Each year around this time, I'm afforded the
opportunity to do something exciting and at the same time celebrate
the birthday of a friend. And, each year, it's some new or different
experience. My friend is Akira "Mike" Baba and celebrating his
birthday has become somewhat of a tradition.
When Mike turned 70 years young, we planned a dive off the coast
of Agat to 70 feet.
When he turned 71, it was a tandem sky dive over central Guam.
At 72, it was a slingshot ride on Tumon Bay.
But, this year's 73rd birthday celebration topped them all.
Mike, his daughter Yuka, Audrey McCurdy, Bob Silvers, flight
attendant Kaori Hara, pilot Joe Edhlund and I jumped on a
Micro-Asian Air charter flight at 8: am Jan. 11 to make a flight to
Ulithi. We arrived at 9:45 and headed for the Ulithi Adventure
Resort, run by a mutual friend, John Rulmal, for a quick change into
our dive gear. Then, off we went to the boat parked directly off the
beach in front of the resort.
After about a five-minute boat ride, we dropped into the crystal
clear waters of Ulithi Lagoon and descended along a clear blue wall
covered with schools of black jacks. After a wonderful drift dive we
returned to the boat for about a three-minute ride back to the
resort to shower and change out of our dive gear.
Then we settled into the resort's front yard for some traditional
Ulithian entertainment performed by a dance troupe made up of young
people from the island. Following that, we walked back to the
restaurant for a wonderful lunch of coconut crab, taro, fish,
vegetables and chicken. After lunch, it was time to pack up the dive
gear and head back to the airport and back on the plane for a 2:45
p.m. departure and arrival on Guam at 5:02 p.m. Plenty of time to
head home, shower, and go out for dinner.
Now I know all the divers out there will say, "YOU DID WHAT? You
dove and flew within the same 12-hour period?" No, actually it was a
period of a little less than three hours, and it worked just fine.
Now, I will admit that the cabin pressure on the plane was kept
at sea level, and NOAA specifications for transporting even injured
divers calls for flight elevation of no more than 800 feet. So there
we were: five healthy divers (none were crew) heading back home
bedecked in flowers and eating birthday cake at around 13,000 feet,
while our bodies thought we were still on the ground. Edgy, maybe.
Fun, absolutely!
Mike has got to be one of the most adventuresome and fun-loving
73-year-olds I have ever had the good fortune to know. What most
people only dream about doing (or wouldn't even consider doing - in
many cases), Mike does. He is marvelously alive, and excited about
it to boot.
So the next time you're bored after a supertyphoon (or just had a
lousy week at work), give Joe Edhlund a call, jump on his plane, and
walk for a day on the edgy side of life. Take a day dive trip to
Ulithi, visit John Rulmal's beautiful Ulithi Adventure Resort, dive
in the clear blue waters of the lagoon, and be back home to make it
to a dinner party by 6 p.m.
P.S. If you've got an empty seat, give me a call and I'll go with
you!
