PIRATES TRAIN 6 DISABLED TO SCUBA, PREPARING FOR TRIP TO CAYMANS

The Dive Pirates foundation, a non-profit organization of scuba diving enthusiasts that sponsors those with disabilities, some of whom are recently injured and are rebuilding their lives after serving their country in Iraq, will leave for Cayman Brac June 7 with 6 recently-trained adaptive scuba divers, 3 returning adaptive divers, along with 38 certified divers as diving buddies, family members and supporters.

“This is the 4^th annual trip, with a total of 53 people headed to the Brac Reef Resort for a week of fun; and what is most rewarding to me is to see past students come back year after year, we’ve given them an outlet to explore a sport with their families, with able-bodied divers, and its become a part of their life,” explained foundation co-founder Barbara Thompson. 

“The returning adaptive divers offer a different dimension of support to our new students, who, on this trip, will be diving in the open water for the first time and finishing their certification as scuba divers, and from here on out can dive at any resort or location around the world,” said Sophie Wimberley, foundation co-founder.

Two of the soon-to-be certified adaptive divers are Dawn Halfaker, US Army retired (amputee) and Timothy Jones, USN retired (quadriplegic).  Jones was trained in his now hometown of Houston, while Halfaker, a resident of Washington, DC, was introduced to scuba with the Dive Pirates at The Dive Shop in Memphis, TN.

Other new adaptive divers who will be going to the Cayman Brac for their first open-water dive are Kelley Knight, paraplegic of Corpus Christi, TX, Eric Lantz, paraplegic, of Houston, TX, and they trained recently at W.W. Diving in Humble, Texas along with Timothy Jones.  W.W. Diving joined the foundation this spring as a SSI facility supporting the cause.  New Mexico Scuba Center of Albuquerque, NM trained a double amputee, Veronica Padilla; while Nathan Gonzalez, USMC, retired, of Boerne, TX is being re-trained at Dive Masters of San Antonio, TX.

Returning adaptive divers are Shawn Unruh, USMC retired (paraplegic) of Albuquerque and Leland Walker, USN retired (quadriplegic) of Albuquerque.  Peter Gamble, USN retired of Tucson is a paraplegic diver joining the group for the second time after discovering Dive Pirates through its Web site.

Reef Divers, the dive operator in Cayman Brac, is now a Universal referral destination for Adaptive Dive Training with 6 of its staff members trained as SSI Adaptive Instructors. The Brac Reef Resort will be home for the Dive Pirates for the week; whose management has secured a tight relationship with the foundation and reserves the complete resort for the adventure.

This trip, coined “Pirates Gone Brac,” is possible due to generous donations of those attending the 4^th Annual Pirates Ball, the foundations’ key fundraiser, and a generous grant from ABB. Gardiner Henderson, Dive Pirates Foundation board member and a Group Vice-President at ABB secured the grant for the foundation.

“This is a cause I truly believe in and I was happy to convince ABB to grant the monies to help these vets,” Henderson said.

On a separate trip planned later this summer, the Dive Pirates Foundation will return to Cayman Brac to train a local “Bracker,” an energetic 14-year-old with spina bifida, Rick Dixon.  The foundation will provide all equipment and training for him and 3 diving companions who are teachers at the teen’s school.          

In keeping with its commitment to give back to men and women who serve in the armed forces, the Dive Pirates Foundation recently joined America Supports You, a Department of Defense program to showcase and communicate America’s support of the military.   More than 300 non-profit organizations have joined the program to pool their resources and network in an effort to assist more military men and women and their families.