s is back 8 years ago or so. He was a diver, so of course I liked him right away. I met him only twice when he asked me if I wanted to join him on the "Seeker" to a dive to the Algol. I didn't have the right gas in my tanks for that deep dive and had to pass. He went and had a medical emergency as he entered the water. Unfortunately he didn't make it back. Since then, I've read of several divers who didn't make it back, but I keep on diving. Why not...it won't happen to me. Right? I got some of the best training out there. I've got well maintained equipment. I train regularly at Dutch. I carry a bailout bottle. I carry two computers, two knives, a wreck reel and three regulators. In my mind, I'm ready for any emergency that comes my way. I dive with some of the best divers out there; divers who I wish I had even half of their knowledge.My dive buddies have the same love of diving. They have the best equipment, they train regularly, they carry more gear than some shops sell, they dive all year, diving hundreds of times a year. They are very accomplished divers. Wreck divers, cave divers, ice divers, and all of the above combined. One of these divers was my good friend Yasuko Fiasco Okada, aka Fiasco, aka Fi. She had all the right gear, the right training
, and the right attitude. She may have been only 5' tall (on a good day), but she filled a room with her cheer. It was more than her bright white smile, her glowing face, cheerful and playful attitude. She just had "it". Everything was right with her...until July 31st, 2010, when I got a call from the owner of my local dive shop. Fi was diving on the Arundo; a wreck I've been to. The Arundo is a WWII Freighter sunk off the Jersey shore due to enemy action April 28, 1942, with max. depths up to about 140' or so. Unfortunately, this was to be Fi's last dive. What happened? I can speculate, but I won't. Let the Coast Guard do their investigation, let the people post on the dive forums, let rumors fly. The fact is that nobody will ever really know for sure what went wrong.We'll never really know what happened at the bottom, but what we do know is that I lost a friend. This one hits home. She's been to my home...many times. She's celebrated birthdays and promotions at my home. She's delivered beer to my home (a case of beer for each time my PBA card got her a break...she filled my fridge many times). We've been on trips to Canada to dive the St. Lawrence Seaway and
Lake Ontario, and to Block Island to dive the U-853. We've chartered boats together to dive rock piles and wrecks in New Jersey. We've had dinner, drinks, laughs, and good times together. Really good times. She was always smiling, laughing, telling funny stories, making faces.This one hit close to home.
Fi, I'm really going to miss you.
8 comments:
Mike, We loved her, too. Her parents, Jim and Soko live in our neighborhood. They are family to us. Thanks for putting Yasuko's spirit so perfectly into words. No child has ever been loved more than Yasuko. She leaves a huge hole. I hope you don't mind if I share this link with our family and friends. I know they would love to know more of her "diver" side. Thanks again, Liz
Liz, thanks for the comment. Feel free to share this to the world.
Mike
Mike: I am shocked to hear about Yasuko. We met only a few times in the Thousand Islands and at BTS, but her spirit and the vibrancy of her personality made her lodge in my memory as a good friend. So sorry for your loss. So sad.
Hi Mike:
I'm not from the diving community but worked with Yasuko at McGraw-Hill. All the adjectives you and others use to describe her -- passionate, vibrant, spirited -- are how we're remembering her. We too are in a state of shock here at work and can't believe our friend is gone. We miss her dearly.
Mike,
I was on the Gypsy that saturday,I
met her for the first time that day. The ocean was a little rough on the way to the site, she was sick. She came into the cabin layed down for about 40 min. She geared up and was the last to hit the water. I didn't know her but I'm still upset think about it every day
Dear Mike, thank you for your comment on Yasuko. We, all the relatives of her mother, living in Japan, above all her grandma are so grateful to you. Though Yasuko had often told us about her great enthusiasm for diving and the world under the sea, since we have just very few ideas about the diving things, your blog helped us for understanding her situation.
We are also very happy to know, that Yasuko had such nice friendship. The beer episode reminds us also how devoted she was. She wrote frequently letters and sent faxes to her grandma, so that, we could always feel that she was close to us, although we didn't see her long time personally.
She was so full of life. Whenever we think of her, we always just remember her big smile.
Thank you again for your kindness to our beloved Yasuko, aka Yachu.
With love and thanks
Her Grandma, Kiro, Mi-ko, and Okko
Grandma, Kiro, Mi-ko, and Okko,
I am so glad that you found this blog and were able to learn about this part of her life. Diving was how we met, and she became one of my "inner circle" of dive buddies, meaning she was one of the divers who I would dive with often. We would also socialize out of the water, and was a good friend that I will miss dearly.
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