My youngest daughter, Persia, first expressed an interest in learning to dive while we were on holiday at Taba in Egypt. She was then only nine-years-old. Notwithstanding that, I entrusted my old friend Mohammed Ali, the manager of the AquaSport dive centre, with looking after the well-being of our little girl. He is a highly … Read more
I am the Head Diver for the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office Dive Unit, south of San Francisco. We are losing folks; they are aging out and retiring. We are not tough guys, but many recreational divers don’t want to do this type of dirty water diving. We need volunteers and a few paid divers. … Read more
A funny thing happened on the way to Tubbataha. On May 6, I landed in Manila, Philippines, to join a dozen diving friends for five days of land-based diving at Crystal Blue dive resort; then we were to move on to Puerto Princessa to spend a week on the liveaboard Solitude One, diving one of … Read more
— 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
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
