Michael Gerken was certified to dive in 1980 at age of thirteen and spent his teenage years diving the shores of his home on Long Island, New York. After graduating from College, the took an office job in New York City while spending his weekends exploring the shipwrecks of the coast. As his fascination with diving continued to heighten his interest in his conventional corporate lifestyle waned. After working as a part time dive instructor and crewing on several local dive boats, he abandoned the daily grind of the city to pursue a full time career in boating and diving. In 1999, he took a job as dive operations manager of a remote African dive camp in Mozambique where he experienced life outside the United States for the first time and ignited his fervor for travel. After six months he returned to the USA and became a second captain working for Olympus Dive Center in Morehead City, North Carolina. Olympus specializes in conducting recreational dive charters to explore the famous shipwrecks of the region.
After two years with Olympus, Mike accepted a job on a luxury live aboard as relief captain for the Aggressor fleets recreational dive vessel, Truk Aggressor II, in Truk Lagoon, Micronesia home to the world renown Japanese fleet that was sunk there in WWII. It was here that he discovered the excitement of underwater photography and video. His vigor for diving was reignited and he began to see the underwater realm in a way he never had before.
In 2005, the Truk Aggressor II relocated to Indonesia and not yet having his fill of wreck diving Mike took a position as relief captain on another live aboard dive vessel located in Truk, the M/V Odyssey where he also served as the ships video and photo pro. After a term of six months he relocated once again to the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu in May of 2006 to document and film the shipwreck, the “SS President Coolidge”.
The "Coolidge" is a WWII casualty wreck that has earned much notoriety in the diving community world wide for its rich history and prolific marine life. Under his new photo and video company, Evolution Underwater Imaging LLC, Mike compiled the most comprehensive footage ever obtained of this famous shipwreck and produced a full length documentary titled, “The Wreck of the SS President Coolidge”. The video is presently distributed in Australia, New Zealand, Vanuatu and the United States.
After a year absence it was time to return to the Odyssey but, this time as the ships Captain. During this time Mike continued to build his photographic and video portfolio amassing an extensive collection of images. Mike resigned from the Odyssey in July of 2008 to return to the US to spend more time promoting his photographic and video work. Mike’s second video documentary on Truk Lagoon is scheduled for release in late 2010. Presently, his photographic prints are on display at numerous art galleries around the USA and are available for purchase by contacting him at mike@evolutionunderwater.com. Plans are currently under way to promote his artwork in the United Kingdom.
In February of 2009, Mike returned to his roots in North Carolina and rejoined with Olympus Dive Center to captain the dive shops dive boat, "Midnight Express" and will be there through the 2010 season running the "Midnight" and teaching photography. See his most recent portfolio of photography titled "Wrecks of North Carolina" on this web site. If you would like to dive with Mike contact nema@olympusdiving.com, phone 252-241-6082 or email mike@evolutionunderwater.com.
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