Ed (Dave Porter's Certification Dive) |
The evening’s
mail delivery brought a smattering of Christmas cards, which thankfully
outnumbered the bills. I stared opening
them from the top of the mail to the bottom, the first being one from Ed
Stetson. I assisted Ed with two dozen or so of the scuba classes at the UC Santa
Barbara Outdoor Recreation program from 1985 through 1994, the start of a long friendship. His note indicated that he
had just finished teaching his 247th scuba class in four decades of
instructing. I reflected for a moment on
this statistic. Diving for 40 years is
quite an accomplishment in itself. Teaching
247 classes even more so, as it represents a lot of descents and ascents, early
morning boats, late evening pool sessions and so on. I thought about all the connections that results
from certifying so many divers.
I began to reflect on the friendships that I had formed during the life aquatic. There are lots of connections. While working on Channel Island boats as a divemaster on the summer weekends during 1986, Dave worked as my rescue diver. We did a lot of diving and took a fair number of scallops, which we would wrap in thin slice bacon and barbeque back at my house after returning to port. My brother Andy was living with me that summer, saw how much fun we were having, and got certified in San Diego when he returned to school that fall. That fall, I taught Brandon Cole, now a renowned underwater photographer, how to dive in one of Ed’s classes.
Andy at Catalina Island 1990 |
I began to
reflect on the friendships that I had formed during the life aquatic. There are lots of connections. While working on Channel Island boats as a
divemaster on the summer weekends during 1986, Dave worked as my rescue diver. We did a lot of diving and took a fair number
of scallops, which we would wrap in thin slice bacon and barbeque back at my
house after returning to port. My
brother Andy was living with me that summer, saw how much fun we were having,
and got certified in San Diego when he returned to school that fall.
Brandon at San Miquel--1991 |
That fall, I taught Brandon Cole, now a
renowned underwater photographer, how to dive in one of Ed’s classes. A year later, at the end of the summer, Andy,
Brandon, and I piled into my S-10 pickup truck and did a camping dive trip to
Monterey as a dress rehearsal for a longer trip to dive around Loretto in
Mexico just before Christmas. Brandon
and I continue to do dive trips, although I now demand that the amenities will
be better than tent camping on a beach in Mexico or sleeping in the truck bed.
I have been
with Dave, Andy, and Brandon to at least one of Ed Stetson’s annual UCSB
Catalina dive weekends, although not all of us at the same time.
Two of Andy’s
sons, JT and Luke, have both learned to dive.
JT was on one of Ed’s annual Catalina trips with me a few years
back. Luke and I are fixing out to head
out for Roatan during spring break for a week of diving. He has yet to make the Catalina Island trek
complete the circle but that is just a matter of time!
I am amazed at the number of enduring connections in my life that have resulted from a single connection with Ed.. As Christmas approaches, I am warmed by those memories and anticipate the adventures that await me. These connections have all the makings of a Hallmark Holiday Drama.
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