Published: Monday, May 3, 2004 at:12:46 AM




Dive Into the Bitter End


Bert Kilbride, second from left, Jean-Michel Cousteau, second from right, and the Kilbrides Sunchaser Scuba team.

When the Hokins came to Bitter End as new owners, there was another fellow knocking around in North Sound. Bert Kilbride, internationally famous diver, now known as the world’s last pirate, had settled on Saba Rock and was exploring the region, searching for the innumerable wrecks that have occurred over the centuries in the BVI. He was a pioneer in mapping the undersea geography of the BVI and has discovered 138 sunken ships off the reefs of Anegada. In 1964, he was officially appointed “Receiver of the Wrecks” by Her Royal Highness, Queen Elizabeth II and has also managed the Cousteau Society Project Ocean Search.

Myron Hokin invited his fellow adventurer Bert to teach guests how to dive and take them on excursions and Kilbrides Diving at Bitter End was born. Bert invented the world-renowned Resort course, which was adopted by PADI in 1978 and has since introduced thousands of people to the underwater realm.

In 1992, Bert sold his dive operation to his manager, Mike Van Blaricum, who still owns and runs the operation. Mike has a wealth of diving experience himself and did not alter the dive program that he and Bert had been using for years. He did add his 40-foot custom-built dive boat, Sunchaser, to the program, and the name of the operation changed to Kilbrides Sunchaser Scuba. Then in 2001, he added Miss Lavelle, a custom-built 38-foot Bradley that the team uses for private diving and sightseeing charters and creates even more opportunities to get under water.

The diversity of dive sites in the BVI is tremendous, from grottos to canyons to caves, walls and wrecks including the wreck of the RMS Rhone, among the finest wreck dives to be found anywhere in the Caribbean. The fish life is quite varied and colorful and there are some other wonderful things to see — lobsters, eagle rays, turtles, moray eels as well as nurse, black tip and lemon sharks.

There are four full time Dive Instructors who work at Kilbrides Sunchaser Scuba and teach an array of specialty courses and any dive course from the Introductory Resort Course right up to Divemaster certification courses. Just like the rest of the watersports staff, the dive team’s enthusiasm for introducing people to the fascinating underwater world in some of the best diving spots in the world is limitless.

Elaine originally hails from Scotland. She arrived in the BVI in 2000, fell in love with the BVI and cannot leave. She is a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer and previously worked in Kenya, Scotland and Turkey for three years for Europe’s largest dive center.

Prior to coming to the BVI in 2002, John worked in the Cayman Islands, Cyprus, Australia and Mexico. He is from England and is one of the PADI Staff Instructors.

Mark also joined Kilbrides Sunchaser Scuba in 2002. Mark is a NAUI Instructor Trainer and has worked in his native country South Africa, Malawi, England, Cyprus and Scotland.

The most recent addition to the staff, Chris, arrived in November 2003. He is a PADI Master Scuba Dive Master from England originally, and has worked in Thailand, Australia and Fiji.

And Bert Kilbride? He is now 90 years old and lives in St Petersburg, Florida, still actively diving, teaching disabled divers and doing salvage work. He still visits the BVI regularly and if you are lucky you can find him underwater on one of Kilbrides Sunchaser Scuba’s diving excursions, sometimes with his long time friend Jean-Michel Cousteau.