Dave Caldwell at the Beverly Harborcenter

Sea Rover Dave Caldwell works at the Harborcenter in Beverly, Massachusetts, and graciously invited me to come in to work with him for a few days! I learned that on top of enforcing harbor regulations and managing boat traffic, Harbormasters respond to all kinds of emergencies on the water as well. Thankfully, both my days with Dave were relatively calm and everything ran smoothly. No capsized boats on our watch!

I joined Dave for all his morning and afternoon patrols, where we drove the Harbormaster boat around the Beverly area to search for anything amiss. When Dave heard that I’d never driven a boat before, he was more than happy to show me the (metaphorical) ropes and help me understand some of the boating rules he helps enforce as a Harbormaster, like the no-wake-in-the-harbor rule. I was really excited to be able to drive a boat for the first time, and am so grateful to Dave for being so willing to teach me! I got lots of practice maneuvering through the harbor channels and between moorings, and also got to head out further all the way to Bakers Island, being careful not to get too close to any of the lobster buoys that could get tangled in the propellers. The Beverly Harborcenter has three boats they use, two larger ones for further and faster trips like this, and a smaller one for maneuvering around the harbor. I got the chance to drive all three thanks to Dave!

On my second and last day in Beverly, Dave invited over his friend (and friend of the Sea Rovers) Dean Julien, from the Beverly Fire Department, to give me a tour and overview of their Dive Rescue Team operations! He showed me inside the Dive Rescue truck, where the team’s dive gear is assembled and ready to be donned at a moment’s notice, and explained the process of responding to rescue dive calls. Seeing inside the truck was fascinating, but there are also so many hidden compartments around the outside of the dive truck, including a full gas compressor, dinghy, extra tanks, and gear for ice diving. Then, he took me on board the Fire Department dive boat, which was docked by the Harbormaster boat, and showed me the various firehoses and dive setups there too. Dean was incredibly kind and really thorough in his explanation of his work, I loved talking with him! I’m really grateful that Dave invited him over.

On top of his work at the Harborcenter, Dave and his wife Heather Knowles run a dive charter on their boat, the Gauntlet (more on that in a future post!) and travel the world diving in caves and mines. Both of them are accomplished tech divers, Dave himself being NAUI’s Northeast Manager, and it was absolutely incredible to hear about their diving escapades and see some of the videos they’ve made to document those dives! It’s a whole other world of diving that was really fascinating to get a glimpse of. If you want to see some of these videos, they can all be found on Heather’s YouTube account here.

Thank you so much Dave for hosting me at the Harborcenter!

– Sofia