A farm born underwater, in the “Center of the Universe”

Orizaba: “Place of playing waters” (hispanized Aztecan)

Orizaba is the subtidal research diving site where Thom and Alia, the farmers of Orizaba Farm, first met. Orizaba is located on the northern coast of Santa Cruz Island in the Santa Barbara Channel, California. Santa Cruz Island was originally known as “Limuw” or “Center of the Universe” to the Chumash Nation of southern California. The Chumash believe that Creation started at Limuw. According to the Chumash, the Great Spirit created a rainbow bridge across the Channel from Limuw so that people could first colonize the mainland. Some people crossing the bridge looked down, got dizzy, and fell toward the sea. The Great Spirit changed them to dolphins before they hit the water so that they wouldn't drown – and that is how dolphins came to be.

Orizaba's name, which means “place of playing waters” in Aztecan, appropriately describes the strong ocean surges that meet and collide along its shallow, high relief rocky reef, sometimes producing a washing machine effect underwater, making for challenging and exciting diving. The reef community abounds with wildlife, including dense stands of algae, lush carpets of sea cucumbers, a tremendous diversity of invertebrates, multiple fish species, and even the occasional shark or bat ray passing by.

The convergence of serendipitous events that eventually led to the birth of Orizaba Farm began with a tiny sea cucumber called Pacythone rubra, and a marine ecologist known as “Rass” (Andrew Rassweiler). On October 15, 2004, Rass recruited both Alia and Thom to help him establish experimental research plots on Orizaba's reef, where he was studying alternate stable community states between P. rubra and the resident algae. While Rass was busy surveying his experimental plots along Orizaba's reef, an out-of-air emergency and some quick thinking resulted in Thom and Alia sharing a single air source and heading safely for the surface in a controlled, buddy-breathing ascent.

Although the three-minute, open water safety stop, and the ensuing long surface swim back to the boat were a harrowing, and somewhat embarrassing, first encounter, Alia and Thom shortly thereafter found themselves together again, watching the total lunar eclipse of October 27, 2004 from the top of the Santa Ynez Mountains north of Santa Barbara. From that moment on, Thom and Alia were inseparable.

Two years later, on December 2, 2006, Thom and Alia returned with Rass once more to dive at Orizaba Reef. This time, Thom surprised Alia by proposing to her underwater at this site where they first met. In September 2007, Alia and Thom moved to Bangor, Maine where they started Orizaba Farm, and where they were later married on August 2, 2008.