Do-It-Yourself Adventure in Bar Harbor

Article from the Boston Sunday Globe by Stephen Jermanok, 4/11/10

Having been to Adadia National Park at least a dozen times, I knew that there was no better welcome mat to that glorious mix of forest, mountains, and ocean than atop the short summit of Acadia Mountain.

I didn’t want to turn the kids off to the outdoors by doing too many sports, so that afternoon, I booked a boat ride with Diver Ed. During the winter, former harbor master Eddie Monat dives for scallops.  For the past decade in the summer months, he’s been leading trips in Frenchman Bay to find the creatures lurking in the deep.

Read the rest of the article in the Boston Sunday Globe

Barbados!

Packing for Barbados! Man, I can’t wait to get there. I have no idea what kind of crazy stuff we’re going to see there. The water’s going to be so clear, we can see it all, too! If it’s there, we’ll be able to see it! Even Eddie’s Speedo. I want to see the coral reefs. I hear they have hard and soft corals. What a rush to kiss an eel! The sparks will fly! Most of all, I want to ride a turtle – eee-hah!

‘Diver Ed’ and ‘Captain Evil’ show visitors new worlds underwater

Article from The Working Waterfront by Blake Davis

Edna Martin helps her husband, Ed Monet, as he prepares to dive. Blake Davis

Carving a wake in the early morning calm of Frenchman’s Bay, the Starfish Enterprise steams out of Bar Harbor on its maiden voyage.

Onboard, 11 passengers-parents and kids, all sporting duct-tape name tags-are sitting on long yellow benches.

Ed Monat, 43, known to his passengers as Diver Ed, stands by the cabin. A few kids begin to laugh as Monat, bulging his eyes, squeezes into his one-piece dry suit. The heavy neoprene stretches tightly against his thick chest and legs. His long tangled hair and most of his face are covered in a hood made of the same elastic material.

Read the rest at the Working Waterfront’s website

Beam Me Down, Eddie

From – www.fenceviewer.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11955%3ABeam+Me+Down%2C+Eddie&catid=974%3Aboating&Itemid=144

A little more than six months after a ferocious Northeast storm wrecked his 49-foot fishing boat The Seal in Bar Harbor, Eddie “Diver Ed” Monat launched a brand new boat to take its place. Built by H & H Marine in Steuben, the 51-foot Osmond Beal-designed Starfish EnterpriseBar Harbor, where it will serve as the new stage for the couple’s “Dive In” theater and audience members will be able to view live images on a large, LCD video screen that Monat transmits from under water. slipped into the waters of the Narraguagus River in Milbridge last June 17. After a day of furious commissioning work, Monat and his wife and business partner, Edna Martin, delivered the boat to Bar Harbor, where it will serve as the new stage for the couple’s “Dive In” theater and audience members will be able to view live images on a large, LCD video screen that Monat transmits from under water.

Starfish Enterprise is a stretched version of the H & H 47-footer, and has a 19-foot-3-inch beam. It is powered by a 660-horsepower Caterpillar diesel engine and is expected to cruise at 14 knots.

With a solid Fiberglas hull and Divinycell-cored decks and cabin, the boat was built to meet Coast Guard requirements for certification to carry as many as 88 passengers. Monat and Martin did most of the finish and commissioning work on the boat themselves.