"Something's different here," the average vacationer would think if they walked onto the Divi Flamingo Resort dock in Bonaire this week. That's because September 2003 is the 19th consecutive year that Handicapped Scuba Association (HSA) members gathered here for a week of wheelchair-friendly scuba diving in Paradise! The brainchild and life's work of Jim Gatacre, pictured below right, the HSA was founded in 1981. There are now over 50 HSA Course Directors worldwide, training scuba instructors to certify divers with paraplegia, quadraplegia, blindness, or other disabilities. The HSA is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation and donations made to us are gratefully accepted and tax deductible.
Paul is very proud to have been trained and certified by the founder of HSA, Jim Gatacre. Himself disabled by partial paralysis of his right arm, Jim's passion for barrier-free living has opened a whole new world for hundreds of people with various disabilities. Read his online profile by People Magazine here.
Additional assistance and training, including Paul's first open water dive, was provided by the energetic and gregarious HSA instructor, Carl Schori. Jim Gatacre describes Carl thus:
"Carl, an HSA Instructor for about 8 years, he has been on our trips ever since he was certified with us. He is a world traveler, white water kayaker (class 5, serious stuff), lives on 27 acres, completely independent, has his own water, and 97% of his energy is from photo-cells [the Sun]. He is a welder, builder, electrician, black smith, etc. Excellent diver, very aware of people's needs, he did a great job getting Jennifer Epping past her fear of mask removal, did a great job with Paul too."