The stories I tell include events I experienced myself, things I have observed happening to others and incidents that fellow divers tell me about. Many concern close calls, and some recount events in which a series of apparently minor issues combine to create a near-disaster.

This is one of those stories. It took place in the islands of south Penghu a couple of years ago while I was doing research for the Dive into Taiwan book.

Gray Quarry is located in Gray, Tennessee, midway between Kingsport and Johnson City. The quarry, which was on farmland owned by the Gray brothers, was leased to a gravel company, which mined it until the mid-1970s. Mining was stopped after digging cut into the local water table, temporarily drying up local springs as the pit filled to a depth of 70ft, creating a “swimming hole” that soon became an attractive nuisance. This prompted the brothers to sell the site to the person who later sold it to Debi and Wayne Bartley.

Further info

Matthew Jevon has posted some further advice on choosing a sidemount rebreather on his website.

Turning the wheel to the right at a crossroad, I heard a loudspeaker blaring a warning message straight out of a science fiction movie: “Precaución, you are entering a highly dangerous zone…” It clearly mentioned the alert level of Covid-19. I soon found ProTec Dive Center and The Basecamp hotel near the end of Avenida Satélite. “Oh, we have had this scary recorded message for months now. Nobody pays attention anymore. It’s pathetic!” exclaimed Kim Davidsson, the director of customer experience.

Jim first learnt to dive in his twenties. He then went to live on a tropical island for a couple of years and spent most of his weekends scuba diving. He did some technical diving courses and made a couple of long dive trips to exotic dive destinations. He was a diver and could not imagine ever not being a diver.