There weren’t many people spear fishing in 1954. Herby Rakebrand, another railroad  conductor who had been a Navy frogman, introduced me to the sport.

At that time he and I dove in the Atlantic off  Long Beach N.Y.  I reached 43 feet. Herb made it to sixty which at that time was a record, so we thought. The record had been bettered by18 feet.

Herb represented the USA in at least two Pan American Spear Fishing Games. I believe he won one of them. I helped Herb train for those events. He was far more dedicated than I.

Years later I dove in the warmer waters of Florida, the Indian Ocean, South Africa and the Red Sea in Israel; Nueba in Egyptian Sinai Desert.

The finest diving was in Egypt and Israel. There are at least two reefs in Israel that parallel the shore. One is only about ten feet deep the other is forty. Now that I am eighty years old I’ll stick with the shallow reef. The water is crystal clear and you just lay on top of the water and watch. You see as many fish but of different kinds on the shallow reef. It is all so beautiful.