Robert (Bob) Farrelly: Educator and Wildlife Art Owner

Robert (Bob) Farrelly
Educator and Wildlife Art Owner

I first came to know SCUBA diving through Dave Woodward in Spokane, Washington. When still in high school I learned of a diving school called WOCO " there I took lessons and fell in love with the underwater

experience thanks to Dave and Cousteau's film and book "The Silent World?. Even though our open water dives took place in lakes with 10 foot visibility and at times under the ice - I loved it.

While working in Atlanta in 1965 I received a note from Dave with a picture of the Woodward family together on a small cay (Peterson's Cay) just off the shore of a place called Grand Bahamas Island " the note invited me to visit them at a place called Freeport where Dave was helping set up a dream diving operation called UNEXSO. I visited and did my first diving on a sub-tropical reef with visibility of over 100

Robert Farrelly

feet " needless to say I was blown away by the experience having done only freshwater lake diving.

Soon after my first visit to UNEXSO I returned to Freeport and participated in one of the Club's first NAUI Instructor courses (NAUI #1033) and then back to Atlanta, the Pacific Northwest to teach and to Edinburgh, Scotland to work on my Masters Degree. While in cold Edinburgh I received a letter from Dave asking if I would be interested in joining UNEXSO as a staff member since they were losing Jack McKinney to Skin Diver Magazine " needless to say it didn?t take long in 10 degree weather to say yes.

I joined UNEXSO in 1967 and over the years did duties as an instructor/guide/marketing director/general manager " I left the island in 1973 and spent about two years marketing the Club from Pompano Beach, FL. During the Club years I was privileged to help develop some innovative education courses, met some amazing people, worked with an exceptional group of staff members, was part of the Tektite II habitat photographic expedition, dove over the ledge in the submersible Ben Franklin and enjoyed some of the best diving in the world. After leaving the employment of UNEXSO I spent about two years in Akron, Ohio driving eighteen wheelers, moved to Tacoma, Washington in 1976 and worked as an administrator for a small college.

The next 30 plus years were devoted to education, creating and selling two companies involved with the design, manufacturing and selling of products for the marine industry, owning and producing the largest wildlife art exposition on the West Coast and owning an art gallery.