Frontline Dive & Recovery

09/10/2026

This one was a little bit of a full-circle day for me.

I graduated from the Somerset Community College EMS Programs several years ago, later had the opportunity to come back as an instructor, and today I still get to work with their students as a paramedic and preceptor at Somerset-Pulaski County EMS.

Every year, the Paramedic Program teams up with Somerset Pulaski County Rescue Squad for a lake day. The students get a chance to get out of the classroom and see what a water-rescue operation actually looks like. Rescue Squad divers locate and recover a submerged patient, then hand that patient off to the paramedic students on the boat. From there, they have to manage a simulated drowning/cardiac arrest while working in the cramped and moving environment of a rescue boat before continuing care back on shore.

It's one of those training days that brings several different pieces of emergency services together and gives students an experience that's pretty hard to recreate in a classroom.

This year I got to wear a couple different hats. I was there with the Rescue Squad as one of our divers, but Frontline Dive & Recovery was also invited to stick around afterward and give interested students an opportunity to try scuba through a Discover Scuba experience.

Some may decide diving isn't for them. Some may decide they want to get certified recreationally. And hopefully a few eventually decide they want to take that training even further and become part of a public-safety dive team.

That's really one of the reasons I've enjoyed building Frontline. Diving can be a hobby, a profession, a way to serve your community, or all three.

Thanks to Somerset Community College and Somerset-Pulaski County Rescue Squad for continuing to put this together every year, and thanks to the students who were willing to get out of their comfort zone and give diving a try.

Maybe we'll see a few of you underwater again soon. 🤿

09/05/2026

09/05/2026

🤿 TWO MORE DIVERS JOIN THE FAMILY! 🤿

Congratulations to Frontline Dive & Recovery’s two newest Open Water Scuba Divers — Robbie Blevins and Betty Sellers!

After completing their eLearning, confined-water training, and open-water dives over the last couple of weeks, they’ve officially earned their certification and are ready to start exploring a part of the world most people will never get to experience.

They say less than 1% of the world’s population is scuba certified. Whether the exact number is 1% or a little more, it’s still a pretty small club — and Robbie and Betty are officially part of it.

But certification is really just the beginning.

Go dive. Take trips. See new places. Dive somewhere you've never been. Keep training. Add specialties. Improve your skills. Learn from other divers. Get your friends and family involved. And most importantly, never stop learning.

Scuba can be a hobby, an adventure, a reason to travel, or something the entire family can enjoy together. Some of the best memories happen when everybody puts the phones away, puts on their gear, and disappears below the surface for a while.

Robbie and Betty — congratulations, and welcome to the underwater world! We hope this is only the first certification of many. 🤿

And yes... I managed to forget my camera this weekend, so unfortunately these are about the best graduation pictures we have. 😂 Apparently remembering all the dive gear was more important.

Interested in becoming a certified diver yourself? Send Frontline Dive & Recovery a message. We'd love to get you underwater.

📞 606-252-1000
📧 [email protected]

08/30/2026

Another recovery in the books for Frontline Dive & Recovery!

We got a call this morning about a boat prop lost in the cove below Mill Springs Mill. It was sitting in about 20 feet of water, and we couldn't have asked for better visibility today.

The actual recovery? Probably one of the easiest we've done. 😂

From the time we went underwater until we found the prop was probably about a minute.

But there's a reason for that.

The owners knew almost exactly where the prop came off. They knew the depth, they knew the location, and they were able to put us within probably a couple square feet of where it was sitting.

That makes ALL the difference in the world.

A lot of times when someone calls us for a recovery, we're basically told, "It's somewhere around here," and "around here" ends up being an area the size of a football field. Today, instead of searching a football field, we were basically searching two square feet. 😂

The hard part today wasn't finding it. It was getting to it.

If you've ever been to Mill Springs Mill, you know exactly what I'm talking about. We geared up at the highway and headed down what felt like approximately 47,000 steps to the water. Based on the current Lake Cumberland level and the elevation around the road, we're talking roughly a 150-foot vertical difference from where we started to the lake.

Going down in dive gear wasn't terrible.

Coming back up reminded us that we should probably make better life choices. 😂

And we definitely have to give our customers some credit—they jumped in and helped us carry some of the gear both down and back up, which was VERY much appreciated!

At the end of the day, the prop was found, the owner was happy, and we got to spend another beautiful morning underwater on Lake Cumberland.

Sometimes finding what we're looking for is the easy part.

Getting to it—and getting back—is the adventure.

Frontline Dive & Recovery
606-252-1000

08/29/2026

08/26/2026

I've debated on making this post, but after this weekend I think it's worth saying.

A lot of people probably don't know that my roots in diving actually started with the volunteer rescue squad. Long before Frontline was ever a thought, diving was another skill I wanted to learn so I could help when somebody needed it.

Most days diving is the fun stuff. Teaching someone to dive, finding a lost phone, working on a dock, or just getting underwater with my kids.

Other days it's not.

Sometimes a family is standing on shore waiting for answers. Those are the days nobody wants, but they're also a big part of why we volunteer and why I still do it.

With Labor Day coming up, please wear your life jacket. I don't care how good of a swimmer you are. Things happen fast on the water.

And if you ever see someone go under and not come back up, remember exactly where you last saw them. Pick a landmark on the bank or snap a picture of the shoreline if you can. It may not seem like much, but it can make a huge difference for the people searching.

Lake Cumberland is where we work, play, train and raise our kids. It's home. And when something like this happens here, there are a whole lot of people who drop whatever they're doing and show up to help.

Unfortunately this weekend was a reminder of why that's needed.

Keep the families who lost someone in your thoughts, be safe this Labor Day weekend, and please wear the life jacket. Hopefully we don't have to meet any of you this way.

A deadly weekend on the water in Kentucky claimed three lives, including two drowning deaths at Lake Cumberland and one in Lexington.

08/26/2026

SOME RECOVERIES REQUIRE A LITTLE MORE LEGWORK… 🤿📱

Today’s recovery on the Rockcastle River required a little more legwork than usual — literally.

We were contacted about a phone that had been lost from a paddleboard and had been underwater for approximately two days. The search area wasn't exactly convenient to get to, so Larry, Alex, and I geared up under the bridge and worked our way roughly a quarter-mile downriver through the water to reach the area where the phone was believed to have been lost.

And that's where this recovery became a special one for us.

At just 12 years old, my son Alex made his first successful recovery! 🤿

He located the missing phone, and incredibly, after spending roughly two days underwater, it still had battery power remaining.

More importantly, its owner was ecstatic to have it back. The phone contained a lot of photos that hadn't been backed up, making this recovery about quite a bit more than simply replacing a lost phone.

Then came the other half of the "legwork" — hauling ourselves and all that dive gear a quarter-mile back upriver. 😂

Rough terrain, a long walk in dive gear, a successful recovery, one very happy owner, and a pretty proud dad.

Not a bad day on the river.

(Sorry didnt take my camera with me down river for better photos.)

r
Frontline Dive & Recovery
📞 606-252-1000
Serving South-Central Kentucky

08/25/2026

Last-minute opening for our SDI Open Water Scuba Course in Mt. Vernon, KY.

We have one spot available for the upcoming class. This is a 4-day course with confined water training August 28 & 29 in Mt. Vernon and open water checkout dives September 5 & 6 at Holly Bay.

Total cost is $650. You can start with the eLearning for $100, with the remaining $550 due when scheduling your in-water training.

Because this is a last-minute opening, eLearning must be completed by Thursday night to participate.

Text 606-252-1000 with your name and email address to reserve the spot.

Frontline Dive & Recovery
Serving Below the Surface with the Same Commitment We Served Before.

08/23/2026

Our thoughts are with the missing individual, their family, and everyone affected by this incident.

Search efforts will resume this morning. Please help us by respecting the requested no-wake area and giving personnel the room needed to work safely and effectively.

We appreciate the cooperation and support of our Lake Cumberland community as local agencies and volunteers continue working together.

Rescue units responded this evening to the pitman creek area for a water rescue. It was reported that a person jumped in the water from a boat and did not resurface. The search has suspended for the night and will resume at 0800 tomorrow morning. Please avoid the area to allow personnel to work with no wake.

Thank you to the agencies that have assisted

Burnside Fire Department
Burnside Police Department
Parkers Mill Fire Department
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources
Pulaski County 911 Center
Pulaski County Sheriff's Office
Somerset-Pulaski County EMS
U.S. Army Corp of engineers