Lil' Irish Temper
Guest
74 and starts a scuba club! Good for him 
Diving Right Into Adventure
By ELAINE MARKOWITZ Tribune correspondent
Published: Apr 16, 2005
SUN CITY CENTER - In the living room of his home, Bob Mulcahy is playing ``Smoke Gets in Your Eyes'' on a brand new organ.
Besides playing favorite songs of his youth, little else keeps Mulcahy sitting still. He would rather be sailing, skiing, snorkeling or, especially, diving.
That interest, which sprang from training as a scuba diver for the Army Special Forces, led Mulcahy, 74, to join several others in establishing a diving and snorkeling club in Sun City Center.
The club has 35 members ranging in age from 58 to 74. The long-range goal is to go diving or snorkeling in most of Florida's scenic lakes and rivers.
``You don't have to be Superman,'' he said. ``The idea is to look at the fish and have fun.''
The group, organized in 2003, meets monthly. Mulcahy is pleased with the growing interest, since the club had a slow beginning. ``People think of golf courses and hot tubs in older age,'' he said, ``not scuba diving.''
The group has ventured to various sites. A recent snorkeling excursion took seven members to Crystal River, north of Homosassa Springs.
``We swam with the manatees,'' Mulcahy said. ``They come right up to the surface, so you really don't need scuba tanks.''
Within the past month, the group went on a ``drift swim'' on the Rainbow River, north of Dunnellon. A boat took the swimmers to Rainbow Spring, and from that point they drifted down the river in their snorkeling garb.
``It was like a trip through an underworld garden,'' Mulcahy said, recalling all manner of aquatic life and flora.
Several outings are planned to Bradenton Beach for both snorkeling and diving. Mulcahy also wants to take a group to Pennekamp State Park off Key Largo and bring some of the more adventurous members to West Palm Beach for a drift dive in the ocean using scuba equipment.
``We go to the bottom and drift with the current, seeing all the sea life way down deep,'' he said.
Mulcahy's life has been a continuous adventure and challenge, and he doesn't plan to sit still as he gets older. When he enlisted in the Army in 1951, he went to jump school at Fort Benning, Ga., and was assigned to the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg, N.C. But circumstances moved him along a different path.
He married Nancy Gray in 1952. In the fall of 1954, both Nancy and their infant daughter, Susan, were stricken with polio during a major epidemic at Fort Bragg. The baby remained with family members and Nancy Mulcahy was transferred to the Murphy Army Hospital in Waltham, Mass.
Mulcahy relocated to Fort Devon, Mass., to be near his wife. By 1957, with his wife and daughter recovering and a new son, Steven, the four returned to Fort Bragg, where Mulcahy joined the Special Forces.
In 1959 he was part of a group sent to Key West to learn scuba diving. ``We were heavily into the Cold War period,'' he said, ``and the water was one way to infiltrate denied areas, which was all of Eastern Europe.''
Mulcahy didn't use his newly honed skills in Europe, but following a stint in advanced diving training in the Virgin Islands, he was assigned to the Panama Canal Zone, where he and his unit established a scuba diving school.
His travel experiences were plentiful. In the 1950s he was deployed to Iceland, and in the '60s to Vietnam for two tours of duty. He also spent time in El Salvador, Honduras and Ecuador.
Mulcahy retired in 1981 as a command sergeant major of the 10th Special Forces and turned to skiing. With his wife's nephew Richard Gray he purchased a youth hostel in Ludlow, Vt. He joined a ski patrol on Okemo Mountain during the winters and spent his summers as a forest ranger in the Hapgood State Forest. In 1994, he returned to his native Massachusetts.
Soon, Mulcahy was ready for a new adventure. In 1998 he purchased a 28-foot Kelt sailboat and sailed to Lake Worth, Fla., where his wife had friends.
In 2002, the couple moved to Sun City Center and sold their boat.
``Nancy suffers from post- Polio syndrome,'' he said, ``and she couldn't climb onto the boat anymore.''
So Mulcahy is diving again. It's been a long time, and he is glad to get on the goggles and take out the tank. And he is enthused about inspiring others.
``We now have tremendous interest from people wanting to get back into scuba diving,'' he said. ``It's a door we cracked open.''
For information, call Mulcahy at (813) 633-4628.
Diving Right Into Adventure
By ELAINE MARKOWITZ Tribune correspondent
Published: Apr 16, 2005
SUN CITY CENTER - In the living room of his home, Bob Mulcahy is playing ``Smoke Gets in Your Eyes'' on a brand new organ.
Besides playing favorite songs of his youth, little else keeps Mulcahy sitting still. He would rather be sailing, skiing, snorkeling or, especially, diving.
That interest, which sprang from training as a scuba diver for the Army Special Forces, led Mulcahy, 74, to join several others in establishing a diving and snorkeling club in Sun City Center.
The club has 35 members ranging in age from 58 to 74. The long-range goal is to go diving or snorkeling in most of Florida's scenic lakes and rivers.
``You don't have to be Superman,'' he said. ``The idea is to look at the fish and have fun.''
The group, organized in 2003, meets monthly. Mulcahy is pleased with the growing interest, since the club had a slow beginning. ``People think of golf courses and hot tubs in older age,'' he said, ``not scuba diving.''
The group has ventured to various sites. A recent snorkeling excursion took seven members to Crystal River, north of Homosassa Springs.
``We swam with the manatees,'' Mulcahy said. ``They come right up to the surface, so you really don't need scuba tanks.''
Within the past month, the group went on a ``drift swim'' on the Rainbow River, north of Dunnellon. A boat took the swimmers to Rainbow Spring, and from that point they drifted down the river in their snorkeling garb.
``It was like a trip through an underworld garden,'' Mulcahy said, recalling all manner of aquatic life and flora.
Several outings are planned to Bradenton Beach for both snorkeling and diving. Mulcahy also wants to take a group to Pennekamp State Park off Key Largo and bring some of the more adventurous members to West Palm Beach for a drift dive in the ocean using scuba equipment.
``We go to the bottom and drift with the current, seeing all the sea life way down deep,'' he said.
Mulcahy's life has been a continuous adventure and challenge, and he doesn't plan to sit still as he gets older. When he enlisted in the Army in 1951, he went to jump school at Fort Benning, Ga., and was assigned to the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg, N.C. But circumstances moved him along a different path.
He married Nancy Gray in 1952. In the fall of 1954, both Nancy and their infant daughter, Susan, were stricken with polio during a major epidemic at Fort Bragg. The baby remained with family members and Nancy Mulcahy was transferred to the Murphy Army Hospital in Waltham, Mass.
Mulcahy relocated to Fort Devon, Mass., to be near his wife. By 1957, with his wife and daughter recovering and a new son, Steven, the four returned to Fort Bragg, where Mulcahy joined the Special Forces.
In 1959 he was part of a group sent to Key West to learn scuba diving. ``We were heavily into the Cold War period,'' he said, ``and the water was one way to infiltrate denied areas, which was all of Eastern Europe.''
Mulcahy didn't use his newly honed skills in Europe, but following a stint in advanced diving training in the Virgin Islands, he was assigned to the Panama Canal Zone, where he and his unit established a scuba diving school.
His travel experiences were plentiful. In the 1950s he was deployed to Iceland, and in the '60s to Vietnam for two tours of duty. He also spent time in El Salvador, Honduras and Ecuador.
Mulcahy retired in 1981 as a command sergeant major of the 10th Special Forces and turned to skiing. With his wife's nephew Richard Gray he purchased a youth hostel in Ludlow, Vt. He joined a ski patrol on Okemo Mountain during the winters and spent his summers as a forest ranger in the Hapgood State Forest. In 1994, he returned to his native Massachusetts.
Soon, Mulcahy was ready for a new adventure. In 1998 he purchased a 28-foot Kelt sailboat and sailed to Lake Worth, Fla., where his wife had friends.
In 2002, the couple moved to Sun City Center and sold their boat.
``Nancy suffers from post- Polio syndrome,'' he said, ``and she couldn't climb onto the boat anymore.''
So Mulcahy is diving again. It's been a long time, and he is glad to get on the goggles and take out the tank. And he is enthused about inspiring others.
``We now have tremendous interest from people wanting to get back into scuba diving,'' he said. ``It's a door we cracked open.''
For information, call Mulcahy at (813) 633-4628.
