CQ CQ Here is Whisky Able 2292
The Schooner Valerie Queen
Out of San Francisco
Bound south for adventure
Ladies aboard
Flying the American flag.
1955
Hey guys time for a fun story. This story is about Ebo Domacasse the first Bonaire dive guide. Called Ebo Special.
Ebo's Special
1976
I looked up from my papers just as Nestor, a Cuban group leader from Florida, stuck his head into my office.
"Buenos dias, my deep diving Cubano. What's up?"
"Captain Don, I gotta talk to you!"
"Of course. English, please," as I sensed that he was serious.
"My guys is unhappy." He paused as if translating his thoughts. "Si, the people are very angry and asked me to talk with the Captain. My guys want to go to Ebo's Special and our guide Erwin said he wasn't allowed to do that dive. My guys is mad."
"Nestor, Erwin is right. You see, only one man is allowed to dive that place and it is Ebo himself. Even I, when I want to dive there have to go with Ebo. That’s the rule." I saw by his expression that there was no comprehension.
"Nestor, get your Mexicans together. I'd like to talk to them."
"Cubans, you dumb Captain," but his eyes laughed and that spared my day.
Nestor owned several of Florida's finest dive shops and his groups were always a pleasure. Good-looking ladies and fun loving guys, until now. I hustled them into the class patio and hiked myself up onto the instructor’s stool.
"Well, my fine Cuban friends," I paused for effect.
"We are Americans," they said and pointed at Nestor. "He is the Cuban."
"Really," I said." You went to Florida on the Mayflower, and he on a raft. Now Nestor owns three dive shops and you pay him to bring you here. Well! So much for the Mayflower." I saw that I had broken the ice.
"Who is Ebo anyway? " one questioned gently.
I had to smile at that. If you didn't know Ebo then you had never been here before. "Let me tell you about this guy and his special reef." I let my mind drift back a decade or more. "Flamingo Beach Club, 1963. A resort of sorts built from the leftovers of the old German internment camp from the 1940's. Ebo was the bartender and more.
Ebo Domacasse was in many ways the heart of the Old Flamingo Beach Club as a trusted employee, often administrator, waiter, boatman hauling water skiers, fishing guide, and, as said, the bartender. As natural as he was with the sea, he was equally comfortable with visiting tourists.
Ebo swam better than a fish, free dove to depths, but for some reason was scared stiff of scuba diving. Then one day in 1967 he watched two gray haired old ladies pull down their masks, lock arms, and walk down the boat ramp to disappear into the sea.
He was fascinated. These ladies, perhaps older than his grandmother, popped on a tank and some gear then simply walked into the sea. Ebo had been watching me and my divers doing this for some time, but it had stirred no real desire to learn. However, these grandmothers touched a nerve!
Not long after, Ebo put on a tank and taught himself to dive. I had been that route myself, thought it a most natural thing, and simply cautioned Ebo. "Never do two tanks back to back and pull this 'J' rod when you run out of air. It will give you enough air to get to the surface. But don't trust it. When it fails, just come up slowly, but most importantly, never, never hold your breath. Just tilt your head back and breathe out slowly, kinda like whistling. Oh, and always do your deeper dive first."
Several years later, Ebo had logged some hundreds of dives. A visiting scuba instructor was diving with Ebo and was horrified that he had never had proper SCUBA instruction. Ebo, with more than triple the instructor’s underwater time, quickly became the first certified diver on Bonaire. I wasn't certified until five years later.
It was not the certification or instructor’s status that propelled Ebo into the beginning of the diving industry, but his phenomenal compatibility with the reefs, fish, divers, and the sea. It was as if a new, aquatic Tarzan had moved into the oceans of his fathers to take charge. He gently finned around, always ready to help novice divers achieve his effortless neutral buoyancy and point out previously unseen cleaner shrimp, frogfish and the like. Conservation of the reefs was his aim even back then, and he guided his charges with compassion through his virgin reefs, relaxed but with a constant awareness. Ebo was a shepherd to literally thousands of visiting divers who ventured underwater with him without harm or incident.
Ebo became a sailing hero in 1968 when he bested me in a sailboat race that won him 27 cases of beer. It was the birth of Bonaire’s now famous international sailing regatta.
Ebo Domacasse was awarded two reefs in his name. Ebo's Reef and Ebo's Special as a sign of respect and love from other guides as well as from his divers. Ebo, with his quiet ways and relaxed manners, has given much of himself to the building of our underwater image. It has been an honor for me to have dived with this guy. You wait two more days until Ebo comes back from his vacation and you guys will be his numero uno."
A girl asked, "What's the deal with this Jerry’s Jam sh-t?"
" Yes, that is exactly what it is. Just a bunch of crap. I wasn't there, but as I understand it, a hotshot photographer named Jerry Greenberg, staying at the Flamingo, was at Ebo’s Special where he had set up for a shoot. Cameras, even some on tripods, with lenses straight out of the space age." I looked at the pretty girl with the rough talking mouth. "Comprehend? Thousands of dollars of camera gear spread out all over the bottom, then in comes Ebo with a boatful of his divers who had been promised Ebo’s Special for their last dive." I stopped, letting that sink in.
"I know Jerry and I sure as hell know Ebo, and the rumor is that Ebo tossed an anchor right into the middle of all Jerry's wonderful cameras which were sitting on the bottom." I paused, thinking about it. "I know that Ebo’s boat carried an anchor since there was no mooring then and that Ebo would cut off his arm before he ever dumped an anchor onto his wonderful corals. "
"So today Peter Hughes’ people at the Flamingo call the reef "Jerry's Jam" and we here at Aquaventure still and always will call that reef window Ebo's Special. And as long as I am the Captain around here, Ebo will be the only man that will ever, ever guide to that place."
Nestor’s group started applauding.
"That," I thought, "is what makes Nestor’s group what they always are … great!"
Historical note. I recently talked to a diver who was on Ebo’s boat that day and she gave me an eyewitness account. Ebo did not actually throw the anchor, but with a conspiratorial smile to his divers nudged the boat very close to the cameras and then carefully placed the anchor to avoid them and Jerry himself. All got their Special dive even though Jerry had a scare and provided an alternative name to Ebo’s Special.
-79-
Daddy Warbucks |
By Captain Don (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #303) on Tuesday, June 24, 2008 - 9:52 am: 
