Happy Birthday to my first mate and best friend Kyle Bethke!

Happy Birthday to my first mate and best friend Kyle Bethke!

It has been absolutely a joy and a wonder to see him grow over the past year, and the past 16 years!

He is such a calm and capable young man.

He can sail a 35,000 boat, he can moor it, anchor it, change her diesel engine's oil. He keeps her water filters changed, he can take the dinghy and run and provision in a new country at will.

He is great at conversation with adults he just met and is doing well running the boat when we have 15-25 people on board for a full day of diving.

He takes care of little kids, his brother - and me.

He can dive with two side mount tanks, hunt and clean lionfish.

He can fill tanks, and write code in Python.

And I just discovered this week that he can create slideshow presentations and make a pretty decent oral pitch.

He can cook great meals with no real planning, and do laundry.

He can drive us through crazy nearly off road conditions while I enjoy a civilized open beer on a hot day after a dive.

But man, I most admire how calm he is under pressure.

You are way ahead of the game Kyle.

I love you man.

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Originally posted on Facebook on October 03, 2017.