One of the things about attending these shows is indeed the people you meet, especially the legends and pioneers of scuba. Because of the age range (and there are a delightful number of children in attendance), certain men and women were in the truly early days of scuba when technology was very limited. The entrance to the show has large-size photos on display of “Legends of the Sea”, many of whom are no longer with us, yet advanced the knowledge and understanding of scuba throughout their lives.

An individual who is very much still with us is Nuno Gomes. He was in the same presentation room as we were in, but on at an earlier time. Then by chance we were at the bar together at the hotel and I did not initially recognize the name. You can Google him to see the YouTube  videos that are amazing as he has gone around the world setting a variety of depth records. From Wikapedia: “He is the holder of two world records in deep diving (independently verified and approved by Guinness World Records), the cave diving record from 1996 to 2015 and the sea water record from 2005 to 2014.” Yeah, diving below 1,000 feet will get you into the records books.

Why, you may ask? Part of it is the, “Because it’s there”, and part of it is the incredible drive of certain individuals who want to stretch themselves to whatever particular boundary they choose to engage in; to say, “I don’t know, let’s see if we can’t go beyond that.” This is not some daredevil, thinly disguised death wish, but rather a carefully thought out reasoning of how to push and demonstrate human ability supported by technology. Aside from being an amazing diver, he’s an interesting guy to have a drink with.