When we lived in NYC, we constantly were amazed at the number of ways there are for people to make a living. Of course, there was the green grocer, the butcher, the haberdasher. But then there were the unusual vocations: button shops, ribbon shops, hat shops, and diamond merchants. Over the course of our lives, we have encountered all sorts of other worthy occupations, all undertaken in an effort to satisfy a customer need, to make a living, and perhaps to fulfill a dream.

Here in the Bahamas, it is not at all unusual to find people who do many things. We had haircuts from the woman who operates an insurance agency out of her beauty salon; we have purchased internet time from a pet store; and we have bought fish from another beauty salon. With the exception of the first example (where the woman -- Marcie -- always wanted to be a beautician but added the insurance agency as a side line), we do not know which came first or what was the vocation of choice.

While we were on Long Island, we came across a truly unusual occupation, or combination of occupations. Dean's Blue Hole reputedly is the deepest blue hole in the world at 663'. At the bottom, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean and so the waters are full of ocean life, not just the sorts of creatures one would expect in a land based water hole. Because it is so deep, it also is the site of free diving "extreme sport" competitions in which people dive as deep as they can without breathing apparatus (and return alive). At a recent (last November) challenge, one of the contestants came to the surface, but promptly died from ruptured blood vessels in his lungs. The story is that he had not been feeling up to par, was advised to drop out, competed anyway and, contrary to guidelines, descended, started to ascend, and then went deeper before coming to the surface.

As we approached the blue hole, we saw folks out on the diving platform and Van struck up a conversation with a young woman who had been conversing with one of the divers. It turns out that her husband is the record holder for Dean's Blue Hole. When asked what he was doing, she advised that a problem in free diving is that, when the body builds up carbon dioxide, a "take a breath" reflex kicks in, and that is not a good reflex to experience while under water. So, her husband was trying to control the reflex by doing repeated dives, allowing the CO2 to build up, and learning to overcome the reflex. He was doing 10-20 dives to 20-30 meters (yes, as in 100') deep over the course of the day. Van asked her where they live to accommodate his practice -- Long Island; and what do they do to support themselves -- teach free diving and yoga (for breathing and relaxation exercises) and travel around the world to compete and give demonstrations and lessons. Now that is an unusual way to make a living! We are not sure at what age one is considered too old for the sport, but we suspect it is not old. But, there always is the grocery store to manage.