The Ultimate Navy Experience
The youngest certified hardhat diver in the USA in 1982...
I was a little bit different than my high school buddies growing up in South Sacramento, in a sense that when all others were talking about what college they planned on attending, there I was day dreaming about being a deep-sea diver...the travel, money, and adventure was what I had in mind. So in summer of 1981, my good buddy Marc B, his girlfriend Shelley H., Cheryl C., and I got into my dad's old Plymouth Duster and drove to the San Francisco Bay Area for the day so I could enroll in the July 1982 class of the Coastal School of Deep-Sea Diving. Sure enough, one month after graduating from Christian Brothers High School I was on my way in this three-and-a-half month "technical school." There were two main instructors running the place - Al Mikalow and Lance Sundown. Both were senior citizens in their 60's, and for some reason, they took a liking to me. Mikalow would have me do odd jobs around his vacation property in California's Central Valley on weekends sometimes, and Sundown hired me for a $300/day diving job in Costa Rica. By the time I finished the course, my childhood buddies were just beginning their next phase in life...college, and I had become the country's youngest certified hardhat diver at age 17.
Before we traveled to Central America, I and another dive buddy (Kerry W.) had to get fitted for gear...so my new boss flew us to Korea to get fitted and purchase our deep-sea diving/salvage operations gear. The picture above left is me with two other Korean divers in Pusan, South Korea from whom we got our diving outfits. Then the other two pictures are Kerry and I during layovers in Tokyo and Honolulu. When we arrived back in San Francisco, we learned that the job in the Costa Rican harbor fell through...the devaluation of Central American currencies in 1982 had a ripple effect. I worked for Sundown Deep-Sea Diving Company for eight months until I sensed the sun was setting on Sundown Diving. The job in Costa Rica that fell through would be Sundown's swan song. I left for New York City...
I knocked on a bunch of doors before finding East Coast Diving, Inc. on Hyland Boulevard in Staten Island. This outfit specialized in bridge and dock repair in the greater New York City waterways. The pay was $400/week and it was steady work (not bad for an 18 year old in 1983, but the best thing about my situation in New York was being reunited with my relatives on the Sicilian side of the family!). I dove seven hours a day in the Raritan River under Jersey Central Power & Light's (?) dock and the Hess Petroleum dock in Perth Amboy - either four hours in the morning, and three after lunch...or vis-versa depending on the tidal schedule. YES, it was cold!! I enjoyed my New York lifestyle until one cold morning in December when I was diving under a dock with my dive buddy Mark - our air compressors shut-off on us while we were under water...twice! Where in the heck was the topside crew? ...Joking and smoking in the break shack while the rain was coming down atop them. Needless to say, that was a major turning point in my life. I was out of there in a flash to join the Navy at the age of 19. Exit...stage left!
I dedicate the following special pages to my Navy buddies I served with on both the Atlantic & Pacific coasts. Here's to looking back over the special 12 years, guys! Thanks to my mom for giving me a camera just before my first cruise!
Making the Transition - with BUD/s Class 142
The Teams!