How I Came to Own a BVI Dive Business
By Nancy Read
In 1985 Nancy Read came to the British Virgin Islands with her family to open a dive business. At the time, the BVI’s spectacular reefs offered divers a window into a magical underwater kingdom filled with majestic corals, colorful sponges and seafans. Parrot fish, sergeant majors, and sea horses are among the many charming underwater creatures that make their homes within the reefs. Nancy shares her journey as a New Yorker with a teacher’s degree to co-owner of a Road Town based scuba diving business.
How My BVI Adventure Began
Trying to piece my life together is like putting together a jigsaw. I’m looking for clues of my whereabouts in cancelled passports from the 80s and 90s to figure out a timeline. You see, somehow a sweet elementary school teacher from Long Island, NY, became Director/Secretary of a scuba diving company in the British Virgin Islands! How did this happen?
It started when I graduated from a NY State teacher’s college in a market saturated with teachers. The year was 1976. I waitressed for a while and finally decided to work for Delta Airlines in the reservations department.
At least I would have travel benefits!
A couple of years into the job, I came to the British Virgin Islands on a short vacation and at Village Cay Marina in Road Town, met Gordon, the man of my dreams! An Englishman of Romany Gypsy background, Gordon lived on his sailboat and wanted to find a new life away from the UK.
After spending time aboard his Stonington 42’ ketch, I left Delta and launched into a new life, living and traveling on a yacht in the Caribbean. We visited St. Marten, St. Barts, and south to Antigua. My new life was exciting and full of adventure.
Gordon had been a dealer in heavy plant and machinery in the UK and was very interested in the marine side of the business. He had dealt with Swedish equipment in the past and decided we would go there for a year or two to earn a few “quid.” We lasted one year. After giving birth to our first child, Melissa, we decided the BVI was the place for us.
Getting to the BVI
Gordon read boat magazines and newspapers constantly, he knew every ship
and who was selling it and at what price. He was a dealer before the internet, always buying and selling for a profit. This time, he bought a 65’ steel harbour buoy tender which we would sail to the BVI and open a dive business. The fact that neither of us could dive wasn’t important. We would get her there and work that out later.
Our goal was to be the first all day dive business, with additional services offered, such as salvage and towing. Our new vessel could satisfy both the recreational aspect of diving and the commercial side of salvage and towing.
We left Sweden and brought the boat to Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, to prepare her for the voyage. She had a galley, a huge main salon, and two cabins, the forward one was converted into a safe space for the baby. Gordon welded a mast onto the foredeck so she could waddle across the ocean. He bought used sails and adapted them to the boat. He attached 50 gallon drums of fuel to the railing.
We set off at the end of October, 1984. After crossing the Bay of Biscay, we continued on to Portugal, fell in love with the small fishing village of Quarteira and decided to stay there until Melissa got her sea legs.
Finally, in December, 1985, we departed for the Canary Islands. Pregnant with our future son, I left Gran Canaria and flew to NY to spend time with family, and Gordon sailed the boat to the BVI with a couple of Danish sailors as crew.
I Arrive in the British Virgin Islands
I flew to the BVI where I stayed with friends on Richard Branson’s recently opened island resort, Necker Island, where our friends, Shaun and Beverly Mathews were managers. What a place to have to spend time! It’s thatch roofed cottages and spectacular lounge with views of North Sound and surrounding islands was an incomparable re-introduction to the British Virgin Islands.
Gordon departed from Cabo Verde on December 26th, on the M/V Island Diver, and appeared on the horizon at Necker on January 15th. We celebrated the arrival and got to work on a trade license, work permits and, oh yes – learning to dive.
We had fitted the boat out with Scuba Pro equipment from Sweden, so the boat was well equipped. We found a location for the boat and a store front at Village Cay Marina. We hired the very competent Maritha Keil to teach us how to scuba dive, while the two children played in a play pen on Brewer’s Bay. She became Island Diver’s artist, and importantly, our first dive instructor.
We moved our family ashore so the boat could go out to work every day. The house was located on the Ridge Road, so I could see over Road Harbour and the return of the boat at the end of the day. At a time before cell phones the house also had good VHF radio reception.
I spent time in the shop, selling snorkeling gear and tee shirts, and arranging dive trips, while Gordon and crew ran the boat…the most popular day being a morning dive on the bow of the RMS Rhone, down to 80’, then breaking for lunch on Salt Island. I had prepared salads, and Gordon and crew would barbecue chicken for the guests, before returning to the Rhone for the afternoon dive on the more shallow section.
Other popular dive sites included the more distant Chikuzen, a sunken refrigerator ship, and the Indians, at Norman Island, where divers and snorkelers could both enjoy the underwater sights. It was a full day and enjoyed by many.
We spent about five years at Village Cay Marina. During our time in the BVI, we met amazing characters and had some incredible experiences both below water and on land. We left with a family of three children, two of whom were born in Peebles Hospital.
I return to the BVI often to enjoy the crystal blues of the water, and the relaxed style of the people who lured me here many years ago. The dive sites remain immortal, and thanks to Beyond the Reef, a non-profit specializing in the creation of artificial coral reefs our BVI dive sites are now more numerous and purposeful than in the 80s.
So, enjoy a swim, a snorkel, a dive, and the amazing underwater sites of these most special islands.
Hoping to see you underwater!
For more about Beyond the Reef’s artificial reefs in the British Virgin Islands, read my story at:
To visit their website go to:
