Virgin Islanders in Hawaii?

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Shaka Doug

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Location
Kihei, Maui, Hawaii 96753, middle of the 808!
# of dives
As a former US Virgin Islands resident, I've been kind of tuned into occassional meetings and discussions by other folks who are now in Hawaii but lived at one time or another in the V. I. When I first got to Maui, I knew at least 20 ex-V.I.'s living here. Many have moved on but some still remain, hanging tough in the tropical scene. Many of those who stayed are still working in the dive industry. Are there any other SCUBABOARDERS in the Ohana that spent time in either St. Thomas, St. John, or St.Croix? How about the BVI's or Puerto Rico ("Spanish" Virgin Islands of Vieques or Culebra)? If so, when were you there and where did you work and dive?? I know at least one of you spent about 8 years there!

Anyway, just wondering because the subject came up today on one of my dives....I had a lot of fun over there and dove like a mad man. Lived right near Coral World on Coki Point, St. T. from 1985 to 1995. I really had some great dives in those years. Anyone care to share some stories??
 
I did my first warm-water scuba dives with Joe Vogel at Coki Point in 1969. I sent him some pictures that I took of him underwater and he sent me a couple of blank C-cards so I could get air back in Connecticut.
 
I know Joe! I still use a few tricks he taught me from way back then. I remember he used to dive in mechanics coveralls instead of a wetsuit! (uh, that's NOT the trick I use....) I wonder what he's up to these days. Last I heard, he was the "official suntan lotion applier" for the vacationing ladies at Sugar Beach Resort!
 
Shaka Doug:
Last I heard, he was the "official suntan lotion applier" for the vacationing ladies at Sugar Beach Resort!
Does he offer that specialty? I'd take it :)
 
TOM! I was at Coki beach on and off for eight years. My BF was an instructor for Dick Demang (St. Thomas dive club at Bolongo Bay). I worked for the air ambulance (Sun Air) and used to take people to Roosevelt Roades before we had a chamber. I wonder if we were there at the same time...I spent a lot of time in Roadtown. Do you know the Kilbrides, the platinum hunters I call them?
 
Hey Catherine,

When were you over there? I knew Patrick Kilbride and his grandfather, Burt. I worked for Coki Beach Dive Club, VI Dive School, Sea Adventures at Frenchman's Reef, Coral World, and Aquanautics / Sea Quest over the course of those ten years. I knew Dick and Dave Dumeng too. When was the last time you were there?
 
Doug, I was there until 1987. I went back two years ago. I lived at Sapphire Beach. I was a Biology major at university of the Virgin islands with patrick kilbride (or his son?) i remember there were three generations. he was my lab partner!
 
The last time I was in St.Thomas was 1969. We stayed at Secret Harbour which was still under construction. I went there and Puerto Rico a lot when I was a kid. I just remembered something about Joe - his famed "skip breathing" technique to maximize a steel 72 - standard tank back then. He wanted to swim from Coki Beach to Thatch Cay underwater, so he began that skip breathing stuff which pretty much consisted to taking a shallow breath and holding until you started getting twitchy. The other guy that worked with him was named "Skip", so maybe that's where he got the name for it.
I tried it and came up with a whanger-banger of a headache, and Joe said that "Oh yeah, I always get bad headaches when I do that" as well. Well, so much for that nonsense. The farthest he made it over was not quite halfway. I can't imagine what his head felt like after a couple hours of skip breathing.
He was also always cut up from swimming into coral and other underwater obstacles so maybe that's where the overalls came into being.
I remember seeing the campus of the University of the Virgin Islands and thinking what a Third World campus it looked like. Then later on, I studied at the University of Hawaii and taught at HCC before the rebuilding and really saw a schlock campus, although both campuses were always in better shape than the University of Calcutta.
 
Secret harbor very exquisite! University of the Virgin islands was a beautiful modern stone and wood structure high on a hill when I attended. Wow, University of Calcutta, huh? Might go there with JB via FAO progam someday.
 
An FAO in Kolkuta is?
Field Artillery Operator
Foreign Area Officer
Forward Air Observer
Flight Activity Officer
Any of the above have some merit there. The UC has kept "Calcutta" in its name even though the city is now "Kolkata". In the Marine Science program though, there is not ONE single mention of the term "Semper Fi" though.
I worked with a lot of Marines when the base in K'Bay was still a Marine Corps Air Station and not overrun with squids - loved the jokes.
 

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