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John's favourite dives

John Gage is an interesting character – a man who has taken his experiences in the armed forces and parlayed them not just into a career in the dive industry, but has gone one step further to offer the disabled a chance to experience the magical world of Scuba diving.
 
Born in Wisconsin, John grew up in an extended military family and when the time came to decide his next step after school, he entered the family business, so to speak.
 
He began with four years in the Air Force, stationed in California. Trained as an aircraft mechanic, he had flown around the world four times by the time he was 22 years old.

He left the forces to take a break in his home state, but got itchy feet and rejoined the Services, this time in the Army where he became a Communications Specialist based in Germany. Four years later he left, this time for good. He returned to Wisconsin and signed up with the Army National Guard. He worked as a helicopter mechanic, truck driver, bartender, hotel maintenance supervisor and wound up wiring voice and data communications.
 
While with the Air Force, John became Open Water certified and later travelled to Florida to work his way up to Instructor level. He was so enchanted with the underwater scenery that he made his way to the Cayman Islands in 1999 and started working with Bob Soto’s not just as an instructor, but also as an all-around maintenance guy.

John stayed for a year before he went to Washington DC to open a communications office for a company he’d worked with in Wisconsin. He stayed up north for three years, but while in Cayman on vacation friends convinced him that this was where he belonged. He listened, sold all of his possessions and moved down permanently.

John got a job with River Sports Divers and was training at Fisheye before Hurricane Ivan hit. He had to leave the Island in the aftermath but missed being in the water.
 
When he returned he decided it was time to start his own company. Happy Fish Divers was born in February 2007 as a one-man operation with John teaching courses just offshore.
 
The business soon expanded, and now they have a fully equipped boat and location based beside Macabuca on the coast in West Bay. In the last quarter of this year they will have the first fully handicapped-accessible shore dive site in Cayman. It’s a dream come true for John, who is qualified to train quadriplegic, paraplegic, blind, deaf and amputee divers.

John loves showing people around his ‘office’ – even those who are scared or wary about diving. To see the wonderment on their faces once they see how amazing Scuba diving can be – that makes the job worthwhile every day. Passing on the passion is his mission in life.
 
Book with Happy Fish Divers today, and see how dreams can come true under the water for everyone; including those who thought it wasn’t possible.