Stan Waterman's 100th Birthday

In the fall of 1986, I was working on my doctoral research in the caves on Grand Bahama Island. While I was there, my friend and research partner Jill Yager was featured in a children's TV program, "3-2-1 Contact!" The cinematographer was Stan Waterman, one of the icons in the dive industry, and a personal hero of mine. I was thrilled when he asked me to help him film one of the final sequences in the shoot. It turned into quite the memorable adventure!

The doyen of underwater filmmakers and the winner of five Emmy Awards, Stan turns 100 on April 5. Known for his camera work on "Blue Water White Death," his life has been filled with underwater adventures detailed in his two autobiographies, "Salt: Memories and Essays," and "More Salt." Stan wrote about our dive in both of his books! Memorable?... for both of us, it seems! If you'd like to read the story, you'll have to buy his book. But it remains as one of the highlights of my personal diving career!

If you know Stan and want to wish him a happy birthday, send him a card at Shark Research Institute, 70 Heather Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540 USA. Stan, wishing you many more revolutions about this wonderful and surprising planet of ours! And thank you for the memories!