We all divers have a duty to remember our heritage, those that before us left a great path of knowledge and experience that served for many of us as an inspiration and motivation to start our adventure in the underwater realm. And seek our dive career ever since. Either with a tank on our back or just holding a single breath to aim to the depths and wonders of the ocean.
One of these amazing characters was for me, Mr. Ramón Bravo. First learning on a TV show that around the 90´s he was a pioneer on daring to film the killer whales of the west coast of Baja California, in a remote and cold island known as Cedros. There he endured many obstacles and storms before he could achieve his dream of coming out of the cage to have an amazing encounter with a killer whale that was filming for many days. As himself wrote it in his book "Buceando entre las orcas" (diving among killer whales) published in 1982.
Ramón Bravo was born in October 21 1925 in Piedras Negras Coahuila, He was an active journalist for a famous newspaper in México City, "El Universal" where he published many of his oceanographic works and research on the ocean. He was the pioneer on discovering the famous sleeping sharks (tiger sharks) in a dive spot on Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo.
Contemporary of the great ocean explorer and scuba diver Jacques Ives Cousteau, he made great frienship with him and appeared with him on many of Costeau´s TV Shows and investigations.
Like many other aquatic personalities he was an olimpic champion too, over the Olympics in London 1948, and Helsinki 1952. An excellent athlete that compited on american football on his Alma Mater university, the UNAM, at Mexico City.
Achieved the Golden Star Maurizio Sarra in 1964 and 1966 (Tridente de Oro) and later on was called by Bruno Vailati, from Italy, like a camera man. Ramón then moved to Rome where for 7 years participated in programs and TV shows like "La Enciclopedia del Mar", "Los 7 mares", y "Los hombres del mar"
He left this world on his home in Isla Mujeres on February 21 , 1998, and his ashes where deposited on the Sleeping Shark Cave, (Cuevones Dive Spot) entry with a proper Catholic and Priest ceremony, where Mexico´s president Ernesto Zedillo, Jean Michel Cousteau, ( Son) , and his wife María Vallejo, made the final tribute to this amazing Ocean Legend.
written by.
Luis Antonio Velasco
Mandala Divers and Tours.
PADI MSDT #230707
SDI/TDI Instructor #43504
TDI Full Cave Diver #516712
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