Best of the Fest Explorers & Adventures feature, ‘The Last Dive’
Published 1:30 am Monday, May 18, 2026
Submitted by the Friday Harbor Film Festival.
Friday Harbor Film Festival’s Best of the Fest Series continues with another powerful, inspiring documentary, “The Last Dive,” which will be shown Friday, May 22, at 7 p.m. at the San Juan Island Library and Lopez Center for Community and the Arts. A pre-recorded interview with director Cody Sheehy will follow the screening. Free and open to the public, no ticket or RSVP is required. Details are available at fhff.org.
“The Last Dive”
“The Last Dive” follows Terry Kennedy — Vietnam veteran, former Hell’s Angel, liveaboard sailor and unlikely conservationist — on one final expedition to a remote island in the Pacific. His mission: to find Willy, a 22-foot oceanic manta ray who was his closest companion for nearly two decades. Their friendship began in the 1980s off the coast of Baja Mexico, when Willy slapped a wing against the hull of Kennedy’s sailboat and refused to leave until Kennedy jumped in. From that first ride across the ocean floor, a bond formed that neither time nor distance could erase.
Year after year, Willy would return — announcing himself with a bang on the hull, then carrying Kennedy on his back through the depths. Kennedy, in turn, became Willy’s devoted advocate, helping secure protected marine status for the island and its manta population. Then one day, Willy simply vanished. Kennedy never got to say goodbye.
Now in his 80s, Kennedy makes one last attempt to find him — navigating open ocean, aging joints and the weight of a life fully lived. “The Last Dive” is a visually stunning film about friendship, the healing power of the ocean and the things we search for before we say goodbye.
Cody Sheehy, director
Cody Sheehy isn’t just the filmmaker behind “The Last Dive”— he’s part of the same world the film inhabits. Right now, he’s anchored in the Sea of Cortez aboard his 47-foot cutter-rigged sailboat, not far from where Kennedy still lives in Loreto, Baja. He got his scuba certification at Oregon State University during a winter term in the Hood Canal — snowing, near-zero visibility — and he was completely hooked by the end of it.
The Best of the Fest Series
Each month through September, Best of the Fest presents award-winning documentaries along with Q&As with the films’ directors and subjects. Programs begin at 7 p.m. All Friday Harbor programs will be at the San Juan Island Library. Lopez Island programs will be at the Lopez Island Grange, Lopez Center for Community and the Arts or at the Lopez Island Library. Since they’re on Fridays, they are a great “date night” activity. Mark your calendar for “Snake and the Whale” at the SJI Library and the Lopez Center for Community and the Arts. Check the full schedule at fhff.org.
“The Last Dive” is presented as part of the 2026 Best of the Fest Series, with support from the 2026 Best of the Fest In-kind Sponsor: The Journal of the San Juan Islands and 2026 Best of the Fest Series Presenting Media Sponsor: CascadePBS.
