(Reprinted with permission - Lake Country Sun)
By ANNIE COX
MEDIA NEWS SERVICE
Goldfinger
Tom Davis, owner and operator of Scuba Point at Possum Kingdom Lake, stands beside "Goldfinger" - the largest air tank filling station in the world. "This is the best thing I ever bought, and we should have put it behind glass for all to see," Davis says after more than 40 years in business.
(Photo by Sharon
Peters)
Scuba Point is the oldest business on the east side of Possum Kingdom Lake, and Tom Davis, 78, has been there for four decades.
Davis started where Villa Marina is now. He and a couple of diving club members came looking for a place to, lease and put in a ramp.
"At that time, BRA wanted to raise the dam, but Graham sued them because it would flood part of Graham and Graham won," Davis said.
Until then there had been no surveying done where Scuba Point is now. It's exactly a mile from the point to Villa Marina. "So when Graham won the suit and they couldn't raise the dam, BRA surveyed and I got the first lease," he said.
Davis worked here on weekends for a couple of summers, making more money on a weekend selling air at P.K. than at General Dynamics all week. He didn't start offering diving lessons until five or six years later, and he taught for more than 20 years.
"Right now you can't get enough students at one time to make it worthwhile. With enough students you can make good money with classes because you sell them a lot of gear, and of course, charge them for the tanks," Davis explained.
"I've been here a long time. I don't know of any businesses up here that haven't changed hands at least 10 times since I've been here. Me and Bobby Martin at Villa Marina have been here the longest," he said.
The first thing built at Scuba Point were the restrooms, followed by a 20
x 20 building. The whole shop, compressors and equipment were in that building
for a couple of early years.
Davis and his late wife Mary vacationed in Florida and Bimini in the winters. They spent a lot of time hunting shells and beach combing. He has a collection of beautiful Caribbean shells.
On one dive off Marathon, Fla., Davis turned over a rock and found a "black deal" about two inches long. He took it to the marine laboratory in Miami to see what it was since he had never seen anything similar. It was a black shrimp. They wanted it and told him to "try to get alive one." He got another one and turned it over to them, but he's never seen another one.
"P.K. Lake is the cleanest in the state," Davis observed.
It competes with Lake Travis as the state's best dive site. P.K. has 30 to 40 foot visibility. Hell's Gate is one of the more popular dive sites with a depth of 45 feet near the cliffs and 75 to 85 feet outside the gate.
Scuba Point is the only air station on the lake. The shop also has equipment sales, rentals and repairs.
There are several man-made objects in the water just offshore from Scuba Point. There's a truck, flat bed trailer, platforms and a 14 x 40 tube. The dive area is only about 75 feet from the shop. There's also a pool in the lake.
"In the old days it was simple and we had fun; nowadays they're scaring them to death," he said. "When we moved here we'd go down to the lake at night and we'd have to leave a lantern burning to get back. There wasn't a light in sight. Now it looks like a city when you're out there on the lake."
Asked about life as one of Possum Kingdom's senior citizens, Davis replied, "I wouldn't live in town, period. Traffic's terrible over there by Dallas."
About the biggest change the lake's experienced in his 40-plus years here, he replied, "Building up with all the houses and buildings. From here to La Villa there's a house on every lot. When we came here it wasn't even surveyed."
Scuba Point has the largest air station in the world, and it's called
"Goldfinger." The only other one Davis knows about is in San Diego, Califfornia.
It pumps 365 cf per minute. It only turns 170 RPM and is water cooled so
it doesn't overheat.
"The air coming out of that compressor before it's filtered is better than what I used to have after I filtered it. It was originally bought for an oxygen plant in Abilene and they ran it 24 hours a day for seven years. Best thing I ever bought," Davis said.
Davis also has a computer and goes on-line, and he recently bought a "fancy" microscope to study bugs and stuff.
At 78, Davis probably is the oldest "Hell's Gate Angel" around. He just bought a Honda Valkyrie, a motorcycle touted for its speed.
"I know it's the biggest," he said. "I've had motorcycles all my life. I started riding motorcycles when I had a paper route in Miami in 1936. 1 bought a Harley-Davidson for $ 100, rode it a couple of weeks and had to have it overhauled for $100."
Davis subscribes to a simple philosophy about his business and the kids who work for him: "Long as I can make enough to pay these kids and the bills, I'm happy."
Copyright - 1999 - Lake Country Sun