The history of Kilbrides Sunchaser Scuba

From the log of S/V Never Monday
Passage Notes from John Ferguson and Diana Ruff

The British Virgin Islands

"Wanted: Underwater videographer with own video equipment willing to live and work in the British Virgin Islands...". The ad in the dive magazine was all that we needed to plan the next leg of our journey. We sent out a demo tape to the BVI and held our breath. Before long we were loading the boat and heading off to the sunny Caribbean for a year to work for a guy named Mike, at what was then called 'Kilbrides Underwater Tours'. We ended up staying nearly three years at a job that most people would pay to have!

I had first heard of Bert Kilbride and the British Virgin Islands while reading scuba magazines back in Montana. I knew that Bert had started the first dive operation in the BVI back in 1961 (which he subsequently sold before opening 'Kilbrides Divers' on Saba Rock in 1975), at a resort that he built in the North Sound of Virgin Gorda called 'Drake's Anchorage'. Bert (being 92 in 2006 - and more affectionately known as 'The Last Pirate of Caribbean'), was essentially one of the very first people to explore the waters around the many islands of the BVI and he began discovering quite a few old ship wrecks. Word of his discoveries quickly spread and in 1964 he was officially appointed "Receiver of the Wrecks" by Her Royal Highness, Queen Elizabeth II. This was due to the fact that he had already discovered 138 sunken ships off the reefs of Anegada, just north of Virgin Gorda.

One of the most interesting of Bert's finds was the remains of the ship's carpenter, Steve Kenyon, from the wreck of the R.M.S. Rhone, a Royal Mail carrier sunk by a hurricane in 1867 off the coast of Salt Island.  I used to love to give the dive briefing on the way to the Rhone and tell some of the stories Bert and Mike shared with me during evenings at the Pirate's Pub on Saba Rock, where Bert then lived. The R.M.S. Rhone is the most famous wreck in the entire Caribbean. It is where major portions of the 1977 movie, "The Deep" were filmed and Bert was responsible for recommending the site to the producers and he served as diving adviser during the filming. Bert's third wife, Jackie, was the stand-in / stunt diver for Jacqueline Bissett. I'm told there was quite a resemblance to the two women. The Pirates Pub was loaded with artifacts from many of the wrecks Bert had discovered and we would often point out Steve Kenyon's bones to many of our divers who would come by for a snack or cocktail after diving the 'Wreck of the Rhone'.

Around 1980 the television show "20/20" did a documentary on Bert Kilbride and "The Search for the San Ignacio", a treasure ship that was lost near Anegada. Bert took Hugh Downs and Geraldo Rivera to the reefs of Anegada in search of treasure. They found a new wreck but it unfortunately was not the San Ignacio. Sounds a bit like Al Capone's vault doesn't it?

In 1987 Bert received the "NOGI" award for sports education for inventing the 'Resort Course' (or 'Discover Scuba Diving' as it's now more commonly known by PADI). Bert and his old friend Jacques Cousteau were in a select group of people who received the award for Scuba Diving.

The current owner, Mike Van Blaricum, had been running dive charters in Florida for 15 years and had initially gone to St. Thomas (USVI) to escape the "cold" of the Florida Keys. He was doing a towing job after hurricane Hugo struck the islands when he located a new wreck. The discovery turned out to be a 400 foot freighter named "Wit Shoal"  that had been scuttled by its owners in the middle of the night. This site has now become a favorite for many St. Thomas dive operators.

He knew that he would not stay in St. Thomas forever and when he was introduced to Bert Kilbride in 1990, the mold was cast. Bert needed a new dive boat and someone to take over the running of the operation, Mike needed a more relaxed atmosphere and a more permanent location. With Mike's new 40 foot dive boat "Sunchaser" and Bert's vast knowledge of the area, it was a perfect combination and a new era began.

In 1992 with Bert being 78 and wanting to retire, he sold the 'Kilbrides Divers' operation to Mike, (which is when the dive operation started the move from Saba Rock to it's current location at the Bitter End Yacht Club) and later, Mike renamed the company to 'Sunchaser Scuba Ltd.'.

Both Mike and Bert enjoyed telling us stories of the early days of the partnership. I especially like the one about Mike's first dive on the wreck of the Chikuzen, a 320 foot Korean fishing boat. Mike got into the water to check the anchor and having done that, checked his air supply. He had not changed to a new tank since the last dive, and was close to empty. Not wanting to have Bert wonder about his diving skills, Mike simply buddied with Bert, "borrowed" his alternate air source and finished the dive with Bert by his side! Fortunately for Mike, Bert usually leaked more air than he ever used and didn't even know what Mike was up to until after the dive when Mike confessed.

Mike can be a hard person to work for some days as he is dedicated to running a tight ship in the most professional manner. Diana and I were impressed from the first day out and consider Mike's operation to be the best in the British Virgin Islands. In our three years there, we learned all the stories behind the dive sites, names of the fish and aquatic life found in the BVI. As the videographer, I had the pleasure of filming thousands of different people from all over the world and sharing with them some of our "working buddies." After a year as Divemaster, Diana was promoted to Dive Operations Manager.

While diving the Wreck of the Rhone twice a week, I was able to befriend several of the local inhabitants. One of these included a 6 foot green moray eel! I would search her out each dive and show her to our divers. After filming her for a while, I would slowly reach down and stroke her under her chin. This worked great for quite a while. One day she must have been in a bad mood and she decided that my fingers looked more like a meal than a friendly tickle. After an embarrassing trip to the emergency room in Roadtown, the nickname "Fingers Ferguson" seemed to have stuck. I still have all my digits but the scars do make for a great story!

During February and March, we often had whale sightings. On an afternoon dive just around the corner from the dive shop, Diana spotted a Humpback cow and calf while heading to the site. We shut the engine off and everyone was able to watch them play while the mother seemed to be teaching the calf how to breach or jump out of the water. The cow and calf became curious and slowly came closer and closer to the dive boat. The temptation was more than Diana could stand and she grabbed her fins and snorkel and quietly slid into the water. As forty feet of humpback whale slowly glided beneath her, Diana stared into the large eye of the mother whale. To celebrate the occasion, I bought her a small gold humpback whale which she has worn everyday since.

The diversity of the dive sites in the BVI is tremendous. From grottos and canyons to caves and walls, you can see it all. Some sites offer gardens of coral and sea fans while others offer huge boulders very similar to those at the famous Baths in Virgin Gorda. The fish life is very diverse and hardly a day went by that we didn't see something new.

Diana and I remember our time in the BVI fondly and consider working at Kilbrides Underwater Tours (now Sunchaser Scuba) one of the highlights of our journey around the world.  Mike and Amy will always be good friends and who knows, maybe when we are done sailing around, Mike will need a manager and we may be around to help him out...

John Ferguson and Diana Ruff aboard S/V Never Monday