Diver Dan




For several years I lived alone on "Little Stirrup Cay", a secluded little island about a mile long and 1/3 of a mile wide in the northwest Berry Islands (map) of the Bahamas (map) about 55 miles south of Freeport, and 55 miles north of Nassau. I lived as caretaker of the island for a friend of mine who owned the island.
When I lived there between 1980 and 1985, I lived in a thatched hut, cooked over a campfire, ate coconuts, lemons, turtlegrass seaweed, and whatever fish, sharks, stingrays, and lobster I could spear, and basically lived like Robinson Crusoe. Most of the time I wore a Tarzan loincloth, and my hair got bleached really blonde from the sun and salt water.

     

In 1985, I went back and managed the Out-Island Activities department for Eastern/Admiral Cruise Lines through 1987. I lived on both Little Stirrup Cay, as well as onboard the cruise ship the S.S. Emerald Seas. During this time, I bought six peacocks for the island, and ran a crew of 7 divers and about a dozen Bahamians and Haitians who worked on the island with us. Since I was a PADI diver and an SSI Scuba Instructor, I was known as "Diver Dan".

Underwater sealife Underwater sealife
Some of my underwater friends

Since then, the cruise lines has bought the island and they've renamed it Cocoa Cay. I understand they have also remodeled the island and tried to create an inner harbor - From what I have heard, it has almost caused the island to erode in half. Maybe you've visited it on a cruise on the S.S. Emerald Seas or more recently with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines? If you were a passenger on one of the 200+ cruises I was on from 1985-1987, or if you have recently visited Little Stirrup Cay (Cocoa Cay), please leave a note in my Guestbook or drop me some e-mail to just say "Hi!" and send photos of the island!

History of the S.S. Emerald Seas:

So where are the Staff and Crew of the SS Emerald Seas today?

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