Back in 1971 I cruised into the British Virgin Islands and dropped anchor at Norman Island just off the famous caves that inspired Robert Lewis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. I never dreamed at the time that these islands would become a second home for me over the next two decades in the charter and dive industry. … Read more
Like most dive locations worth visiting these days, Yap is not easily accessible. First you have to fly at least 13-14 hours from the west coast of the U. S. (six hours more from the east coast) just to get to Guam. Then you’ll have to negotiate the Byzantine schedule of Continental Micronesia to get … Read more
There’s something very revealing at times about peoples’ names. Remember that a huge segment of our population derived their surnames from their ancestors’ original trades or employment. Just think about how many people you know whose last names are Cook, Smith, Carver, Baker, Carpenter, Speaker, Chandler, Flowers, Fryer, Gardner, Packer, Singer, Fisher, Taylor, Driver, and … Read more
I started diving in 1959, so I had my 50th anniversary last year. That’s not as bad as it sounds since my father, a senior naval officer, indulged my fascination with scuba after watching the first episode of Sea Hunt with me the year before. We then moved to a distant outpost called Key West … Read more
Back in the early 1970s I visited Palau for the first time and was killing time in Guam on my way back to the Virgin Islands when I bumped into an ex-Navy diver I had done submarine diving work with in the Caribbean earlier in 1971. I had yanked him out of a few tight … Read more
