Aucilla
Contributor
I grew up in Ft. Lauderdale, for 18 years starting from the age of 1, starting in 1952. We lived 3 miles from the beach and 1 block from the everglades. My brother Larry, five years my senior, was a consummate diver; and our house, when I was maybe 11 or 12 years old [before Larry moved out at his age 17] and then again when he came back to be my Guardian for a few years but I was away at school, was full of his self-stocked saltwater aquariums, his spear guns, and his SCUBA magazines.
He was and remained my hero, though he never knew it. I idolized him and his activities and so wanted to go! But some major things happened and I had much else to take care of; and then he was killed in a boat wreck.
Now it is decades later, and I am addressing the issues I had to postpone back then.
So Saturday, two days after I received my first SCUBA certification card in the mail, I went home and dove where he dove.
I came to my Ft. Lauderdale, where he is buried along with our parents, and dove where he dove.
Without a dive buddy, but taking advice from here and a fishing forum I frequent [Florida Sportsman], I booked a dive with South Florida Diving Headquarters. The boat was the "Safari," very ably captained by one Oliver, and with the fine supervision of Dive Master Robert Shearer.
We went on two dives, a combo they call "Aqua Zoo" or some such. The first was to the sunken barge Sea Emperor; and the second was a drift dive on the "second reef," maybe off Deerfield. I remember growing up and hearing Larry talk of this reef and the other reefs.
Thanks to the encouragement I received from a number of Conch divers, I just Did It. I went by myself. Thankfully, a really neat diver, Mary G., showed up like I did. She told me she was tired of waiting for her friends to get up and go, so she just Did It. Mary was my buddy.
The seas were maybe 2 or 3 feet and the visibility maybe 50 feet. The current was pretty strong, but we had a good mooring line to the barge, sitting in about 70 feet of water. There, we saw and touched a large sting ray [quite a turnaround for this here North Florida wade-fisherman], and saw a very large jewfish or goliath grouper. It was fun exploring the barge and its spilled contents.
Then, on our second dive, I did my very first drift dive. That was a blast for me. That was when I could really relax and float, at about 40 to 50 feet, and realize I was seeing what Larry saw; and I could take in all the life and color! We saw a couple nurse sharks and lobsters; and of course saw or even inspected scads of little living things [my favorite]. [I now have a good picture book and will learn to ID reef fish better.] Mary had a nice booklet with her, and looked a couple of them up as we went.
The dive was a real bargain, a 10-diver boat well staffed, at $40. After renting two cylinders at $10 apiece, it was $63 including tax and not including the well deserved tip.
That evening, after a short nap, my wife and I had a pre-planned dinner with my late brother's best friend, Chuck, who still lives down there. He had contacted Larry's since-remarried widow, Gail, and she had fed ex'd pictures of Larry, and Chuck had a number of his own there too. So, we looked at pictures and talked into the night, there and out to dinner, about Larry and his diving and other adventurous exploits. I learned a lot that I had only speculated about.
As the end of this sentence, I am posting this link to a diving picture of him, and doing so in his honor, as it captures my vision as a little boy of Larry, and one heck of a cool big brother with one heck of a big spear gun.
So now I am all about living and doing the long, long put off life of my own; and I am thankful to have gotten it together, finally, to do what I always wanted to do. I want to thank all those who encouraged me, many of you on this board as well as my instructors and classmates in the FSU Academic Diving Program and my new friends in the Seminole Scuba Club: You know who you are, and the little things sure meant a lot to me in the gumption department. I still have so much to learn and a long way to go, I hope. I am a newbie, but I am ready!
And I am now editing this post to add that I know this is kind of maudlin [sp?] or seems sad or stuck in the past or something. But the dive was something I came to understand I had to do or was doing as part of a delayed grief process. This post is part of that too. It is a tribute to Larry that I never was able to give before. I don't intend, on this forum, to focus or even dwell on this any more. I just want to dive! Thanks again for being there!
He was and remained my hero, though he never knew it. I idolized him and his activities and so wanted to go! But some major things happened and I had much else to take care of; and then he was killed in a boat wreck.
Now it is decades later, and I am addressing the issues I had to postpone back then.
So Saturday, two days after I received my first SCUBA certification card in the mail, I went home and dove where he dove.
I came to my Ft. Lauderdale, where he is buried along with our parents, and dove where he dove.
Without a dive buddy, but taking advice from here and a fishing forum I frequent [Florida Sportsman], I booked a dive with South Florida Diving Headquarters. The boat was the "Safari," very ably captained by one Oliver, and with the fine supervision of Dive Master Robert Shearer.
We went on two dives, a combo they call "Aqua Zoo" or some such. The first was to the sunken barge Sea Emperor; and the second was a drift dive on the "second reef," maybe off Deerfield. I remember growing up and hearing Larry talk of this reef and the other reefs.
Thanks to the encouragement I received from a number of Conch divers, I just Did It. I went by myself. Thankfully, a really neat diver, Mary G., showed up like I did. She told me she was tired of waiting for her friends to get up and go, so she just Did It. Mary was my buddy.
The seas were maybe 2 or 3 feet and the visibility maybe 50 feet. The current was pretty strong, but we had a good mooring line to the barge, sitting in about 70 feet of water. There, we saw and touched a large sting ray [quite a turnaround for this here North Florida wade-fisherman], and saw a very large jewfish or goliath grouper. It was fun exploring the barge and its spilled contents.
Then, on our second dive, I did my very first drift dive. That was a blast for me. That was when I could really relax and float, at about 40 to 50 feet, and realize I was seeing what Larry saw; and I could take in all the life and color! We saw a couple nurse sharks and lobsters; and of course saw or even inspected scads of little living things [my favorite]. [I now have a good picture book and will learn to ID reef fish better.] Mary had a nice booklet with her, and looked a couple of them up as we went.
The dive was a real bargain, a 10-diver boat well staffed, at $40. After renting two cylinders at $10 apiece, it was $63 including tax and not including the well deserved tip.
That evening, after a short nap, my wife and I had a pre-planned dinner with my late brother's best friend, Chuck, who still lives down there. He had contacted Larry's since-remarried widow, Gail, and she had fed ex'd pictures of Larry, and Chuck had a number of his own there too. So, we looked at pictures and talked into the night, there and out to dinner, about Larry and his diving and other adventurous exploits. I learned a lot that I had only speculated about.
As the end of this sentence, I am posting this link to a diving picture of him, and doing so in his honor, as it captures my vision as a little boy of Larry, and one heck of a cool big brother with one heck of a big spear gun.
So now I am all about living and doing the long, long put off life of my own; and I am thankful to have gotten it together, finally, to do what I always wanted to do. I want to thank all those who encouraged me, many of you on this board as well as my instructors and classmates in the FSU Academic Diving Program and my new friends in the Seminole Scuba Club: You know who you are, and the little things sure meant a lot to me in the gumption department. I still have so much to learn and a long way to go, I hope. I am a newbie, but I am ready!
And I am now editing this post to add that I know this is kind of maudlin [sp?] or seems sad or stuck in the past or something. But the dive was something I came to understand I had to do or was doing as part of a delayed grief process. This post is part of that too. It is a tribute to Larry that I never was able to give before. I don't intend, on this forum, to focus or even dwell on this any more. I just want to dive! Thanks again for being there!
