An Unlikely DCS Hit and Lessons to Learn

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 Tale of Two Photo Pros

Signing up for another professionally led photographic trip was not without hesitation. Some years previously, I had succumbed to the enticement of an Ocean Geographic trip to French Polynesia, which promised tutoring and mentorship in my growing interest in underwater photography. The entire idea smacked of an exotic photographic adventure that would liberate me from … Read more

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