I'm Buddy; I've been a member of Patowmack Divers since 2017. Sarah (our communications officer) introduced me to the club. I began diving in 2007, partially as a way of countering my work-a-holic tendencies, but also because I was raised on a diet of, "The Undersea World Of Jacques Cousteau." I love the sense of freedom and being completely disconnected from the surface and the land. As a space nerd (I work for NASA in my day job!), I also love the feeling of floating without gravity and being able to move effortlessly in all 3 dimensions. In the past, I've done a fair bit of cold-water diving in the quarries of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. I've also seen the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia and, in 2019, I got to visit the Solomon Islands with some of our group. I've also greatly enjoyed diving in various parts of the Carribean. In 2012, I achieved the rank of SSI Dive Control Specialist (basically the same as a PADI DiveMaster), but I haven't kept up with it as a profession.

Out of the water, as previously mentioned, I'm a card-carrying space nerd. I had the priviledge of working on all of the servicing missions to the Hubble Space Telescope and I've designed bits of many different space missions over my 30+ years at NASA. I also enjoy riding motorcycles ... many years ago, I rode all the way to California and back. And I have recently begun to get in touch with my artistic side, having taken up sculpting in metal. Under the tutelage of my lovely lady, I've begun to learn my way around the kitchen; my cooking skills have always been quite rudimentary, but I enjoy learning new recipes and I've lately been obsessed with my bread machine.

I really hope this website piques your interest enough to make you want to come visit us and, maybe, even join our happy group.