KEY LARGO, Florida Keys -
The two people sitting in wheelchairs on the
deck of the 30-foot boat Tranquility are not
spectators. They are partially garbed in dive
gear, waiting for the boat to anchor at one of
Key Largo's shallow-water reefs.

Soon a dive buddy, certified by the
Handicapped Scuba Association (HSA), will help
put on the rest of their equipment - including
weight belt, buoyancy compensator, mask and
snorkel.

Fins are not necessary. The divers have no
use of their legs.

Instead, they will wear webbed gloves to help
them move and stabilize in the water. More
importantly, they will put their complete trust
in their HSA-certified dive buddy.

In Key Largo and throughout the Keys, water
sports attractions, from kayaking to snorkeling,
diving and fishing, are becoming more accessible
to handicapped vacationers.

"With significant injuries or disabilities,
only about one out of five people attempt to
resume a near-normal lifestyle," said Bill
Gordon, a dive instructor and licensed boat
captain who lost his leg in March 2000.

Gordon was helping another dive operator fill
scuba tanks with air. Without warning, an
80-cubic-foot aluminum tank exploded. The blast
took out the wall of the concrete barrier where
the tank was being filled. It also blew Gordon
out of the fill room and took off his left leg.

A year later, Gordon returned to diving.

Gordon is part of a small but growing group
of water sports operators working to make the
Keys more accessible to the disabled. For more
than 23 years, Gordon operated Admiral Dive
Center in Key Largo. He closed the store a few
years ago and now books dive trips and training
sessions through a small office located near his
home.

With his wife Susan taking on the
responsibilities of running the commercial dive
operation, Gordon has formed a nonprofit
organization called Admiral Handicapped Scuba
Adventures to focus on training the handicapped
to dive and learn to enjoy the variety of water
sports available in the Keys.

One of his first tasks has been to recruit
facilities, build a Keys-wide network of hotels
and motels, restaurants and bars, fishing and
diving charters, kayak tours - any water sport
that can be adapted to serve disabled
vacationers.

In the Upper Keys, three dive operators have
already started to accommodate disabled divers.
Captain Slate's Atlantis Dive Center, mile
marker 106.5 oceanside in Key Largo, offers a
Tried Scuba introductory course sanctioned by
the International Association of Handicapped
Divers. The in-water training takes place at
Jacobs Aquatic Center in Key Largo. The facility
has a heated therapy pool equipped with a ramp
for wheelchair entry.

Captain Mick Nealey, an experienced Keys
captain and guide, and victim of polio at age 2,
operates an Americans with Disabilities
Act-compliant boat in Key Largo to take disabled
vacationers diving, snorkeling and fishing.

Gordon also uses an ADA-compliant boat while
he is refitting his 65-foot dive boat for use by
disabled divers. Certified by the Professional
Association of Dive Instructors (PADI), Gordon
guides new divers on PADI-sanctioned Discover
Diving expeditions from classroom to pool to
reef. He is also an instructor for the
Handicapped Scuba Association, the oldest
organization training disabled divers and
certifying dive masters as "dive buddies" to
accompany disabled divers.

But his greater goal is to open the entire
stretch of islands from Key Largo to Key West to
disabled vacationers.

"I was always the type who'd open the door
for a little old lady," said Gordon. "Now they
open the door for me. But they can't open it any
better than I can because I have strength and my
mobility is pretty good."