Christmas Card Connections--The Next Hallmark Holiday Movie

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 247^th 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.

Dave  at Catalina Island 1986

 The next card was from my friend, Dave Porter.  Dave was certified by Ed in the very first class I helped out with as a newly minted NAUI Assistant instructor.  Dave and I are friends to this day.  The arrival and order of opening of the cards had to be more than happenstance.  Is this the hidden hand of the Divine working through the US Postal Service to buoy my spirits? 

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.  

JT at Catalina-2014	Luke at Kona-2018