I first walked into Aaron’s Dive Shop in 1973, when it was a shack down on Maluniu Ave. Jack was running it pretty much alone. I was an enthusiastic 15-year-old, just certified, and was bound to be on Jacques Cousteau’s dive team. Well, at least in my mind. Jack was intimidating and encouraging at the same time. My friends and I would motor out to Moku Manu when the waves were smaller in a soggy 13 ½ foot Boston Whaler with a Johnson 20hp of unknown vintage that was rescued from a junk pile at Makani Kai, before the condos were built there. The diving was exquisite! A captain’s license, ocean-related career in Hawaii, masters degree in California, another career that moved me around the planet a bit. Then: retiring and fulfilling a decades-long dream of sailing my beloved Islander 44 from California back to my old mooring spot in Kaneohe Bay. And the magic of working at the Best Dive Shop in the world, with the Best Crew, and absolutely The Best Customers you could imagine. Living the dream!