Spencer has always been at home in the water – despite a near drowning incident as toddler.  In 1984, at fourteen years of age, he earned NAUI and YMCA SCUBA certifications and was immediately hooked on diving.  During his college years in Long Island, NY, he dove regularly, usually for lobster.  During this time, he earned his PADI Advanced Open Water and PADI Rescue Diver certifications.   Then, in 1995, he earned his PADI Divemaster certification.  In 2010, after two years living in Okinawa, Japan and spending almost as much time in the water as the fish, Spencer’s passion for diving was at all-time high and, he entered an Instructor Development Course and became a PADI instructor in the spring of 2011.  He started a small SCUBA business in Burke, VA and moved it to San Diego in 2016 when the Navy moved him there.  In 2025, after retiring from the Navy, Spencer moved back to Burke and joined the Patriot Diving crew.