Larry Smith Passes Away

[pkrupela]

I was able to confirm today through friends in Indonesia that legendary Indonesian dive pioneer Larry Smith did, in fact, pass away yesterday of heart and lung complications in the Sorong hospital in West Papua, Indonesia. Larry was an iconic figure in the Indonesian diving community, and he will be sorely missed.

 

[Mike Veitch]

Very sad news indeed. He was a great person

 

[Zippsy]

That's terrible and very sad news. Larry was a fantastic guy in addition to being an outstanding and extremely knowledgeable dive guide. He was the reason I started diving again back in 1995. Partial credit goes to Larry & Denise Tackett as well as the cool new critters they were finding every day in Lembeh but it was "cousin Larry" that made me want to be underwater as much as possible and inspired me to be an instructor and, eventually (soon?), work full-time at a resort.

Rest in peace, cuz.

Bio

 

[bluemi]

Very sad to hear this. Larry Smith is a legend already and the pioneer of some of Indonesia's best dive sites like the Lembeh Strait in North Sulawesi.

 

[Ocean One]

Condolensces to the famliy, friends and dive buddies! A person's mark in this world is the impact they have on others and it looks like Mr. Smith hit a bullseye!!! Rest in peace.

 

[chinacat46]

I just met Larry in Feburary when I dove Raja Ampat on the Adventure Komodo. He was an incredible character and having only known him for such a short time I am truly sadden by this. I'll add my sympathy's to his family and the crew of the Adventure Komodo. We will miss you Larry.

 

[evaldez]

Very sad to hear this. Larry Smith is a legend already and the pioneer of some of Indonesia's best dive sites like the Lembeh Strait in North Sulawesi.

Yeah that's true. A very nice person as well...

evaldez
ABC's of Diving

 

[scubabum2]

I know this is outdated, but I wanted to share a little story with you when we were at Lembeh back in May. We stayed with NAD and our boat captain most of the time was, I believe, a gentleman named Ramli. My wife is usually about the second person back on the boat and she and Ramli got to spend a bit of time together. Leslie doesn't speak MM, and Ramli's english was limited, but they conversed a lot as best they could.

One thing Leslie did understand was that Ramli was trained by Larry and he just went on and on about "Mr Larry Smith". I'm sure there are a lot of people who share Ramli's feelings. Larry will live on through the many people who were endeared to him.
Mark

 

[xariatay]

I know this is outdated, but I wanted to share a little story with you when we were at Lembeh back in May. We stayed with NAD and our boat captain most of the time was, I believe, a gentleman named Ramli. My wife is usually about the second person back on the boat and she and Ramli got to spend a bit of time together. Leslie doesn't speak MM, and Ramli's english was limited, but they conversed a lot as best they could.

One thing Leslie did understand was that Ramli was trained by Larry and he just went on and on about "Mr Larry Smith". I'm sure there are a lot of people who share Ramli's feelings. Larry will live on through the many people who were endeared to him.
Mark

We dived at NAD Lembeh in Dec 07, my hubby was taking his OW & I followed the boat out to shoot some photos of him... Ramli was the boatman for that dive, so I got to know a little more abt him & Mr Larry Smith. Previously, Ramli was a security officer at KBR, he had black belt in Karate (or Taewanko), Mr Larry Smith convinced him that he had to learn diving & he trained under him... When Ramli spoke of Mr Larry Smith previously fr KBR, I vaguely recalled some Lembeh dive guru I have read abt in magazines... Only found out abt Larry Smith's death yesterday when I read an outdated issue of AASD (compliment fr the Sharkwater sneak preview)... If I meet Ramli again, I would be able to tell him that many many people miss Mr Larry Smith like he does & he is a such lucky man to be trained by the best!

 

[scubabum2]

xariatay,
Ramli was one of the nicest persons we met on Lembeh, and there were lots. Here's a kind of awkward/funny side story. Leslie didn't know who Larry was and Ramli kept talking to her about him in what seemed like the present tense. Leslie told me about it and I told her that Larry had passed away. With Ramli's happy demeanor and the fact that neither of us had a clue about how to speak MM, both of us assumed Ramli didn't know and we were reluctant to say anything more.
Mark