Dive centers are at the heart of preparing these courageous divers for their journey.
by Jeff Cinciripino, JeffCinciripino.com, Former Owner of Scuba Shack, Rocky Hill, CT
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THE DIVE COMMUNITY has many opportunities to get together and share their passion for the underwater world. Whether at a local dive club meeting, a consumer scuba show, or at our trade association DEMA Show, engaging with others is an essential part of our industry. One very special organization, Dive Pirates, creates an extraordinary event that brings all elements of the dive industry together to create an environment of inclusiveness for scuba divers with physical disabilities.
Each year, Dive Pirates select multiple individuals with physical disabilities to participate in scuba diving training. The organization funds training for each recipient and the recipient’s buddy at one of its affiliated dive center chapters. The culmination of the program is participating in the annual Dive Pirates trip. That is where the entire industry comes together. Local dive centers from around the country, independent instructors, product sponsors, dive resorts, training agencies and a bevy of volunteers from all corners of the U.S. join forces to make for an incredible week of diving and personal enrichment.
This year a group of adaptive divers, their buddies, instructors, volunteer divers and dive pirate supporters totaling 77 people arrived at Divi Flamingo Resort in Bonaire. The Divi Resort pulled out all the stops to accommodate the needs of the group and to ensure everyone had a terrific stay. Additionally, Divi Dive created a safe and secure operation running four boats to handle the needs of the adaptive divers. For Dive Pirates Week, Divi Dive, headed by Sarah Cann, closed all other diving at the resort to make sure her entire dive team at Divi Dive had a laser focus on the Dive Pirates group. This is a great example of how this segment of the dive industry came together.
Each Dive Pirate’s trip combines a group of adaptive divers consisting of the current year’s recipients and their buddies along with past awardees. 2026 featured six recipients from Nebraska, Nevada, Texas, Michigan and Virginia. Additionally, there were seven returnees for a total of thirteen adaptive divers.
Dive centers are at the heart of preparing these courageous divers for their journey. At Diventures in Omaha, Dave Dietze has trained adaptive divers since 2013 as that location is one of the original Dive Pirates training dive chapters. Dave had one 2026 recipient participate this year plus there were three other Dive Pirate returnees that Dave had trained joined the trip. Dave is a truly dedicated instructor who enables possibilities.
Dive Masters of San Antonio is another dive center making this adventure possible. Dr. Dan Murray, owner of Dive Masters, is a retired Air Force colonel specializing in aerospace medicine. Dr. Dan brings a unique perspective to the dive industry and innovative techniques for training leveraging his medical expertise. He started working with Dive Pirates in 2022 after joining Dive Masters to focus on using scuba in rehabilitation for physical trauma. Dan’s passion and energy rubs off on everyone and he plans to continue to train a new Dive Pirate each year.
Four other Dive Pirates chapters and their instructors were instrumental in preparing this year’s recipients for the trip. They included Capital City Scuba in Lansing, Michigan, with instructor Amber Iszler; Las Vegas Scuba Academy in Las Vegas, Nevada, with instructors Jose Garcia and Jason Layne; Davy Jones Explores in Houston, Texas, with instructor Gillian Tilbury; and Patriot Diving in Occoquan, Virginia, with instructor Roger Shields. On Bonaire, Dive Pirate instructors, Carl Fago, Hellen Armstrong, and Gregg Wentworth stepped up to work with the newest scuba divers.
One way that Dive Pirates keeps adaptive divers diving is through scholarships that bring past recipients on the trip. These included the Suzy Fago Memorial Scholarship, the Brandes Family Scholarship and the Bert and Ann Shearer Family Scholarship. The partnerships Dive Pirates has developed within the dive community allowed three divers to participate in a week focused simply on enjoying diving.
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Dive industry businesses also step up to support the Dive Pirates trip. Businesses such as Lita’s All Natural provide insect repellent and bite-relief products, while Just Add Water Solutions (JAWS) donates QuickPACK drawstring backpacks and Quick Spit antifog spray. These products are added to the pirate booty that everyone receives prior to the adventure.
Community members and sponsors also provide support. Individuals like Bob and Nettie Evans sponsor the lanyards that hold the name tags of the pirates. Every individual also gets a logo’d long-sleeve UV rash guard sponsored by a number of businesses including Police Fire Dive in Florida, PlayScapes in Wisconsin, Team BS in Texas, and 9 Little Piggies BBQ in Tennessee.
Last but not least, there are the individual scuba divers and other volunteers who dedicate their time and energy to act as dive buddies and shore support for the week. It takes a community effort to ensure that the adaptive divers are not only safe and secure in the water but also have fun and experience the same incredible environment that many of us may sometimes take for granted. This is their week to be like all of us – scuba divers.
There are many examples in the diving industry where the entire community pulls together on a common mission. Each year Dive Pirates continues to set the bar for bringing all elements of our sport together while expanding the underwater world to those who no longer see disabilities and see possibilities.
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