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Buzz Aldrin Buzz Aldrin visited St Thomas for two consecutive years in the early eighties to attend NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administ.) conventions. He and other attendees took time to get some diving in. Arnoldo had the honor to be their SCUBA guide during those two visits. What a humble experience it was to meet Buzz, one of the biggest names ever in the history of human exploration and yet, his personality, so low key and unassuming. |
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Lawrence Krauss Dr. Lawrence Krauss is an Astrophysicist. His theoretical work made contributions for the understanding of the Dark Matter and the Dark Energy in the Universe. More recently he published a very complex scientific paper about the nature of Black Holes that may bring controversy to some aspects held by the traditional theories. He is the author of a number of Sciences best sellers books, and also is well known for his articles and public lectures for the advancement of Sciences. In 2001, Dr. Krauss became a certified Open Water PADI diver at Patagon Dive Center and he dives with us every year since. |
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Steven Hawking In October 2004, Dr. Lawrence Krauss hosted a Conference on Cosmology at Case Wester University in Cleveland. He brought together some of the most brilliant minds in the field including Prof. Stephen Hawking. Arnoldo, who play part in finding a private jet for Prof. Hawking travels to the Conference, was given the high privilege to have a photo with him. The book in hand, Hawking's best seller "A Brief History of Time", is in bad shape but is still readable, is one of the few, from Arnoldo's home bookshelves, that survived Hurricane Marilyn in 1995. |
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Nobel Prize Laureates In March of 2006 Dr. Lawrence Krauss gathered in StThomas 22 of the World top physicists for a Cosmology Workshop titled "Confronting Gravity". The group included, among others, three Nobel Price Laureates and the world famous Stephen Hawking. The staff of Patagon Dive Center enjoyed the privilege to take many of them SCUBA diving and also in arranging for Dr. Hawking a submarine ride aboard the Atlantis Submarine. The photo was taken at Antilles School, after a talk the Nobel physicists gave to students from many Saint Thomas Schools. From left: Dr. Lawrence Krauss, Sainthomian physicist Edward Thomas, Graciela Falcoff (Arnoldo's wife and teacher at Antilles School), Nobel Laureate Dr. Gerard Hooft, Nobel Laureate Dr. Frank Wilzceck, Arnoldo Falcoff, and Nobel Laureate Dr. David Gross. |
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Bruno Nicoletti Bruno Nicoletti, a diver and sailor extraordinaire. Bruno's photo was taken by his brother Pino as they were sailing pass by Cape Horn. They were about to complete their nonstop circumnavigation around the World through the roughest waters in the world, the "Roaring Forties". Bruno and Pino made the trip, Puerto Madryn/Puerto Madryn, on a production series sailboat, a Catana 48. Arnoldo first met Bruno (a renown diver then) back in the late 60's and to these days he treasures his friendship and his source of inspiration in the love of the Ocean. |
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Local Diver, Dr. Dave Weisher An old photo from the seventies showing Dave Weisher into his "hard hat" diving suit. Dave's commercial diving jobs helped him to finance his studies for a degree in Medicine. A neurologist, Dave runs his private practice in Saint Thomas and, as an expert in diving medicine; he is also in charge of the decompression chamber at our local Hospital. |
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Tiger Woods One of Tiger's pastimes, when he is not on Tour, is the sport of breath holding diving. He can comfortably free dive to depths of 90 feet under. Years ago, at Patagon Dive Center we had Tiger Woods and a group of his friends trying SCUBA diving for first time. Maybe, his interest in free diving also started at that time. He liked to tease Arnoldo's ability to stay underwater by wearing only (Tiger's own quotation for snorkel) his bamboo shoot. The photo insert is of John Streibeck, a Saint Thomas young and talented golfer who is not too far from joining the Pro Tour. Arnoldo asked Tiger to dedicate his photo to John. |
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Jon Stewart A world wide debt of gratitude to the Comedy Channel for the Daily Show! Jon Stewart and his staff are not only incredible funny, witty, and informative, but also are great advocates for the cause of reason. Nothing better than great humor for exposing all the institutionalized stupidity and hypocrisy that goes around in this world. For Patagon staff it was a very special privilege to have Jon and his wife Tracey as our diving guests. |
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Liza Barish Liza was one of our best Open Water students of 2007. Not only she got top grades for all her PADI academics but also she performed so well in all her confined water skills sessions and open water dives. More remarkable, Liza overcame her initial apprehension to the new underwater environment extremely well. We look forward to see her next year. |
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Jim Mapes James Mapes is a well known motivational speaker (www.jamesmapes.com)and he travels the country giving conferences and seminars. Jim is a "regular" to St Thomas. With his wife Susan they take a trip to the Island at least twice a year. Jim is an active diver since the lates seventies and still loves to take a couple of dives with Patagon staff every time he travels to St Thomas. |
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Todd MacCulloch Todd is the tallest diver that ever dove with Patagon. He retired from The Sixers after a very successful pro-basketball career. Todd and his wife are both acomplished divers and at Patagon we felt very honored to take them diving; one at a time! They had to switch turns between diving and/or looking after their new born child. |
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Dr. Less Burstein Dr. Less Burstein, from New York, and his two sons Brian and David are avid and accomplished divers. They visit the Ritz Carlton in St Thomas quite frequently. In the photo, the divers are waiting a little longer for darker conditions to set in before the making the splash. |
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Thomas Crane All the way from Chicago, pilot Thomas Crane flew his family in their own plane down to the Caribbean. They went Island hopping but they took a longer stay in Saint Thomas. Patagon staff had the privilege to work with them for their PADI advanced certification. In the photo, Steven and Tyler, the two sons (they also have a younger daughter) of Thomas and Sally, are relaxing at The Ritz after a morning of diving. |
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The Brandeckers Ed and Roberta Brandecker are both physicians and own a Orthopedic practice in Texas. They've got PADI open water certified with Patagon Dive Center in 1999 and became very active divers regular St Thomas visitors ever since. More recently they divide their diving vacations between St Thomas and Belize where they bought property. At Patagon Dive Center we are always looking forward to see them again, even if not as often as in the past. |
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As an electronic enginer Bill got involved in a very successful venture for the computer-communications industry. He was able to retired at very early age. SCUBA is one of the many activities he fills his free time with. Bill is always jovial and with almost a permanent smile on his face. Even underwater that smile is present as we see him exiting from a narrow swim thru at "The Strugglers" site. |
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Roy Emerson One of the greatest in tennis history, Roy Emerson still holds, in tie with Pete Sampras, the record for most grand slams titles. Roy landed in Saint Thomas in 1982 for a tennis exhibition that also included Wimbledon champions Fred Stolle and Manolo Santana. After the tournament Arnoldo, a tennis fan himself, had the especial honor to take the group of tennis stars on a sailing tour. |
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Dave and Bethany, from Phoenix, spent a long week end of diving at The Ritz in Saint Thomas. Dave is a physician and has lots of experience in dry suit cold water diving over the Pacific North West Coast and he wished that Bethany also took up on the sport. The Patagon Staff took them on a bunch of dives and Bethany got PADI certified as well. Bethany is a professional singer. Her web site is www.bethanywright.com |
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Laurel and Hardy Ever wish you could meet someone famous but deceased? Arnoldo had always wished he could dive with the great comics Laurel and Hardy. But that wish list of his also includes Sir Isaac Newton, Galileo and Magellan! |
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Lynn and Ben recently dove with us and Ben completed his Rescue Diver course. Lynn is now an accomplished diver. Many years ago she got her open water certification at Patagon Dive Center. We are proud of you Lynn! Ben is getting his dive master ticket back in New Jersey. Next visit to St Thomas we will put him to work at Patagon Dive Center. No more vacation time at the Ritz, pal! |
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