Dick Long, unforgettable character #6, Part 1

In 1960 my friend Dick Long, one of the early SCUBA enthusiasts, was mistaken for a sea monster.

He was 23 or so and had already been an ocean diver for three years. He recalled that, “A buddy and I were diving off Monterey and when we climbed out of the water, these old ladies who had been sitting on the rocks jumped up and tried to run away.

“One fell down, so I, being a gentleman, went over with my tanks and gear on and started to help her up. The other lady came back and hit me with her purse. ‘You go back in the ocean where you belong!’ she yelled.”

She thought that they were creatures from the sea.

“My dive buddy was laughing. I took my face mask off and said, ‘I’m a person, I’m a person!’ It was really hilarious,” Dick said.

I did not encounter Dick until I was 24, around 1967, and working as a reporter for the former San Diego Evening Tribune. He was around 30. He was operating a dive shop in the city of La Mesa in San Diego County selling SCUBA gear and making custom wetsuits. He also was helping to lead a diving club. To make a long story short (at this point, anyway) after interviewing him for an article, I was hooked on diving (pun possibly intended).

I’ll never forget the look from my late wife, Jan, when I announced that I had bought into SCUBA equipment. I had a custom wet suit, face mask with snorkel, an air tank with regulator, flippers and a weight belt. And a diver watch with special features. She was not happy but eventually came around due to my enthusiasm.

My friend, who is now 87, noted, “I got into the diving business in 1958 because I was freezing to death and I had to find another way to stay warmer. That’s when I started designing wetsuits. Many of the standard things you see in wetsuits today -- the long john pants and hoods attached to the suits, that kind of stuff -- I developed. We were constantly trying to find a way to give us more time in the water.”

Dick began diving in 1958 and became a diving instructor in 1960 as member #49 of the National Association of Underwater Instructors. After that he became certified by the Professional Association of Diving Instructors and as a YMCA teacher. He worked as a contract diver with the U.S. Navy in the Arctic in 1965 and was an equipment designer for Sea Lab II off La Jolla, working on early saturation dives.

It was my good fortune, in the long run, to become a friend. Not only did my association lead me into some interesting articles, but some excellent diving adventures. One was a night dive at La Jolla Cove, San Diego’s most famous dive site. It’s one of the few places in California where one can access giant kelp beds, rocky reefs and sea caves -- all from a single beach entry. Plus, it’s one of the best places in California to dive with sea lions. I was totally stoked.

We also dove off Pacific Beach, La Jolla Shores and some other sites where residents were unhappy because we parked our vehicles “on their street.” Maybe they thought that we’d attract sea monsters; never could figure that out.

Dick was the guy who photographed me during my first 100-foot dive several miles off the coast of Point Loma. We dove on a sunken LST that two men had planned to use as a diving and fishing site. Unfortunately, the craft was not anchored properly, so when a storm hit, the vessel sank. However, the site became a great place to visit and use a spear gun to bag sheepshead fish, which made good eating.

Also as divers we got bugs, the nickname for lobsters, and abalone, all during the proper seasons. There is nothing like eating totally fresh seafood that you captured yourself, so to speak. Cleaning and slicing abalone can be arduous, but worth the effort.

 (To be continued)