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and resulting health issues, which included a liver transplant and a horrific
motorcycle accident. Crosby told those stories, candidly and eloquently, in two
autobiographies: Long Time Gone and Since Then: How I Survived Everything
and Lived to Tell About It. Instead, this is about something he shares with all
Alert Diver readers, a love of the ocean and a passion for scuba diving.
It was while reading Since Then that I realized how deep Crosby’s
connection to diving must be. Describing his liver disease, he said, “The
process was accelerating; my liver was less and
less functional. So I came to terms, as much as
one can, with the knowledge I might be dead
before much longer … my only chance was to
get a replacement … the uncertainty is awful.”
With that mindset, and fearing an organ donor
might not be found in time, Crosby described
his immediate priorities, “I decided to go
sailing and get in a few last dives.”
Surely, many of us have wondered what
we might do if faced with the end of life and
perhaps thought it might involve scuba diving.
For Crosby in 1994, the decision he made was
to take a trip on his beloved 60-foot schooner
Mayan with friends and his wife, Jan, to the
Channel Islands.
If ever there was someone who needed
dive accident insurance, it would be a guy
planning to jump into the ocean with a liver
so badly diseased that fluid was building
in his abdomen and his brain was being
poisoned by ammonia. He acknowledged
it was a very bad time for him and that his
judgment wasn’t particularly good either:
“Yeah, that was pretty scary. I just wanted
to stay alive long enough to get another
dive in, but eventually we put her under
full canvas and hauled ass to get to the
hospital.” A donor was eventually found, and
the liver transplant was successful. Crosby
can now look back on those times with the
introspection of a survivor.
Today, enjoying a life of sobriety and the
company of family and close friends, he still
writes and performs. The day we spoke he
was packing for a show in San Francisco,
preparing to record a new album and getting
ready for an upcoming Crosby, Stills and
Nash tour of the U.S. and Europe, but he
still made time to talk about scuba diving.
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David Crosby tests an experimental diving
helmet created by Kirby Morgan.
COURTESY BEV MORGAN
It’s Better in The Bahamas.
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