2013 Northeast Diving Pioneer

Capt. Steve Bielenda’s introduction to scuba diving began in 1960 with Central Skin Divers in Brooklyn. With instruction by June and (the late) Roy Kieser, young Steve started spear fishing, eventually becoming a YMCA and PADI Master Scuba Instructor Trainer, a move that he credits with being a turning point in his life. Fast forward through years during which, as a self-taught salvage diver, he had helped raise over 200 vessels varying in size from a 13-foot speedboat to a 78-foot fishing trawler.

In 1961, Capt. Steve started taking divers to an assortment of popular local shipwrecks on different dive boats he owned, and in 1980 he built the 55-foot Wahoo, the first liveaboard dive boat in the northeast. He continued wreck diving charter operations until 2004.

Capt. Steve was the first to run regular trips taking qualified divers to the ill-fated Andrea Doria that sank in 1956 and became dubbed as the Mt. Everest of diving because of its 250-foot depth, swift currents and dark, cold water. His salvage expertise was instrumental in assisting John Moyer in the recovery of two 600 pound Guido Gambone pieces of artwork from the winter garden inside the shipwreck. Newsday writer, Nick Karas, called Capt. Steve “Long Island’s The King of the Deep,” a title that has stuck with him over the years.

The list of Capt. Steve’s credentials reads like a “who’s who and what’s what” in 50 years of scuba diving history with a plethora of certifications including PADI Master Scuba Instructor/Instructor Trainer, Hyperbaric Chamber Operator and recognition as an expert witness for diving testimony. He served many years as President of the Eastern Dive Boat Association, has co-authored two books, written the foreword in others and has been frequently quoted by esteemed authors such as Dan Berg’s Wreck Valley series, Hank Keatts’ Dive Into History, Bernie Chowdhury’s The Last Dive, and Kevin McMurray’s Deep Descent, to mention a few.

Having established a reputation as an entertaining and informative speaker, year after year Capt. Steve Bielenda’s could be found as a seminar presenter in the program books of Beneath the Sea, The Boston Sea Rovers, and recently, The Historical Diving Society.

A living room cabinet filled with delicate ship’s china and crystal, and a backyard laden with recovered portholes, anchors and propellers attest to Capt. Steve’s diving abilities, but he still says that catching lobsters is what he really loved. “Lobsters were my love and there is nothing more exciting. You know, I’ve gotten some beautiful artifacts, but there is nothing like the challenge of catching a big lobster.”

A Northeast Diving Pioneer in every sense of the word…Capt. Steve Bielenda and his research vessel Wahoo are synonymous in the minds of scuba divers the world over.

Janice Raber