On my first trip down to Panama a bunch of us took a diving class. We started out training in the pool on base and then went north to our instructor's place on the coast just east of Colon for our open water dives

Tom "Pee Wee" Westbrook, Paul "Gruve" Gruver, Scott Bixler, "Ski", and Tony Gaedicke in the water

Picked up our equipment and ready for some fun in the sun. Aileron, Pee Wee and "Ski"

Scotty Bixler and me on our way out to the dive area

Hey, Tony!

Our instructor and Tom Westbrook after a dive

We're taking a lunch break in a nice little cove with a pretty nice beach. We came back the next year and dived from here. Legend has it that Sir Francis Drake's lead coffin was lost somewhere around that little island

Pee Wee and Aileron taking a break before our next dive. On one of these dives we got down to around 60 feet.

Pee Wee and Aileron taking a break before our next dive. On one of these dives we got down to around 60 feet

This is our instructor's house. He had a pretty much self suffient operation there. Some hammocks under the thatched area. At high tide the water would come up almost to your feet while taking a well deserved nap

Tom Westbrook, Tony Gaedicke and "Ski"

Paul Gruver, our instructor and Tom Westbrook

Gruve, Tony, Aileron, Pee Wee, "Ski" and our instructor

There's just something about spending a day in the Sun and water that wipes you out. This was a cool way to finish the day

This is what pilots do best! These guys must be on alert!

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We took a side trip over to a Spanish fort from the late 1700s. Tony's standing right over the powder storage room. This fort was a stopover for ships that took gold, silver and other valuable commodities back to Spain

Gruve and Tony taking it all in