Captain Don Stewart, (born Donal A. Stewart; 1925 – May 30, 2014), was best known as Captain Don, ''The Father of Bonaire''. In the early 1950s, he invented and patented an "adapter for screen cloth" which is basically the frame for a screen door. He was also a story teller, an advanced

scuba diver Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chris ...

, an

environmental activist The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement), also including conservation and green politics, is a diverse philosophical, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues. Environmentalists advoc ...

and protector of the

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

s that fringe the coastline of

Bonaire Bonaire (; , ; pap, Boneiru, , almost pronounced ) is a Dutch island in the Leeward Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. Its capital is the port of Kralendijk, on the west ( leeward) coast of the island. Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao form the ABC i ...

, a small island in the

Caribbean Netherlands ) , image_map = BES islands location map.svg , map_caption = Location of the Caribbean Netherlands (green and circled). From left to right: Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius , elevation_max_m = 887 , elevation_max_footnotes = , demographics ...

where Stewart lived most of his life.

Early life

Don Stewart was born in the

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

area of California. His mother died when he was a young boy, and was raised by his father. He was diagnosed as

dyslexic Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, r ...

, dropped out of high school and at age 17, joined the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

shortly after the Japanese had bombed

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...

. He signed up for medical training while in the Navy, and by age 19, was serving as

Chief Medical Officer Chief medical officer (CMO) is the title used in many countries for the senior government official designated head of medical services, sometimes at the national level. The post is held by a physician who serves to advise and lead a team of medical ...

of the USS Persistent (MSO-491). He was later diagnosed with

lymphatic cancer Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). In current usage the name usually refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlar ...

and was discharged from the Navy.

Arrival on Bonaire

Stewart was penniless when he first arrived on Bonaire in May 1962 but quite eager to make things happen. A friend once quipped in an interview that, "no matter what Don tells you, the truth is he stayed in Bonaire because that's where his ship sank". Stewart was instrumental in opening Zeebad, Bonaire's first hotel and dive operation."Joel Simon", Bonaire's bountiful reefs", ''

Montreal Gazette The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...

'' (November 23, 1996), p. I-1, 3. It was built on property that was once a German detention camp, and over time, the hotel grew to become Divi Flamingo Beach Resort & Casino. In the late 1960s,

Irwin Hasen Irwin Hasen (July 8, 1918 – March 13, 2015) was an American cartoonist best known as the creator (with Gus Edson) of the ''Dondi'' comic strip. He also had a significant run on DC Comics' original Green Lantern, Alan Scott, in the 1940s as well ...

, who was a cartoonist with the

Chicago Tribune Syndicate Tribune Content Agency (TCA) is a syndication company owned by Tribune Publishing. TCA had previously been known as the Chicago Tribune Syndicate, the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate (CTNYNS), Tribune Company Syndicate, and Tribune Media S ...

at the time, had created the cartoon character "

Dondi Donald Joseph White, "DONDI" (April 7, 1961 – October 2, 1998) was an American graffiti artist. Biography Early life Born in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn, Dondi was the youngest of five children. He was of African American an ...

" which was published daily in more than a hundred newspapers. During a trip to Bonaire, Hasen met Captain Don, and created a segment in the Dondi comic-strip that illustrated Captain Don teaching Dondi how to scuba dive, and preserve the coral reefs.

Significance to Bonaire

After Stewart arrived on Bonaire, he realized the importance of protecting its fragile ecosystem, both above and below the ocean. He introduced permanent mooring systems to protect the island's fringing reefs, and spearheaded a campaign that banned spearfishing and tropical fish collecting on Bonaire. He named most of the dive sites on the island, and in 1976, founded a resort hotel of his own, and named it Captain Don's Habitat. He was inducted into the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame in 2005. Stewart became a Knight in the royal

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau ( nl, Orde van Oranje-Nassau, links=no) is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has ...

in 2008. One of Stewart's memorable quotes when greeting scuba divers to the island was simply, "Take only pictures and memories, leave only bubbles.” He was quite serious about not touching the corals or harming the fish, which led to the founding of Bonaire Marine Park.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Don Bonaire businesspeople Underwater divers American inventors American conservationists 1925 births 2014 deaths American sailors American environmentalists Knights of the Order of Orange-Nassau