The Trauma of Third World Medical Treatment

In our January issue of Undercurrent, we describe the difficulty of getting emergency medical care in Fiji. Here’s a story by one of our writers 36 years ago. Not much has changed, he says. Taveuni, New Year’s Day 1988, 6 AM, I woke up with acute appendicitis. The manager got me a “cab,” and we … Read more

Insurance Coverage for your Scuba Equipment

Purchasing scuba equipment is an investment in the sport. Not only can it save in cost over the long run, but it can also enhance your safety. Additional purchases beyond our basic gear, such as technical diving, underwater camera equipment, integrated dive computers, and diver propulsion vehicles, can bring our investment up considerably. It makes … Read more

The Adventures of Gilliam and Garth

— a remembrance of a great friend Bret Gilliam and Fred Garth were business partners from 1994 until 2004 when their publishing company was acquired by Petersen Publishing (Skin Diver, etc.). The two ran popular diving expeditions and were the first to take Draeger semi-closed rebreathers to places like Cocos Island, Palau and the Silver … Read more

Bret Gilliam

When I first met Bret, I disliked him intensely. My friend Rob Palmer, a self-effacing Englishman, had invited me over to the Bahamas for the launch of the Draeger semi-closed circuit rebreather and I found myself in the company of a group of loud-mouthed American technical diving pioneers, each competing with the other to hold … Read more