Written by Janet Keeler, Visit Florida: Accessible Travel
Capt. Mick Nealey is a man on a mission. And that’s to get people out on to the water to fish, snorkel, swim or maybe just sightsee, no matter their physical abilities.
Nealey is the owner of Tranquil Adventures in Key Largo and he is what you could call a full-service proprietor. He answers the phone, books the trips, loads the boat, drives the boat and washes it all down when the excursion is over.
In the middle of all that, he’s fishing guru and Florida tour guide. The idiom “chief cook and bottle washer” might have been coined for him.
All of this goes toward his desire to see “active disabled Americans” enjoy what he does about Florida, especially the Keys: swimming in blue-blue water, snorkeling the reefs and especially fishing. But maybe more than any of that, he said, he wants to give people back some of the joy that may be missing from their lives.
He does this aboard his 30-foot fiberglass trimaran, a multi-hulled pontoon boat that is stable enough to accommodate a 400-pound motorized wheelchair. “I have had people come from all over the world because they can’t find a boat that will take the heavy wheelchair,” he said. The boat is as yet unnamed because he’s planning a naming fundraiser.
His non-profit efforts have received funds from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation and the Woody Foundation, both organizations dedicated to improving the quality of life for people with mobility challenges. In addition, Mercury donated an engine and some other equipment. The company also produced Unbound, a five-minute video on Nealey and Tranquil Adventures.