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February 9, 2024 · 5:03 am

Blacktip Island Resort Opens Scuba Gear Museum

A Sportsways ‘Waterlung’ regulator, circa 1960, with J-valve first stage is one of the many historical bits of scuba gear on display at Eagle Ray Cove Resort’s new scuba museum. (photo courtesy of John Goodspeed)

Antiquated and abandoned scuba gear will be on display at Blacktip Island’s Eagle Ray Cove resort starting Saturday morning, the resort owner said, in an effort to broaden the small Caribbean island’s tourism footprint.

“It’s amazing how much old scuba equipment piles up here, whether from forgetfulness or advancing technology, or what have you,” Eagle Ray Cove Resort owner Rich Skerritt said. “We’ve been collecting it in our lost-and-found for years. It got to the point it was either throw it all out, or put it on display.

“With this museum, scuba enthusiasts have one more reason to come to Blacktip,” Skerritt said. “And not only will the admission fees benefit us financially, it allows us to pull guests at other resorts into our income stream when they come to visit. There’s really no down side for us.”

Island dive staff were upbeat about the museum.

“It’s a bunch of dreck taking up space and gathering dust,” Eagle Ray Divers divemaster Alison Diesel said. “We can’t give it away, so someone might as well make some money off it. Last time I looked there were still some old 80s-era Dacor regs, a couple of orange horse collar BCs and some fairly manky wetsuits.”

Some residents, however, were critical of the idea.

“This is just Rich’s latest scam to squeeze just that little bit of extra money out of island guests,” Blacktip Haven resort owner Elena Havens said. “He’s putting pieces of junk behind glass display cases and calling them artifacts. I’m warning my guests away from the place. If they have discretionary spending money while they’re on island, they need to be spending it here, at The Haven, instead of that grifter’s crap show.”

Others were eager for the facility to open Saturday morning.

“Having dug through the ERD lost-and-found before, there’s some pieces in there that really put diving, and diving history, into perspective,” Christina Mojarra said. “There’s regulator systems in there with no alternate air source or pressure gauge. People used to dive with get-ups like that, and survive. It shows how far we’ve come in terms of technology and safety. I don’t doubt people will line up to see this stuff.”

Skerritt said he plans to make the exhibit an interactive one.

“As soon as we can find someone who can service this old stuff, we’ll let folks try it out off the end of the dock,” he said. “People’ll jump at the chance to dive with their fathers’, or grandfathers’ vintage scuba gear. For an additional fee, of course.”

Old-School Blacktip Island Divers Create Living History Museum

Vintage dive gear owners on Blacktip Island have joined forces to create the region’s first living history museum focused on scuba diving equipment and techniques from diving’s early days. (BTT staff photo / Clete Horn)

A group of old-school Blacktip Island scuba divers this week combined their antiquated dive equipment to create a living history museum celebrating the small Caribbean island’s rich scuba traditions, members said.

“Instead of throwing out all our old gear, we put it all in one place to show modern divers what scuba diving was like in the day,” Blacktip Island Mossback Club president Jay Valve said. “Dive ops won’t let us on the boats with this stuff, so we put it in glass cases where visitors could look at it. That was depressing though, so we decided to do demonstration dives with our gear from shore a couple times a week.

“Divers today don’t realize how easy they’ve got it, what with their floatie vests and extra regulators and fancy pressure gauges,” Valve said. “There’s still plenty of life in this old equipment. If this kit was good enough for Lloyd Bridges, it’s good enough for us.”

Club members echoed Valve’s sentiments.

“The dive industry generates a ton of money, but it’s done it by sissifying the sport,” Clete Horn said. “That’s why we do dives to show folks how scuba used to be an adventure. We stay shallow and close to shore so snorkelers and non-divers can see everything. Any guests want to have a go with the gear, we’ll suit them up and turn them loose.

“These’re divers who never breathed off a double-hose reg,” Horn said. “Or felt the thrill of a 10-inch dive machete strapped to their leg. This is how real divers dived. It’s a great experience for dive guests, and shows, really, what’s the worst that could happen?”

Some in the community don’t share club members’ enthusiasm.

“Sure, real divers dived with those museum pieces. Real stupid divers,” Blacktip Haven resort owner Elena Havens said. “Scuba equipment has evolved. Jay and his gang haven’t. This whole concept is a tribute to how wrong Darwin really was. I’m not sure how anyone survived it. Then or now.”

“What in the world does anyone need a knife like that for, fighting sharks?” Havens said. “All it’ll take is one yahoo getting stabbed, or drowning while using this junk, to do major damage to our bookings. They need to leave all this gear behind glass where it belongs.”

Diving guests have embraced the vintage gear.

“I tried the double-hose reg and the single-seal, fishbowl mask yesterday, and it was a blast,” island visitor Mary Wrasse said. “Sure, the mask leaked like a sieve and I damn-near aspirated half the ocean trying to clear it, but it really put me in touch with what diving was a generation or two ago. And not having an air gauge really racheted up the adventure.”

Community leaders were cautiously supportive.

“This is the stuff the Blacktip Island tourism product was built on,” dive industry watchdog Wade Soote said. “As far as we know, this is the first program of its kind in the Caribbean. That’s bound to draw some extra visitors to the island. And no one’s gotten hurt so far, that we know of, so there’s no down side.”

Club members are encouraged by the shows of support.

“I’m proud to dive with Granddaddy’s regulator and Daddy’s mask and knife,” Horn said. “Folks not only survived using this stuff, they thrived. Put food on the table with it for generations.

“We’re getting more old-time gear for the museum as the old timers pass,” Horn said. “Not from diving, of course. From their families, after. Somebody dies diving, makes it damned tough to recover the gear.”