It was well into the throes of the pandem- ic. I spent hours toiling away on my laptop, trying to drum up “other work” as a free- lance travel writer who could no longer freely launch herself out into the world. 

Had I heard about the diving on main- land Portugal? Serrao, the founder of boutique dive concierge Portugal Dive, wanted to know. 

I’d been diving in the Azores before, I told him, and had heard great things about Madeira too. But mainland Portugal as a dive destination?