A Young Diver Has Become Immersed

In His Dream Job In Key West

By Larissa Lytwyn

According to a recent report by the US Department of Labor, 20-year-old Ryan Simek is employed in one of the “most dangerous jobs in America.”

Ryan lives, free of charge, on a boat, The Dauntless, in the heart of Key West. His coworkers are among his best friends. He just received a promotion — and he has only been employed a month.

After graduating from the Divers’ Training Institute in Seattle, Wash., with certification in diving, salvaging and welding, Ryan moved to Florida’s famed isles to work for Mel Fisher Treasure Salvaging Companies.

“Mel Fisher recovered treasure from [lost Spanish gallion] the Atocha [in 1985],” said Ryan. In addition to beginning his own diving company, the legendary treasure-hunter, who died in 1998, founded the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society.

The museum exhibits hundreds of artifacts recovered from shipwrecks including the Santa Margarita, St John’s Wreck and Henrietta Marie, as well as the Atocha.

Ryan uses his engineering and diving skills to recover artifacts, many of which are sold or displayed in the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society.

During his first week on the job, his crew recovered a six-inch-long gold brick worth $100,000.

A few days later, he repaired an engine on one of the recovery boats, earning him the promotion.

“I’d always wanted to [be a diver],” said Ryan. “So I just did it.”

When his mother, Debbie, initially heard about her sons’ ambitions, she was terrified.

“I’m a schoolteacher [at Beardsley Elementary School in Bridgeport], and the thought of Ryan not going to college, getting his degree, was just very upsetting,” she said.

Ryan did not like Newtown High School.

“There was this expectation that we had to go to college,” said the 2002 graduate. “But the things I wanted to do weren’t part of what was being taught [beyond math and science classes]. I wanted to do engineering, or diving, or be a mechanic.”

“Ryan’s father works on antique cars for a living,” explained Debbie. “Ryan’s been working on cars himself since he was 5 years old.”

His family, including his athletically minded brother and sister, are all certified in scuba diving.

“My husband and I used to work at the same company in the mid-1970s,” said Debbie. “We would vacation in the islands. I took a diving course one day in Trinidad and when we returned to the States I became certified.”

Ryan’s first two years of high school were spent at Holy Cross High School in Waterbury, where he earned good grades. While he generally did not excel academically at Newtown High School, he did score high marks on the SAT test, his mother said.

“Ryan is very bright,” she noted.

After graduating, he attended a semester at Western Connecticut State University majoring in history and accounting.

“I didn’t like college,” he said, “it wasn’t for me.”

Late in the semester, he found an old brochure for the Divers’ Institute.

“Going to the institute would involve Ryan going to a place where he didn’t know anyone, where no housing was provided,” said Debbie.

Ryan, however, was intent on going.

“I had my own apartment and worked 50 hours as a mechanic to support myself, in addition to going to school,” said Ryan. He laughed. “I didn’t have much of a social life!”

He soon fell in love with the lifestyle, however.

“Some of the guys I went to school with became my best friends,” said Ryan.

During a visit last July, Debbie said her son had gone from a teenager to an adult.

“I was so proud of him,” she said. “He did it all on his own.”

She said his instructors loved him. “They want him to come back to the institute someday to teach,” she said.

Ryan believes his experience in auto mechanics and propensity for math proved an immense asset.

“The work [in diving] is very precise,” he said. “If you aren’t careful, you could die.”

He advises prospective divers “not to be nervous” when they go underwater.

“Being nervous will make you mess up,” he declared. “Messing up” could entail descending or coming up too quickly, among a host of other perils.

“If you go down or up too fast,” explained Ryan, “the air pressure becomes too intense.”

Instant death could occur.

During the next few years, Ryan hopes to pursue diving off of oilrigs, making repairs and welding.

“It’s very dangerous — even more dangerous from what I am doing now,” he said. “But it’s lucrative.”

Many of the world’s most dangerous jobs, in fact – including diving, lumberjacking and deep-sea fishing – are also among the best paid.

He also dreams of opening up his own diving supply shop.

“He tells me that when my husband and I are retired, we could go to the islands and help him get started,” said Ms Simek. “He said he would then support us. I would love to go down — I hate the cold weather!”

In the more immediate future, Ryan wants to learn how to fly a helicopter.

When asked why, he shrugged. “I just want to learn,” he said. “The mechanics of it are interesting. It’s just something I want to do.”

It would not be surprising if, even within a few months, his latest dream comes true.