IF it is true that an ill wind must blow some good, then Hurricane Fabian blew an opportunity the way of Graham Maddocks and his team at Triangle Diving, their new aquatic enterprise at Grotto Bay.

Even in that relatively sheltered corner, waves crashed through the old dive shop, washing away desks, chairs, compressors and tanks. The previous owner was not interested in rebuilding that venture, so Graham bought the business out, and began to build on Fabian's dramatic clear-out.

"Out of disaster came an opportunity," Graham confirmed, sitting in the new classroom for learner divers at the dock by the bay. He is joined by friend and partner Deron Long, a Canadian with extensive experience of Bermuda's waters.

"The shop was completely wiped out," explained Graham, "and the owner wanted out. We put in a bid, and managed to work out a deal with him. It gave Deron and me the chance to build the dream dive shop.

"Deron had some unique ideas, we both had exacting ideas about what we wanted, and we were unwilling to compromise those ideas. We know what we want, and what we are going to do. We will spend what we need to, because as the saying goes, 'If you build it, they will come'. The feedback we have had already has been phenomenal."

Graham and Deron have already seen many of their ideas come to fruition. A new storeroom by the rebuilt and modernised dive shop holds tanks, compressors and other equipment, and a wide new deck has been built fronting the shop, and leading on to the dock. Dive boat rocks gently at its moorings at the end of the dock, resplendent in a new coat of paint.

Graham is an affable and very enthusiastic thirtysomething, and also an accomplished and experienced diver. Deron Long is a more reserved and thoughtful type, with years of experience of diving world-wide.

"I have been doing this for seven years now, and worked in Australia prior to coming here. I came to Bermuda to work for the previous owner just as the manager was leaving, so I was able to take the management position, and basically ran the shop for three years.

"That experience gave me the chance to think how it could be done differently and better. The building itself wasn't up to date. It was like being in a dive shop back in the Eighties.

"I think that, for us, the storm definitely was a blessing in disguise, because it gave us a chance to start from scratch. We have put in the classroom, rebuilt the office, and the storeroom for the compressors. We are still working on it, and may not be totally finished for another six months. We will get everything looking absolutely the way we want it to."

Graham confirmed that they were fully operational approaching the peak season.

"Except for the compressors, we are ready to go, and we have a man flying in to help, when all of the equipment comes in from overseas. We will be in absolutely full swing by the end of April, when the cruise ships start coming in."

Triangle Diving has developed a good relationship with the management of the Grotto Bay Beach Hotel, and are working to make that the premier destination for visiting dive enthusiasts, but its clientele comes from many sources.

"They come to us from quite a few different places: the St. George's Club, Grotto Bay, the cruise ships, and also from Pink Beach, Ariel Sands, generally the eastern hotels make more sense for our divers. If you look at the demographics, the typical diver is a male in his thirties, although there is a wide age range," Deron explained.

Graham added that divers generally fall into the income range most sought after by the Tourism Department and the industry.

"They are often people with a bit more disposable income. Diving is not an inexpensive sport anywhere, and particularly when you get into more technical diving, where they are dedicated and experienced, and will actively seek out a particular type of dive they are looking for, and will fly to a destination just because it offers that dive.

"Here in Bermuda, there has never been a really strong push to encourage people to come just for a dive vacation. People come for a vacation, and may dive just as one activity among many. We hope to change that."

Graham and his team are confident that they will develop a repeat visitor clientele, who will get to know them and work with them, and he points out that diving creates a special rapport.

"In diving, there has to be a lot of trust, that we will go to the best spots, and have their best interests in mind, and have the best equipment."

Deron points out that Bermuda is blessed with clean and clear water, and a special diving environment.

"The diving here is very diverse, with so many wrecks and extensive reef formations, but the 'banks' are interesting from a diving point of view, particularly for those interested in diving among pelagic fish, sharks, turtles, and other sea life. We often see whale sharks.

"There is so much here for recreational divers, and for those 'tech' divers who are trained beyond the scope of recreational diving, and would be certificated to allow them to do more challenging dives."

The present rules mandate that divers in Bermuda waters must not go deeper than 150 feet, but that rather arbitrary depth has been the standard for many years and does not take account of the quality of the most modern dive gear and equipment, or the experience of visiting divers who have gone deeper at other dive destinations.

Graham points out that there have been few Bermuda-based divers who had the experience or training to take people deeper, even if divers wanted to do so.

"The important thing is that we have the international training. Before you offer anything, you have to have the expertise. Before you can rewrite rules, or ask permission to do that, you have to have the training. We may be able to help rewrite the guidelines because there will be no one else on the island who does this type of thing or knows how to.

"It has to be done properly with the safety steps in place. The standards are written based on recreational diving, and 'technical diving' has never really been addressed here."

Deron added that the evolution of equipment and training meant that people were doing deeper and more challenging dives world-wide, and doing so safely.

Graham continued: "We didn't dream up 'tech' diving. This is going on all over the world. Bermuda is behind the times in this regard, and if we are going to be competitive in the diving world, we have to bring up these standards, and we have to offer more diverse diving.

"This is why Bermuda does not stand out as a dive destination. But that's not for right now. We hope to develop 'tech' diving here at some point in the future.

"We are not pushing depth for its sake, because there is nothing down there. Most Bermuda diving goes down 60 feet, and we are just saying that there is some unique diving past 60 feet, in the right places, and in a controlled environment, particularly on the 'banks'.

"Cayman pushes 'Stingray City' and 'the Wall' (a vertical drop-off). We don't have a 'Wall" per se, because our drop-off starts at 200 feet, but we have some places that are as unique or even 'cooler', but divers don't know about them, because we haven't promoted them."

visit by a group of European dive magazine journalists had highlighted Bermuda's need to market to the international diving elite. Triangle Diving acted as hosts of this Department of Tourism-sponsored party of four.

Graham recalled the visit: "They knew a lot about the unique diving we have here in Bermuda, that a lot of people here do not know about. For instance, Argus Tower, the old submarine listening post, a tripod with an old building on top which was cut off about 90 feet down, and attracts an amazing variety of sea life. People have photographed whale sharks out there, and leather-backed turtles, and some unique sea life.

"What the magazine people were saying is that people will fly to destinations to do a particular dive, will spend money to do a particular dive, stay in hotels until some special dive becomes available if there are weather problems, and will plan vacations around one special dive.

"They know Bermuda has special attractions for divers, with the sheer variety of aquatic life, and the diversity of that life with the change of seasons. The clarity of the water, for the North Atlantic, is excellent, particularly in the winter and shoulder seasons."

Deron and Graham believe that, properly marketed, rough winter and spring waters would not deter the most experienced divers, because they are used to more challenging conditions.

"It is a small disadvantage that we are in the North Atlantic, because the weather is unpredictable, but the visiting dive journalists never complained once, because they are used to these conditions," explained Graham.

Being experienced divers in Bermuda waters, both men confirmed that there had been a noticeable recovery of fish life since the fish pot ban was introduced 14 years ago, and stressed the importance to divers of a thriving marine life. Deron had noticed a great improvement in his four years, and Graham's memories went further back.

"Every year gets a little bit better. When I was doing some cable work with Ross Menzie, just before the ban on fish pots, we would be underwater laying cable, and see no fish. Literally, no fish. Now there's almost nowhere you can go without seeing fish, particularly parrot fish, even off the dock here, which you would never see eight or nine years ago. Bermuda is becoming more environmentally conscious, and the fish are coming back."

Graham has been in the water sports business for nine years at the East End, running a helmet-diving boat, which he still owns and operates, and running tour boats. He came back to Bermuda at 21, and worked for Charlie Greene and Ross Menzie, whom he cites as inspirational mentors, on their dive and parasailing boats.

"It was Charlie who introduced me to the watersports world, and because of him, I stayed with it. I left that after four years, and worked as a commercial diver with Doug Mackie, of Mackie Marine, who has now retired.

"He was a great inspiration for commercial work, and I credit Ross and Charlie and Doug for giving me the background I needed to stay in the business. From there, I started on my own in the watersports business down at the East End. Then this opportunity came along, and I just built on it. I just want to keep growing and building at this stage."

Triangle Diving is open seven days a week, weather permitting, in the high season. It advertises "Daily Two Tank Morning Dives, a Wreck Dive followed by a reef dive", an afternoon beginner dive, with no experience necessary, and a "One Tank Evening Dive, a wreck or reef dive, depending on weather conditions". Charters and snorkellers are welcomed and it offers cave walking and snorkelling guided tours, as well as the full range of PADI (Professional Association of Dive Instructors) certification courses. A one-tank dive costs $65 and a two-tank dive $95. Packages start at $170 for four dives to $390 for ten. Diving courses range from a $125 refresher to $900 for the rather impressive-sounding "Divemaster."

Helen Marks, Graham's sister, is the all-purpose business and administrative manager, looking after all facets of the enterprise.

"I do all of the bookkeeping and the payroll, track revenue by category, whether cruise ship or hotel business. Legal, accounting, secretarial, all of that. Graham and Deron are the idea people, and they are good at what they do. I keep the reins on them a little bit, tell them what I think we can do, especially in our first year, and keep them realistic, so they don't get out of control!"

has a law degree, and practised in the US, where she lived for 20 years. She is a Bermudian who moved home last year, and sounds happy to be here. She has an engaging personality, and a ready laugh, and is happy to be helping Triangle in its formative days.

"Graham needed someone to help him, so this worked really well for me, and my 14-year-old son will help out when he comes home from school in summer. We will train him to work the equipment, and the family will be together. I am pretty full-time right now, because there is so much involved when you are simultaneously starting a business, and rebuilding a business. It's only going to get busier."

With the help of scuba-certified diver Kevin Barnes, who will run the helmet-diving business and help out with the dive business, and Krista Viera, a 22-year-old divemaster who does everything from helping paint the boats to leading cave diving, Graham and Deron are looking forward to the season ahead. Deron sees some specific goals.

"Both recreational and specialist divers, our ambition is to take out some 250 people a week in high season. We want to increase the shoulder months, particularly between the time the cruise ships leave through November/December, because at that time of year, the weather is still quite good and the water still quite warm, and the water gets very clear again."

Graham is optimistic about improvement in these months, partly because of their location at Grotto Bay.

"We have a unique opportunity here in the shoulder months because of our relationship with the hotel. The management is working wonderfully with us, and it's a fantastic resort. It offers great quality and value for money. This is the type of business you don't grow in one year. It takes about five years to build up your clientele. You take out three people, and they tell four people, and four people come, and they tell eight people.

"We are working with the hotel right now to develop an all-inclusive dive vacation, where the divers will pay one fee which will cover their hotel stay and all of their diving. It is a team effort. We take care of their guests, and they take care of ours. We have their support, and they have our support. Grotto Bay is going to be Bermuda's foremost dive destination."

Graham concludes with a comment which applies to almost all endeavours ? business, political or personal: "It won't work unless we all work together."