Resorts for Divers with Disability

[danclem]

Hi SB'ers:

Don't know if you can help with this, but thought I would give it a try. By way of background I am a Seattle based underwater photographer and publisher.

Do you know any warm water dive resorts that are "disabled" friendly? One of my friends is an ex-special forces wheelchair athlete who is paralyzed from the waist down. His first, and to date only, warm water trip was in the Bahamas with me diving with UNEXSO last year. He had an absolute blast, especially since he did not have to be in a dry suit with a lot of weight. Up here we have a glorified wheelbarrow where we wheel him out and dump him unceremoniously into Puget Sound.

Anyway, ran into him at a talk I gave last week and he was really down. Again he was "shilled" on a dive trip. He lets folks know he is disabled, is told "no problem," and two or three days prior to departure he is informed that the resort can't handle him. Anyone have some ideas? He is a great guy, excellent diver, will travel anywhere, is an animal from the waist up, and very wheelchair mobile.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or ideas!

Cheers,

Dan Clements
425.418.8755
www.e-clements.com

 

[Imla]

I am sorry I can't help you with the warm water diving... But we sure would be happy to find som dive sites and a wheelbarrow should he ever be in Oslo, Norway and want to dive.

Good Luck, and hope you find what you are searching for.

 

[diversteve]

Divi Flamingo on Bonaire - Welcome to Divi Flamingo Beach Resort & Casino Bonaire - Divi Resorts

Divi Flamingo values special needs divers, and offers both wheelchair accessible custom dive boats and accommodations.

or Divetech/Cobalt Coast on Grand Cayman. They have HSA certified instructors on staff. I can't find the link I'm thinking of but there's some info on a Diveheart program done there a few years ago: http://www.divetech.com/files/Specials.htm#Diveheart

The only thing IDK how they get around is that there's a few stairs at Cobalt Coast from the dive shop to the dock - http://www.divetech.com/files/accompage.htm - but I'm sure they have it figured out. Often they shuttle divers over to their boats in a nearby marina so that may be it.

Your friend being ex-military should also contact: SUDS - Soldiers Undertaking Disabled Scuba

 

[herbdb]

The Plaza Resort on Bonaire hosted a group of wheelchair bound divers when I was there last year. Try there. You might also contact this group. International Association for Handicapped Divers | Hero's | SCUBA.

 

[KeithG]

Divi Flamingo on Bonaire - Welcome to Divi Flamingo Beach Resort & Casino Bonaire - Divi Resorts

Our last trip to divi in jan was just before a group of disabled divers were scheduled to arrive. The divers were from Canada, not sure the name of the organization.

One of the divers had arrived early and dove on our boat one afternoon. The diver used a divi dm (Ruud) to propel himself underwater.

The diver used a motorized wheelchair on land and was able to access the dock and boat without any issues. The staff and resort seemed properly prepared to accommodate the disabled diver.

---------- Post added March 10th, 2013 at 10:37 PM ----------

Our last trip to divi in jan was just before a group of disabled divers were scheduled to arrive. The divers were from Canada, not sure the name of the organization.

One of the divers had arrived early and dove on our boat one afternoon. The diver used a divi dm (Ruud) to propel himself underwater.

The diver used a motorized wheelchair on land and was able to access the dock and boat without any issues. The staff and resort seemed properly prepared to accommodate the disabled diver.

The organization is called freedom at depth. Freedom at Depth Canada, Scuba Diving for people with disabilities

 

[diversteve]

There's also: Handicap Scuba Association

 

[MooreaMike]

Contact Diveheart for more general information, also. Look for their Facebook page. Diveheart has "prepared" several resorts and boats. Including trained HSA buddies as local divemasters.

Also, Some of us are currently assembling a cloud database for divers with adaptive needs to help,ensure this does not happen when they try to travel mainstream and not require a facilitation agency such as Diveheart, Achilles Divers, Eels on Wheels, etc to travel along. W

With more specific destination info., I/we can recommend locations globally for not only the diving operations but also the Accomodations and local transportation. Our pilot non-USA located program is just being established in the next few weeks.

for,example, I am in Roatan currently checking out dive operation/resort compatibility for adaptive needs.

Operations leading in this are in Cozumel, key Largo, cayman, Bonaire, and a couple of others. Don't overlook the rest of the local factors.

 

[danclem]

Thanks so much for the assistance!

@ Imla: Oslo ville være morsomt!
@ Diversteve: Will definitely check it out.
@ Herbdb: Excellent, will give them a call.
@MooreaMike: Thanks for the info. Looks like we will have several new options.

 

[c5diver]

i am a c5 quad and have dove with dive paradise and hotel cozumel many times.

 

[Necklinsberg]

Coco View on Roatan had a wheel chair diver when we were there in December.
I saw him on the boats a couple of times, but he wasn't in our group so I don't have any particulars or details other than a ramp was built into the clubhouse for access