Does This Island Go To The Bottom?

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Eric H. Pasley. Does This Island Go To The Bottom?

Does This Island Go To The Bottom? The Adventures of a SCUBA Instructor in the Caribbean. Eric H. Pasley

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Introduction

A Silly Question

The Office and “Q”

A Fat Divemaster and Vile Puke

Let the Axe Fall, Adios “Q”

The Lost Puppy Divers, St. Thomas, USVI

Tutu, a UFO, Wild Goats and Demonic Chickens

Marty the Jew, a Brutal Display of Tourism

The Infamous Resort Course, Assault on the Reef and Breaking Rules

Veronica H

Fire Coral and a Firefighter

Island Hopping in the Belly of a Cruise Ship

Greeting Party

A Power Nap

St. Martin, Drunk in the AM

Eyes Bugging, the Crew Party and a Lunatic

A Tank in the Head

The ABC Islands and a Broken Mooring Line in Aruba

Columbia, the Last Certification Dive and the End of the Cruise

St. Thomas, The Weed Tree

Bullets Fly in Paradise

Lost Puppy Divers in the Keys

The Shrimp Boat Dive

Island Diving and a Move to St Croix

No Students Allowed

The Wreck of the RMS Rone

A Nasty Case of Dengue Fever

A Moment of Panic on the Sea Plane

St. Croix USVI

A Dance With Luis and Marilyn

In the Wake of the Storm and a Runaway Truck

The Contract, Drunk in the Cop Shop, off to Aruba

Welcome to Aruba

Pelican Watersports, the Missing Link and No Mask

Patrick and Rocky

A Stranded Kayak

Diving With a Killer

A Brief Trip Back to California

Back Home, Panic 80 Feet Down

A Broken Collar Bone and My Mortal Enemy

Along Came Steph

A Terrible Sting, Carnival and 3 Cases of Beer, Maybe 4

A Minnesota Girl

She Returns a Divemaster and the Dutchman

A Drag Queen: Fins by Day, Heels by Night

An Airplane Trophy and a Heart Attack on a Cat

The Proposal and a Sinking Ship

An Underwater Rodeo, Saying Goodbye and a Realization

The Aftermath

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This book is for my beautiful family, Lori, Miraeya and Maddie Pasley. Without this journey I wouldn’t have you. And to all the Scuba Instructors working in every corner of the world.

Thanks to all who have collaborated with me during this insane process: Pete Langivan, my fellow Puppy Diver, who I was constantly in contact with through the whole project and who helped keep me motivated. Norbert Araujo, my Venezuelan brother, for jarring my mind with all the stories from the past and who I learned a great deal from about teaching scuba and the underwater world. Stephanie Averill (Lutz) for her words of encouragement and who I learned a lot from as well. Rick Idema who is an awesome scuba instructor and good friend. I always looked forward to teaching with Rick. Mike and Mireya Thijsen who never fail to bring up that one wild day during Carnival on Aruba. Tommi Rose, an outstanding person and diver.

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A divemaster is the first level of a dive professional, which means you can start making money by diving. The next step after divemaster is assistant instructor, then open water scuba instructor. The assistant instructor course is not a prerequisite for the instructor course and I didn’t want to take that class because as a divemaster you are basically an assistant instructor. After a diver completes the divemaster course they can jump right into the IDC (Istructor Development Course.) I didn’t want to do this. I stayed a divemaster for a year to rack up dives and gain as much dive knowledge within the scuba industry as I could. There are plenty of divers who go right into the instructor level after their divemaster course, and that’s okay. I, however, look at it this way; who would you rather have teach you scuba diving, a brand new instructor with sixty dives or a brand new instructor who worked on a dive boat and has two hundred twenty five dives under his or her belt?

I did all my dive training through this scuba shop called Liburdi’s Scuba Center, which at the time was located in a small strip mall close to that horrid office building where I worked. Although it was small, the joint was very clean and professional. There was always this static feeling of high energy in the air when I walked into the shop. The Liburdi’s made the whole sport of scuba a blast. It was good times there, working for those dudes, especially divemastering a dive boat out to the Channel Islands off Southern California. I realized this is what I wanted to do with my life, not sit around in an office cubical like an animal in a cage.

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