In 1989, Ted went on a vacation to Cozumel, Mexico. The trip started off badly. Ted was relentlessly hounded by the hotel timeshare salespeople. In order to get some peace, he retreated to the beach. He got very badly sunburned. Ted was out of action and he felt that his vacation was over before it began. Then he saw that scuba diving lessons were being offered at the hotel, under some shady palms by the beach. He thought that he had nothing to lose and signed up for the classes. By the second day, Ted was in the ocean and a wondrous new world had opened up for him. Ted went on to become a dive master and to be affiliated with the Westchester Dive Center in Port Chester, NY.
Ted signed up for a solo trip to Bonaire in 1991 through the Scuba Network Dive Shop. At a pre-trip meeting, he met Patrick, Frank and Michael. They had a great time diving in Bonaire. After the trip, at a party in New York, the group decided they would go diving on New Years eve, a blue moon. They rented a van and drove to Looe Key and did a midnight dive to see in the new year. From then on, the group was known as the "Blue Moon Divers." They were so excited about diving, they seized every chance to go. Over the years, the constantly evolving group grew in numbers to include Beth, Jude, JF, Frank, Dennis, and eventually, Anne.
When Anne met Ted again in 1998, he was still so enthusiastic about scuba diving that he convinced her to try it. It was clear that it was a key component to developing a serious relationship with him. So, over a snowy Vermont winter, Anne took classes after work. Ted drove Anne to Key Largo that February where she got her certification in chilly waters. Her first dive in the ocean was amazing - she saw a huge and friendly green moray eel, a large nurse shark and schools of colorful fish - she was hooked!
Ted and Anne have since taken many dive trips, and plan to take many more! Click on the links to the left to see some of Ted's underwater photography.