No Direction Home: “What’s so good about goodbye, when the best was yet to come….”

September 28, 2023

“What’s so good about goodbye, when the best was yet to come….” - Bryan Adams

Life is full of exceedingly high moments and crushing lows and sometimes they happen to occur at the same time and such was the case when I received a dreaded phone call that a close friend and colleague had passed away quite suddenly while I was in South Haven, Michigan enjoying a wonderful weekend surrounded by friends.

My friend Elliot worked with me at RPM Nautical Foundation, he was from and based in Malta and began working on our research vessel, the Hercules shortly after I started working with RPM about 15 years ago. He was a talented five-star chef and that was his initial role as he lived aboard the vessel during our field season and daily prepared three amazing meals a day for the crew.

In the past five years or so, he was promoted to the vessel manager which meant he handled almost everything that RPM needed in Malta and other foreign ports overseas. This meant that we coordinated frequently, in fact I spoke with him daily, often multiple times a day including mere hours before his passing.

I had met him on multiple occasions, when I traveled overseas to the vessel and he visited Key West as well including once during a memorable Fantasy Fest week. He was kind and humble and a good, good friend and far too young to pass away so suddenly. Kathy and I are just devasted, especially for his young son and other family members and friends. It has been a hard adjustment not hearing his voice and it is still hard to even fathom.

The bright side is that when I received the news, I couldn’t have been in a better situation. The beauty and tranquility of the beach at South Haven and the warmth and kindness of my friends enabled me to process the tragedy and still manage to enjoy the situation that I was experiencing at my friends’ family reunion.

The weekend passed far too quickly but it was so wonderful. South Haven is a beautiful little town and I took the opportunity to explore on my final day there. I started at the famous South Haven lighthouse. The lighthouse stands at the entrance to the Black River to Lake Michigan. First placed into operation in 1871, the light is still working today. The catwalk is original and still leads to shore and the light is approachable as you can walk right up to it and get a good view.

My next stop was at the Michigan Maritime Museum located along the Black River in downtown South Haven. The museum and research library focuses on the history of the Great Lakes and has incredible educational displays on the maritime activities including the glorious cruise ships that once ferried passengers across the lakes. I was surprised at the quality and depth of the exbibits. Also on site is a collection of working ships, some of which visitors can take excursions. It is a pretty cool place.

I wanted to drive up and visit nearby Grand Haven, another beach town and one that I had been to before to attend our friend’s Nadene and Trevor’s wedding some years ago, Trevor’s family owns a blueberry farm, DeGrandchamp Farm, in South Haven, so I stopped there to get a blueberry ice cream and some other items and I also took in the nearby farm brewery, Waypost Brewery before heading to Grand Haven.

In Grand Haven, I checked out their cool lighthouse as well and then toured the quaint downtown area, grabbing dinner before heading to Grand Rapids to catch me flight home. It was a wonderful trip, punctuated by some very sad news, but that is really what life is all about.