Charles Earl Sellers

Charles Earl Sellers was born November 22, 1956 in Lucedale, Mississippi.

At birth, Charles’ grandfather, Dandy, gave him the nickname Scooter and that was the name he chose to be known as for his life.

After moving several times, the family settled in Chipley, Florida. Scooter had 2 sisters and a brother he grew up with. Scooter’s mother would drive him and his sisters to school every day. His sister, Beth would walk him in to his classroom and then go to her class. Scooter would then go out the back door of the school, cut through several yards and was waiting on the porch when his mother returned home. After several escapes through the back door, his mother finally purchased him a bicycle and that seemed to stop his flight from school every day.

Upon graduating high school, with no plans for his future, he and a friend decided to joined the US Navy. He enlisted in the Navy and served on the USS Tecumseh from in 1974 – 1978 as a basic submarine and Missile technician. At home he would quite often look at the clock and ask? What time is it? The numbers on his submarine were 628 so the answer was 6:28 Tecumseh Time. While in the Navy he received the Good Conduct Medal and the National Service Award. He would frequently talk about his time in the Navy and told many stories. They would raid the lobster pots off the back of the submarine and cook lobster in the kitchen in large pots and eat lobster all night long. He forged many long-lasting friendships in the Navy and I maintained contact with quite a few.

After being honorably discharged he took a job in the computer industry which landed him in California working for Pyramid Technologies. Wanting to come back to the East coast he transferred back to Atlanta in 1994.

Scooter had always had an avid interest in scuba diving and went on to become a scuba instructor through Larry Price at Emory University. That same year he met his wife, Shirley, also an instructor, in a scuba course and they had an instant connection. As fate would have it, we both ended up on the same scuba trip to Belize and have never left each other’s side since. Three years later they were married on a small island in the Caribbean called Conception Island. And as a romantic novel would read – the captain married us, but only after we made an incredible shark dive (talk about tempting fate). LOL

Both lived for their dream of scuba. January of 1995 he opened, along with Susie Gillispie and his wife, Shirley, their own dive shop and named it “S & S UnderSea Adventures, Inc. a/k/a UnderSea Adventures).

Over the last 25 years Scooter and Shirley expanded their business to include technical diving. Scooter became an expert instructor in all aspects of technical diving. He was instrumental in the creation of Naui Tech and the Naui Cave Course. For many years you could find Scooter either teaching cave diving or diving deep in the caves of Florida exploring and enjoying what he loved best. As their business thrived they dove around the globe with many friends and students. Scooter loved to impart his knowledge to everyone. We have truly been deprived of one of the most congenial and knowledgeable professional.

Scooter’s health began to decline in 2016 and continued its decline until he went to meet our Lord Thursday, January 28, 2021.

His wealth of knowledge and passion for diving will be greatly missed. Scooter’s life touched so many people in so many ways.