our Continental Airlines flight from LAX to Honolulu got delayed 10 hours. We were going to miss our connecting flight to Guam and the same flight the next day (they only do one flight a day) was full. But I knew there was a less-known routing called “The Pineapple Express” that island-hopped to Guam and which would allow us to make our other connection to Palau (and the dive boat that was waiting for us) so I got our group booked on that. But once in Honolulu, our island-hopper got canceled due to mechanical issues and they said they weren’t going to be able to get us out for another two days. I managed to do some Googling and found the e-mail address for the president of Continental. I sent him a note explaining our plight along with pictures of what we hoped to see. half an hour later, he contacted me via e-mail and then phone and they magically cleared seats for us for the sold-out flight the next day and we made it to the boat on time.

So has it been smooth? No. But part of my job is to smooth out the rough patches and not break a sweat while doing it. Like I said, if it was easy, everyone would do it.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Reef Seekers Dive Co. – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
We specialize in scuba travel and escorting small groups of divers around the world. We also have some trips that are suitable for non-divers as they involve snorkeling. The Whale Shark trips to Isla Mujeres are a good example of that.

What sets us apart from everyone else is our knowledge of diving and travel and our level of service and attention. We take care of all the details and the worrying. You simply need to get yourself to the airport and we’ll take it from there.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
What we like best about our city – Close to the ocean and some fabulous diving. When we’re not traveling, we’re diving SoCal waters.

What do we like least – The water’s too cold. Brrrrr!!! (But that’s where a good wetsuit or drysuit comes in handy. Still spectacular things to see.)

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