Last month, I had the privilege of being the dive guide for a wonderful group of divers from the State of Utah. Mac Garrabrants, the owner of The Dive Shop, is a repeat guest and that always makes us feel very special as we know there are a lot of wonderful places in the world for divers to visit. When guests come back multiple times, we know we are doing it right.

Also joining us was a special friend from Guam, Ms. Julie Hartup of the Micronesian Conservation Coalition and the founder of the Micronesian Islands Ecology Course (MIEC), in partnership with the Yap Catholic High School.  Julie is no stranger to Yap, but it’s been a long time since we were on a dive boat together. It was wonderful to be back to doing one of the things I truly love which is showing divers what Yap is all about. We dove the Caverns, Magic Kingdom and Cabbage Patch and of the eight of us, none of us could agree on which was the best. They were each that special.

Another thing that made the day special was that the second dive at Magic Kingdom was my 18,000th dive. Diving has been very good to me, as I have been extremely fortunate to have met some of the most famous people in the world, have had the great privilege of being mentored by the Diving Hall of Fame pioneer Mr. Paul Tzimoulis, inducted into SSI’s first ever Platinum Pro 5,000 club in 1993 and the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame in 2014 but the feeling yesterday of being on the dive boat with new and old friends, being back in the ocean witnessing the amazing underwater world of Yap made me realize just how good life is.

It was wonderful.

Parting Shot

ED and NORMA

Ed and his wife Norma go to the state fair every year.

And, every year Ed would say,

“Norma, I’d like to ride in that helicopter.”

Norma always replied,

“I know Ed, but that helicopter ride is fifty bucks,
and fifty bucks is fifty bucks!”

One year Ed and Norma went to the fair, and Ed said,

“Norma, I’m 75 years old. If I don’t ride that helicopter, I might never get another chance.”

To this, Norma replied,

“Ed, that helicopter ride is fifty bucks,
and fifty bucks is fifty bucks.”

The pilot overheard the couple and said,

“Folks I’ll make you a deal. I’ll take the both of you for a ride. If you can stay quiet for the entire ride and don’t say a word I won’t charge you a penny!
But if you say one word it’s fifty dollars.”

Ed and Norma agreed and up they went.

The pilot did all kinds of fancy maneuvers, but not a word was heard.

He did his daredevil tricks over and over again,

but still not a word…

When they landed, the pilot turned to Ed and said,

“By golly, I did everything I could to get you to yell out, but you didn’t. I’m impressed!”

Ed replied,

“Well, to tell you the truth, I almost said something when Norma fell out, but you know,
fifty bucks is fifty bucks!”

Pops