John Hessburg

Current

• Founder, General Mgr at U.S. DIVE TRAVEL
• Expedition Guide / Group Travel Planner at U.S. DIVE TRAVEL NETWORK

Past

• Staff Writer, Investigative Reporter at Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Education

• University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

Recommended

4 people have recommended John

Connections

31 connections

Industry

Leisure, Travel & Tourism

Websites

• My Company
• My Portfolio
• My Blog

John Hessburg’s Summary

At U.S. DIVE TRAVEL, we are wholesalers of tropical island vacations for scuba divers, snorkeling enthusiasts & folks who love beach basking. With a careful eye on safety, savings & comfort, we broker & plan dream vacations for clients who share our keen desire for ocean adventures.

During 18 wonderful years of wholesaling tropical trips, we've been blessed to serve thousands of good people. Our vacation planners -- all veteran world travelers -- cater to clients who place high value on reef preservation. That's why we represent only top-quality resorts & yachts that have proven their respect for vulnerable ocean eco-systems, by making life-positive choices that protect corals & critters before cash flow.

Our prime goal at U.S. DIVE TRAVEL is continually to refine our customer service, research efficiency & vacation package details. Also we hope, for many more years, to explore & develop new island resort destinations & add new diving yachts -- across the South Pacific & Caribbean regions.

The tropical learning curve never sags. It keeps climbing, year after exciting year, as we find creative, client-centered ways to manage challenges from El Nino reef impacts, global recession & airline pricing shifts.

Life near the sea, & under the sea, is good beyond measure. This big blue planet is alive & well, friends! After more than 44 in-depth inspection tours of tropical island groups around the world, we speak from direct experience & personal delight in the ocean realms.

Hope we can share that island delight with you, as well. Thanks for taking a moment to visit U.S. DIVE TRAVEL ....

John Hessburg’s Specialties:

Our key focus is planning exotic & affordable tropical island vacations for families, honeymooners, adventuring couples, dive clubs, churches, government & corporate teams. U.S. Dive Travel's founder has more than 38 years adventure-guiding experience on 5 continents: in scuba diving, free diving, alpine mountaineering, expedition planning & wilderness explorations.

With zest & zeal, our team serves clients seeking scuba diving vacations or snorkeling vacations. We warmly welcome you ...

John Hessburg’s Experience

• Founder, General Mgr

  U.S. DIVE TRAVEL

  (Leisure, Travel & Tourism industry)

  March 1991 — Present (18 years 9 months)

  U.S. DIVE TRAVEL NETWORK was founded in March 1991 -- in Seattle WA, USA -- by John Hessburg & Susan Hessburg. Then the reservations office was moved to Minneapolis-St. Paul MN in June 1999, where the Network HQ operates today. Our website at www.usdivetravel.com is the largest & longest-running resource for scuba diving vacations & snorkeling vacations on the Internet, with more than 777,000 words of text + 1,776 copyrighted photos of tropical island getaways in more than 30 countries. After nearly 2 decades of reef assessment trips to the South Pacific & the Caribbean, our areas of special expertise include the Fiji Islands, the Hawaiian Islands, Belize, Honduras & the Dutch Antilles. As wholesalers of tropical adventure vacations, we continue to rep most major diving live-aboard yachts worldwide -- including the Aggressor Fleet, Explorer Ventures Fleet, the Peter Hughes Dancer Fleet, Mike Ball Dive Expeditions, Ocean Hunters in Palau, Nai'a in Fiji, Bilikiki in the Solomons & Odyssey in Truk Lagoon.

• Expedition Guide / Group Travel Planner

  U.S. DIVE TRAVEL NETWORK

  (Leisure, Travel & Tourism industry)

  March 1991 — Present (18 years 9 months)

  In addition to GM duties at U.S. Dive Travel, will help coordinate several expeditions each year for client groups, plus reef assessment / property inspection tours of SoPac & Caribbean island groups for USDT partners.

• Staff Writer, Investigative Reporter

  Seattle Post-Intelligencer

  (Privately Held; Newspapers industry)

  August 1982 — March 1991 (8 years 8 months)

  • Staff writer, investigative reporter for Seattle Post-Intelligencer. (August 1982 to March 1991) Morning daily circulation 200,000. Covered fast-breaking news, general assignment features, several in-depth probes, plus features on the Latino community & mountaineering adventures. In one 7-month investigation in 1988, wrote 25 stories showing how lax Forest Service management fostered widespread log theft & fraud in Pacific Northwest timber industry. Stories sparked a congressional probe. Forest Service forced to reform national timber accountability policies after new federal laws were passed.
  
  • Freelance correspondent for Reuters -- the British news agency. (May 1983 to May 1991). As principal stringer in Western Washington, filed several spot-news stories per month. Many stories received national, some international, wire-service distribution, including features on the 1984 NCAA Final Four basketball tournament in Seattle, the July 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle, the Mount Hood mountaineering disaster of May 1986.
  
  • Freelance contributor to Summit, Climbing & Pacific Northwest magazines (November 1984 to October 1988) Was associate editor at Summit, America's oldest mountaineering magazine. Two cover stories in Pacific Northwest: “Women Who Climb” & “Younger Men, Older Women.”
  
  • Freelance contributor to Mpls. St. Paul, Twin Cities & Twin Cities Reader magazines. (October 1981 to August 1982) In September 1982, published investigation in Mpls. St. Paul magazine that showed how inept fiscal planning led to the political collapse of Governor Al Quie's administration.

John Hessburg’s Education

• University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

  B.A. Summa cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa , Journalism, Spanish/Portuguese, Poetry , 1973 — 1977

  John Hessburg preceded his college career with one year's study abroad, as a Rotary International Scholar in Argentina, from July 1970 to June 1971. He then worked as a trail builder in the Cascade Mountains for the WA State DNR for one year. Studied freshman year at Grinnell College in Iowa, then later enrolled at the U of Minnesota, Mpls campus. Audited courses for one year at U of M's Med School: physiology of human color vision + chronobiology. One year's training in Journalism Law. Graduated with 3 concurrent majors -- main focus Print Journalism -- from the University of Minnesota's School of Journalism in spring 1977.
  
  Fluent in Spanish + Portuguese. Conversant in German.

  Activities and Societies:

  Varsity track & cross-country at Grinnell College (Iowa) during freshman year; then transferred to U of M; walk-on / track team University of Minnesota sophomore year; medical writer & special edition editor at Minnesota Daily, circ. 40,000, junior & senior years.

Additional Information

John Hessburg’s Websites:

• My Company
• My Portfolio
• My Blog

John Hessburg’s Interests:

Alpine mountaineering, trekking, scuba diving, free diving, tropical island photography, folk guitar & guitar composition, writing contemporary lyrics & parodies, chess, website development, poetry, teaching Sunday morning sessions at local church, raising two wonderfully creative & energetic sons. Happily married for 19 years.

John Hessburg’s Groups:

• Certified as PADI Divemaster in Nov. 1991.
• From May '91 to present gave 50+ slide shows & travel lectures throughout Pacific NW & MN.
• From Sept. '89 to Feb '90, presented 10 mountaineering slide shows & lectures re' exploratory expedition to Cordillera Real / Bolivian Andes. Audiences were: National Convention of American Alpine Club -- Boulder, CO; University of Oregon -- Eugene, OR; Western WA University -- Bellingham, WA; Boeing Company Alpine Club -- Seattle; Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI) -- Bellevue, WA & Portland, OR.
• In winters of '88 & '89, served as guest lecturer on newspaper ethics & investigative reporting at University of WA + Seattle Central Community College.
• In Oct. 1981, served on professional panel for investigative methods at regional convention of Investigative Reporters & Editors, Inc. -- Mpls, MN.
• In Feb. '79 & Feb. '81, served on investigative reporting panels at state conventions of MN Newspaper Association -- Mpls.

•    PADI Professionals
•    Linked SCUBA Divers
•    World Tourism Network
•    PADI Scuba Divers
•    Mountaineers
•    BNI of Minnesota
•    Climbing
•    University of Minnesota School of Journalism (SJMC)
•    Professionals for Adventure
•    U.S. Tour Operators
•    DIVE PROFESSIONALS

John Hessburg’s Honors:

• 1989 Blethen Award -- for Pacific Northwest journalists.
Honorable mention for investigative reporting.

• 1986 Society of Professional Journalists - Sigma Delta Chi. Second place -- Lifestyle writing, magazines. Pacific Northwest regional contest.

• 1985 Society of Professional Journalists - Sigma Delta Chi. First place -- Personality profile, magazines. Pacific Northwest regional contest.

• 1981 Frank Premack Award for Public Affairs Reporting in Minnesota. First place. Awarded by Minneapolis Tribune.

• 1981 Minneapolis Tribune Government News Contest.
First place -- Investigative reporting.

• 1981 Minnesota Newspaper Association Contest.
First place -- Investigative reporting. Second place -- Feature writing.

• 1980 Minneapolis Tribune Government News Contest.
First place -- Investigative reporting.

John Hessburg’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• consulting offers
• new ventures
• expertise requests
• business deals
• reference requests
• getting back in touch