Northwest Dive Club

Wow Wow Wow....

Jan, thank you so much for telling some of your story. What a fascinating and amazing life.

Sorry to resurrect an old drumbeat, but... We've always thought you should publish a book of your PNW diving pics, and we still do, but now we've got to add request for an autobiography! Posterity demands it! ...and we humbly encourage it.

Tom Nic wrote:Wow Wow Wow....

Jan, thank you so much for telling some of your story. What a fascinating and amazing life.

Sorry to resurrect an old drumbeat, but... We've always thought you should publish a book of your PNW diving pics, and we still do, but now we've got to add request for an autobiography! Posterity demands it! ...and we humbly encourage it.

+1 most enthusiastically!

Jan,
You never cease to amaze me! With your pictures and stories and how you put them together and now this! It is incredible!!!
I should have let you know that Tim and I were coming up to Whidbey anyways this weekend. We did not dive but met Pat at the dive shop and got to tour around Whidbey for a couple of days.
I will give you a heads up when we come up that way again.
Kirsten

Jan, having talked with you a bit, I know the perfect title for your autobiography:

"No One Wants to Listen to an Old Man, But I Remember..."

Your quiet, self-depreciating manner hides a talent and a treasure of life experience that REALLY should be preserved. You have obviously had the blessing/curse of "living in interesting times" and I count myself fortunate to have the opportunity to dive with you. I'd stand in line to buy the book.

holy crap jan, that swim to freedom from the iron curtain would make a movie producer drool all by itself!

An amazing story, we want more. I have never met you but thankyou for allowing me to hear your story.
Doug

I can think of many words to describe your story, and "boring" is DEFINITELY not one of them! Don't stop!

Well thank you, I didn't realize there was such interest in "old man's ramblings".
Here are few snapshot from my first taste of seafaring on low budget. I was lucky to
find an experienced sailor who was not afraid to take three total greenhorns on
a sea voyage for exchange for work on his boat. Nick was hard core sailor who did
not believe that "stinky" engines belong on a sailboat. And we didn't know any better
So begins a story of Christian Rose which was built on the surplus Navy buoy tender
hull.

When the boat was declared seaworthy, although not totally finished, we cast off
from San Pedro, California, our goal the tropical islands of Hawaii, some 2000 miles
away. We did run into some wet and stormy weather in the first five days ...

Once we reached the trade winds and we could hoist the square sails and continue on
with the wind in our backs, life became wonderful, the wet and dreary, rolling days
were quickly forgotten.
On the 15th day of the trip - we saw first human beings - cargo ship actually changed
course and came by to check on us. This would not probably happen today :(

We did not need anything, but it was nice to get confirmation of our position, since our
navigation depended a lot on dead reckoning and sights taken with a cheap $13 plastic
sextant...

Wow. Love it Jan! Thanks for using NWDC as the place to tell your story - for now!

As with so many of your posts, this blows me away, Jan. Truly one to keep for the ages!

haha i couldn't help myself.

Jan you are by far the most interesting individual i have ever met.

Thanks , but as you can see from these pages, it is always a team effort -
the credit goes to lot of other people ....
I just happen to be in the right place at the right time ....
I did carry my scuba gear aboard the Christian Rose ( and every other boat I have been on)
so it was only natural to jump in in the middle of the Pacific

Thank you, Jan!

Okay, tell us more about the mermaid....

dwashbur wrote:Okay, tell us more about the mermaid....

Well, she was a member of our diving club from the tender age of 15 and her enthusiasm for diving and her wonderful personality and willingness to be part of the group and do more then her share of hard work in and out of water, made
her the perfect buddy. You could always bet your life on Helena. Not only a great diver, but good cook too
Even after getting married and starting family we are still best friends and although living on opposite coasts of USA, we manage to keep in touch. Matter of fact, she made it to the Historical Dive Show in the Czech Republic this September. Pictures of the displays started this thread..

How did Helena make it out of the CSSR? Did she swim to Italy from Yugoslavia as you did, or did she have her own wonderful "escape" adventure? How did all of you manage to link up later?

- John

John Rawlings wrote:How did Helena make it out of the CSSR? Did she swim to Italy from Yugoslavia as you did, or did she have her own wonderful "escape" adventure? How did all of you manage to link up later? - John

OK, here we go
Once we were in the refugee camp, we learned that there are easier ways to cross the border from Yugoslavia to Italy.
There is town of Gorica, which was half Yugoslavia and the other half (Gorizia) in Italy. The train station was right at the border. All one had to do was to exit the train on "wrong" side of the tracks, climb over little fence and one was in Italy.
The reason while this border was not as closely watched was that the Yugoslav communism model, was little different from the rest of the Eastern block countries. Marshall Tito was pursuing his own vision of socialism and citizens of Yugoslavia could work in western European countries. So we mailed Helena a letter with the instructions written with milk between lines of banal correspondence. (This kind of communication was agreed on before we parted ways). On the day we agreed on, we waited for her on the Italian side, when the train arrived at the Gorica station, she opened the west facing door and run the few feet to the fence, threw her luggage over it, followed before anyone could even notice what was happening. (The view was obscured by the train). And she was free ... Joining us in the refugee camp...

Wow Wow Wow... I am spellbound - what an awesome story.

Jan, I always wondered what that home made scuba gear looked like since you have told me about . What fascinating stories and collages! Bravo!

ciao

Well, to keep the story going, we did manage to find Hawaii, although the arrival was not what I have envisioned, we didn't see the green island appear on the horizon, no towering volcano and sounds of ukuleles. It was creeping upon us , first we started to pick up local radio stations, then one of the clouds on horizon did not change shape, it was sliver of coastline already abeam of us! The Big Island, as the island of Hawaii is also known was smack ahead of us hiding in clouds. The 13,796 fee of the Mauna Kea somewhere there, still a mystery.
Then the wind died and we were becalmed right in front of our goal, Hilo. Sugar cane debris floating on the surface, the beautiful blue color of the ocean acquired more earthy color. Land was definitely near. Twenty four days of rolling, heaving and diet of can stew, Spam, tortillas and beans was coming to end, we were ready for the Terra Firma
Of course, when our source of energy died down into a total calm and the night coming upon us, all we could do to hoist our kerosene lamp up the mast to warn off other ship traffic and wait for daylight, adding another day to our crossing. But we did it !

Aloha Hawaii, my very first tropical island. Anchored in Reed's Bay it didn't take long to secure and hit the beach. Enjoy meal prepared from fresh ingredients. Paramount Grill: pork with rice, ice cream and beer. My first meal prepared by a stranger.
As we settled in, we made friends with some of the locals, my favorite was Vicente, small old man who every morning rowed his skiff past the Christian Rose, setting his net. We invited him aboard and I was introduced to pidgin, it took me a while to make sense out of some of the worlds, since my language skills are not that great to begin with. Soon we were part of his morning routine, helping him out ( rowing). It paid off, he loaned us his rickety car so we able to explore the island. My regrets are, that because of lack of riches, I did not have much of color slide film for my camera, instead, I was reloading B&W Tri-X film from 100f bulk roll into reusable cartridges. I developed the film aboard, rinsing it the after fix in salt water. Then final bath in fresh before hanging it to dry. (All this useless info for people who still remember the pre-digital days pale:

The lava entering ocean, the waterfalls, the tropics do look better in color... But so be it. This was a low budget adventure, as is my whole life

Some rainy and cold days passed through Whidbey, so I decided to finish the maiden voyage
of the Christian Rose saga

Jan, this is the best NWDC thread ever.

Jumping around in the story, perhaps, but tell us the story of how you met and wooed your wife!

Also, you said the train hid Helena's dash to freedom. So, was there no hue and cry at all?

What did you have to do to get US/Italian permissions to emigrate? Was there ever a chance you might be returned to the Communist countries?

Blaiz wrote:Jumping around in the story, perhaps, but tell us the story of how you met and wooed your wife!

Also, you said the train hid Helena's dash to freedom. So, was there no hue and cry at all?

What did you have to do to get US/Italian permissions to emigrate? Was there ever a chance you might be returned to the Communist countries?

1. The wedding is still far in the future in this story, I will try to continue chronologically so I don't get too confused myself
2. The dash across the Yugoslav border was so fast, that nobody notices, they did not have guards there...
3. Once in the refugee camp and get checked out by Interpol, one had to apply for country to emigrate to, go through lot of interviews and checkups. After being accepted, I got an Italian passport for refugees, and in US got Social security number so I could work, after I proved that I can support myself for two years, I got the Green Card. And I had to pay back the airline ticket for the trip from Italy to New York. I was sponsored by the International Rescue Committee.
4. As a political refugee, they would not send me back to Czechoslovakia, I would be returned to Italy if I could not make it here... Hope this answers it for you

airsix wrote:Jan, this is the best NWDC thread ever.

I completely agree! Jan, I LOVE reading about your adventures! This brought a big grin to my face after a very long day. Thank you!