When you walk into Duggan's Dive Shop your mind goes into sensory overload. The shop is in a non-descript strip shopping center in a non-descript military suburb of a large southwestern military town. It's obvious from the exterior, the shop is a small place so your mind set's you up for the beginning of several mental gotcha's.
The first surprise is when you walk in the door. The place is small yes, but cram packed with every sort of diving gear imaginable. Several animated conversations are going at once. Customers are talking to staff. Customers are talking to customers. Staff is on the phone with customers. The air is charged with anticipation. You can sense the pre and post trip excitement. It's in the shop atmosphere so thick you can almost smell it.
This is a happy place. This dive shop is a place where people come to mix with their peers as much as purchase or rent gear. The people are talking about past dives, future dives, wish I could and wannabe dives and even equipment. Colonel Duggan, "call me John", is explaining about his most recent trip. Or maybe recommending equipment to someone about to embark on either their first lesson. Or explaining the next big adventure trip. He gets lots and lots of questions.
As my wishes are known I am ushered into the back office for an opportunity to speak with the man himself. John Duggan is an interesting guy. He retired from the Air Force in June of 1991 with over thirty years of service. He knew he wanted to pursue his Scuba diving and opened his shop that same year. He mentioned it would take him three times as much money now.
But as busy as John is from a diving perspective he is certainly not one dimensional. He is also John Duggan the Author. Duggan has written a mystery entitled "The Salem Express". Wouldn't you know it is about a ship that sinks with the help of some bad guys and their weapons of mass destruction. He says the title comes from an actual ship wreck but the plot is all his own.
The Colonel is no one hit wonder. He's just too busy with all his dive activities to get his second and third books written. They are written in his head he's just not had the time to lay them on paper. He has the plots laid out for three more books. One will have a Polish detective as a central figure.
Back to the Colonel's dive shop and activities. After our interview session, I was invited to attend his evening SCUBA class. The swimming pool pictures your seeing are from that visit.
The first thing you notice about the shop is so much of the activity surrounds dive travel. So many far, far away places that it messes with your mind. I like world geography but trying to remember the places he's been is almost impossible. The Colonel rattled off a quick list. It was long but I still had the feeling he was leaving a few out. The list is not his personal travel history. These are places he has taken divers. His groups are filled with people from all over the country. His reputation far exceeds the San Antonio base. After you read his travel list you will understand why.
John Duggan's favorite dive sites are:
The Galapagos Islands with all it's odd critters.
The island of Truk with it's many ship wrecks.
From there he has so many favorites it's hard for him to choose. Here's his "quick" list.
Cabo San Lucas, Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Libya, Greece, Turkey, Tunisia, Malta, Egypt, Pemba of Tanzania, Australia, New Guinea, Indonesia, Figi, Tahiti, the Philippine Islands, Malaysia,Thailand, Yap, Palau, Guam, Okinawa, the Honduran Bay Islands, Ecuador, Cozumel, Belize and Costa Rica.
I can't imagine anyone diving all those places. Some I wouldn't visit without a huge military escort but he seemed to think nothing of it.
Whew ! On every trip he is the group photographer and videographer. For the past twenty years he has been giving away a trip video to all participants. What a great idea!
The colonel and his staff are, excuse the pun, "deeply" involved with an outfit called "The Center for the Intrepid". This is a program put together at the Brooks Army Medical Center for the military who are dealing with wounds, burns or amputations. Colonel Duggan offers SCUBA courses for the folks involved with the Intrepid program. These and other courses are taught at various pools including Brooks and Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio.
The Colonel like deep diving and uses something called a re-breather. I don't understand how it works but I'm think they use a mixture of gases and recirculate the "air". This type equipment is necessary for deep dives due to the amount of time consumed and the limitations brought about by normal air tanks. When I asked the Colonel just how deep is deep, I thought I would fall out of my chair. This gray haired, pony tail wearing, pushing seventy guy is diving to depths of well over four hundred feet. He casually mentioned his deepest dive was four hundred and seventy five feet.
Holy Cow, Harry ! I can't begin to imagine how much pressure it places on your ear drums and body. When I am fishing chest deep the water pressure tries to crunch my feet. And I wear fairly hard wader shoes. Dang !
And that's Colonel John Duggan. He's half Irish and half Polish, must be that combination that makes the man what he is...retire again...well maybe...some day. I seriously doubt it. He's just having way too much fun.
To contact:
Colonel John Duggan, USAF, Ret.
www.duggandiving.com
duggandive@aol.com
Duggan Diving Enterprises
210-658-7495
San Antonio, Texas
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Richard von Trapp and John Duggan |
Thanks for reading and don't forget to let us know if you have someone we should write about.
john@commimage.com
www.commimage.com
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