Ken's Photo Album/Sweet-Paradise-2.jpg

Previous | Home | Next

Sweet paradise Hawaii most certainly is. Life was good and although nobody would hire me as an instructor (because of my tattoos) I still got a job on the North Shore of Oaho, the "Surfing Capital of the World." Soon I would be surfing the famous waves of Sunset Beach and Pipeline. I surfed the biggest and best waves of my life and got pretty close to drowning on some of the heaviest days. But my job was not satisfying and ultimately I realized that I had to start my own business. "Flippers Scuba" was born and I became a full fledged workaholic who was totally committed to making a good living with my own dive business. The business was started with a total capital investment of $7000, $5000 of which was borrowed from a loan shark who damn well was going to get his money back. With the money I bought 6 sets of equipment, a Toyota minivan, and some advertising. I put everything into this business and it grew to the point that it supported myself and Ruth, and a full time instructor as well. This was very much the high point of my relationship with Ruth and it was at this time that she somewhat unexpectedly became pregnant. But a small tragedy was in store.