Dottie grew up on the sea; she learned to swim by age 3, donned a home-made mask by age 10 and by her teenage years had become proficient at spear fishing. She began entering and taking prizes in skin diving contents, as the only female competitor! Dottie began teaching skin diving in 1940 and became the first female scuba instructor in the US in the early ‘50s. She spent 2 years as a hard hat diver, manufactured wetsuits for the Navy & the general public, and operated Penguin, a dive shop for 15 years.