“I do recall one pretty good lobster story where I ended up breathing through my ears,” Bob Meistrell said when asked about the Hollywood stars he taught to dive. Bob and twin brother Bill helped found Dive N’ Surf, the world’s oldest dive shop in 1953. SCUBA diving was in its infancy and “Sea Hunt,” staring Lloyd Bridges, was a hit TV show. Dozens of Hollywood stars called on the Meistrells to teach them to dive.
“I took Charlton Heston, Gary Cooper and this old pro tennis player named Tony Treavor to Emerald Bay, off Catalina Island. Treavor had the biggest wrist I’ve ever seen on a man. Anyway, we were in about 60 feet of water when I found a 14.5 pound lobster. I didn’t have a game bag so I had to hold the bug between my legs because before I caught the lobster I’d found a new water bucket and a brand new tuna rod. Well, when I got to the surface, I’d used all my air, and was swimming back to the boat when Trevor grabbed hold of me and said he was in trouble and threw his 32 pound weight belt over my shoulders. I didn’t want to lose the lobster, so I tried to drop the belt, but it got all tangled up in the rod and reel and took me straight back down to the bottom. I didn’t know it at the time, but when I got back to the boat and heard air blowing out my ears I realized I’d blown out both my ear drums.
“The bad part was I still had three more days of diving ahead.”
Meistrell, who never drank, said he poured gin in his ears to keep them from getting infected.
