Page 20 - AlertDiver_Winter2013

DIVE SLATE //
Packing up after a scuba dive in Bali five years ago,
Colleen Gallagher heard a local guide lamenting
that he had nothing to take to the wake of a
relative who had died. Another diver grabbed his
spearfishing gear, jumped back into the water, and returned
shortly with two large fish, which he gave to the man.
“I was struck by the way one person helped another
without batting an eye. I started thinking about founding
a nonprofit to combine spearfishing with giving back to
the community,” Gallagher said. An ICU charge nurse
dedicated to helping others, she was instilled with a passion
for spearfishing by her now-deceased friend Bonnie Row.
Gallagher’s combination of these two abiding commitments
laid the foundation for Diving for a Cause. The first trip she
organized concluded with a donation of almost 500 pounds
of fish to an orphanage in Baja California.
Since then, Gallagher has organized other trips — to Greece,
New Zealand, Panama, the Bahamas, Costa Rica, Madagascar
and elsewhere — aiming for a trip every month. DFAC has also
returned to Baja, staying again at Palapas Ventana, a collection
of seaside casitas owned by Tim Hatler, who helped with the
first trip. Californian Eric Small, who previously worked for
Hatler as a divemaster, led one of those trips.
The spearfishermen took children from the local
orphanage snorkeling. “It was the first time most of them
had worn a mask and looked into the ocean,” Small says.
“Some of them were very shy, but they started having fun
and then we had to drag them out of the water.” On the
final day of the trip, the group formed a bucket brigade from
their vehicle to the orphanage freezer to deliver the donated
fish. “Passing it along that way, you got a sense of how much
we’re actually donating,” he adds. “It was several large coolers
full of some really nice fish.” The divers then ate dinner with
the kids and ended the evening with a soccer game.
Participants on DFAC trips always freedive. According to
freediving veteran and safety pioneer Dr. Terry Maas, “DFAC
18 | winter 2013
Fish for
a Cause