Pioneer Of The Deep

As someone who was never afraid to stand out, even Dottie’s childhood pet was outlandish. “I had always loved snakes and lizards. I had a six-foot Gopher snake named Buddy who would swim with me,” she explains. Seeing as so much of her life revolved around the sea, it was only natural that she would take Buddy along. “He would wrap around my neck and I would wait for a big wave. Then he would slip off and swim by my side for half a mile.” These stunts drew crowds daily, where locals would gather to watch this tiny young girl swim laps in the Pacific with a giant snake rippling at her side. Strangely enough, Dottie’s foray into watersports began in the snow. “I took to skiing like a duck takes to water. Since it was seasonal I started water skiing in the Long Beach area,” she says. However, taking it one step further than juvenile playtime, go-getter Dottie joined an acrobatic team of water-skiers that consisted of three boys and three girls who put on numerous shows. Even an injury didn’t stop her in 1964, when falling off her snow skis resulted in a spiral fracture to one leg. “I was in a cast for two years. For the last six months, my buddies would remove the brace and zip me into the wetsuit,” she says, “I did all my kicking with one leg until the injured leg was completely healed.”

During this time, Dottie also learnt how to forage for food whilst at sea. “We would pick a cove and run into feral pigs, deer, buffalo, goats and foxes. We even hunted rattlesnakes, which we took back for supper,” she says. Her father would teach Dottie how to turn fisherman’s rags into equipment, as she remembers, “In no more than 15 minutes we’d have homemade cloth bags full of two-inch cockle clams. Dad made delicious clam chowder.”

One day with her father, a minor slip-up and an old sailor trick marked the beginning of her lifelong obsession.” Her dad dropped a coffee pot into 15ft-deep water. He convinced me I could go down and get it,” she recalls with pride. “He handed me a small anchor with a line attached to it. I fetched the coffee pot and after that day it wasn’t too long until I was diving at that depth all the time.” Next, her father worked on a piece of homemade equipment, which, little did he know, would launch Dottie’s career in scuba diving. He held a piece of fire hose up to her face and cut it to fit before attaching a piece of circular glass from a broken window. Using scraps from the boat, he had built a ‘faceplate’– also known as a diving mask. “The first time that I wore my mask was like a miracle,” says Dottie. “I could see the fish and all their vivid, beautiful colours, making the most unbelievable underwater forest.”

“We always took turns to go out skin diving – the men went together then the women got their time,” she explains. The club became very popular and two years later they were too full to accept any new members.

It was Dottie’s friend Jim who helped take her diving to the next level. When Dottie was aged 32, he suggested she apply to the Underwater Instructors Certification Course. Once again, she was rejected, receiving an all too familiar response: “Los Angeles County thanked me for my interest but suggested that I would be happier taking a class at the local YMCA.” But her cheque was never returned. Feeling downtrodden, Jim insisted they turn up at the class anyway. The pair were greeted by the instructor who asked Dottie if she had received his letter. Jim spoke up, pointing out that the cheque had technically been accepted, “I guess she’s a paid member of this class. Let’s go sit down, Dottie,” he told her.

Reflecting, she continues, “No one had mentioned that the instructor, ‘D. Frazier,’ would be a woman. Diving was strictly a man’s world, and it was almost unheard of for a woman to be a diver, let alone a scuba instructor.”

Despite her concerns, Dottie couldn’t wait. “I was so excited over the next four days that I could hardly sleep.” On the morning of the class, Dottie had given a talk dressed in a cotton dress, high heels and silk stockings. There was no time to change into something more casual before her first scuba class, so she powered on regardless, hoping her outfit wouldn’t aggravate the situation. She remembers the moment the doctor answered the door, noting his response: “Oh no, there must be a big mistake. I’m sure the others in the class would agree that we wouldn’t take lessons from a woman.” Dottie persuaded the doctor to let her stay, asking for a chance to talk to the group before they dismissed her. Desperate to convince them, she spoke confidently, “I can teach you far more than most instructors. I was raised on a boat from six years-old and I’ve taught swimming and skin diving since my teens.” The group let her teach the first half of the class. If they still weren’t happy afterwards, they would receive a refund and Dottie would find them a new instructor.