Our co-founders, Steven and Deborah Larson, were avid SCUBA divers prior to their founding of Horses Healing Heroes™. One of their fervent desires is to create an additional program “Sirens & Seahorses” which will offer adaptive SCUBA diving for our clients with physical limitations. Steven was certified in the early 80’s while on a Navy carrier deployment in the Philippines and went on to become a Master SCUBA Instructor with both PADI and SSI.

Many years later, Steven had the good fortune to become acquainted with the man who had won the diving contract for the Warner Bros. film adaptation of Michael Chrichton's Sphere, starring Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, Samuel L. Jackson, Queen Latifah, Peter Coyote and Liev Schreiber.

For every minute the stars are underwater on screen, there are a host of cameramen, grips, star doubles, stuntmen, and other crew underwater as well, each with their own safety diver. They logged over 3,000 tank hours during filming which mostly took place in vast tanks in hangars at the former Mare Island Naval Station in Vallejo, CA.

A lot of the stars had previous diving experience and just needed a refresher course, but some had no experience. One highlight of Steven's time with Warner Bros. was training Queen Latifah to dive. During filming, a small entourage made a trip to Hawaii to film the helicopter scene with Huey Lewis as the pilot. Although Steven was not part of that particular crew, Queen Latifah was and took the opportunity to do her open water certification in the beautiful, warm Hawaiian waters. Even though Steven missed out on the Hawaii leg, he had a blast training her and even let her drive his motorcycle!

Another highlight was playing golf with Samuel L. Jackson and being gifted one of his coveted Kangol caps. Samuel gives only a few to crew members on each of his movies. In the photo of "Sphere" souvenirs, you can see the cap, a first edition copy of Sphere signed by the cast for Steven, and one of the squid eggs used in a scene with Queen Latifah (the odd oval shape on the left).

Because he worked extensively with audio-equipped helmets on Blackhawk helicopters during his Army career (yes, he spent 10 years in the Navy and 13 in the Army), Steven became one of the dive helmet experts on the movie. He was even listed in the movie credits which the industry is pretty stingy about giving out. Although he was second in charge of the entire dive operation, he got the curious title in the credits of "Asst. Dive Helmet Technician." Oh well, he got his name in lights, so to speak.

Deborah got her open-water certification in 1985 while living in Seattle where she was told if she could cut it in Puget Sound's cold water, she could dive most anywhere. She was getting her advanced certification when she met Steven, and Steven became fast friends with her instructor. The instructor was opening a SCUBA shop in Sacramento, and Steven became one of his instructors. Deborah subsequently obtained her Rescue Medic certification.

They purchased a time share in San Jose del Cabo, near Cabo San Lucas, and when dive students didn’t want to get into chilling Monterey, CA, waters, they headed to Cabo. In addition to multiple trips to Cabo and Monterey, they’ve had the opportunity to dive in Greece, Curacao, Fiji, St. Thomas and St. Bart.

With the founding of Horses Healing Heroes™, their focus shifted away from diving; however, they feel they can bring it back into their lives while giving the magical wonders underwater to some of our clients. The dream of owning a full-service dive shop and training pool is always still there and could happen if the right group of investors are found.