Posted by Eric S on December 09, 2004 at 20:15:39:
The other night my wife and I went over to a friends house for dinner and the topic of diving came up. Turns out that the host knows Don Wobber personally. Don is the infamous Jade Cove diver who, back in 1975, pulled a 9000 lb. jade boulder out of there then paraded it through San Francisco's China Town on a flat bed trailer. The rock now rests in the Oakland Museum.
Gary (the host) later showed me some videos of diving that he and Don made that were originally shot on 16 mm film and later transfered.
The first film was shot back in 1968 in Monterey bay at the breakwater and it was a film for Don's reaserch project when he was in college. It was all about bat stars and giant sun stars. Some of it was shot in timelaps photography showing how voratious those stars are. Even though there was no sound, I found myself fascinated by this. It showed all the old gear and scenes of the wharf and cannery that I remember as a boy growing up there.
The second film was about when Don Wobber, Gary Carmigniani and another guy pulled that record boulder out of Jade Cove. It was a full professionally shot film with sound, editing, credits, the whole thing. It showed some underwater action with them using come-a-longs and other tools to do the job. Of course the vintage dive gear
was a kick to see.
The third video was more recent and was about how Don carves his Jade pieces and the sculptures he makes.
Don is now 78 years old and according to Gary, still packs five tanks a day up and down that hill to get his jade.
What do you think of that Frank?