Diver Ed Still Rocks!
Every year summer we have come to Maine, beginning with the 2000 visit, we have taken Diver Ed’s Dive-In Theater boat ride out of Bar Harbor. We LOVE Diver Ed. He takes a camera with mic down and gives a lively video show of what is on the sea floor, aided and abetted by his diving buddy, Mini-Ed. Then he brings animals up to present in his unique and wildly entertaining style, followed by an opportunity for everyone to handle and examine the animals before they are set free again. (They probably return to the sea floor with stories of alien abductions.) We were so lucky to stumble upon the tour the first year he did it, and we were smart enough to go back every year.
Because we posted some pictures on our website, a few years later when Diver Ed was creating a brochure, he pulled this one and used it. This year he has a new brochure, but our kids are still in it! So we had the fun of pointing out to the people on the bench behind us that the girl in the photo was sitting in front of them – except she is now 16 and just got her driver’s license!!
Last Thanksgiving, disaster struck in the form of 80 mph winds when 30 had been forecast, and Diver Ed was out of town, though he rushed back. Several boats, including the beloved Seal, dragged their moorings. Diver Ed and friends worked to rescue the Seal but finally had to take to her with a chainsaw – a very sad day. The two new cameras had been lost the when the storm first dragged the ship ashore, along with most of the other equipment.
Years of good karma and educating kids and families paid off and the community really came together to help Diver Ed and his dear wife, aka Evil Edna, recover their business, building and launching a new boat in time for the 2009 season! The new boat was named through a contest of local school children – what a great name!!!
Our kids signed up for back to back camps with Acadia Mountain Guides this year, with less than 24 hours between the end of one and the beginning of the other, so there was no way for us to all go to Diver Ed’s show together. So Mike and I have to suffer through it twice this year! Makes up for a year we missed I guess.
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