L&L: Cayman's local honourees
Each year, the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame's Board of Directors determine the inductees who will be presented with the prestigious award for their outstanding contributions towards the sport.
This platform also provides the Cayman Islands Ministry of Tourism with the opportunity to acknowledge those who have a made a similar impact in the Cayman Islands.
2015 will welcome the following local honourees:
NANCY EASTERBROOK
Nancy has had a passion for diving since she first began in 1973. In 1994, Nancy and her children moved to Grand Cayman which is when she opened DiveTech. She was a pioneer in technical diving, rebreathers, and breath-hold free diving in the Cayman Islands.
Divetech welcomes technical divers and industry manufacturers for her annual event "Inner Space" which recently celebrated it's 12th year. Nancy has spent the last 20 years championing many causes for environmental awareness, and her most recent achievement was an 8 year project to bring the ex-USS Kittiwake to Grand Cayman as an artifical reef.
GLADYS HOWARD
Gladys first bought Pirates Point Resort in Little Cayman in 1986, and since injecting her energy and enthusiasm into the resort, it has become a hugely popular destination with an 80% repeat customer base with no advertising or marketing.
Gladys has always catered for her guests, providing homemade breads and desserts daily; the self-sufficient resort even produces their own fresh water!
For the diving, Gladys brought her original dive instructor Larry Smith until Gay and Ed Morse joined in 1988. Their diving has always been customer-centric to ensure an fantastic experience.
Gladys has received many honours including the Badge of Honour and a National Trust Caymanite Octopus, hand crafted in her honour for efforts in Little Cayman.
DR. JAMES POULSON aka DOC POULSON
(Posthumously)
The late Dr. James (Jimmie) Poulson, who started up the Cayman Clinic on Crewe Road, is well recognised within the dive industry for helping set-up the first hyperbaric chamber on Grand Cayman to treat decompression sickness (DCS).
Because of his contributions towards the medical dive industry, and the many hours he put into helping volunteers at the chamber, there has even been a dive site name after him in his honour, "The Doc Poulson".
The wreck of the Doc Poulson was sunk as an artifical reef off Seven Mile Beach in 1981. Although not as well known the more recent Kittiwake, the 70ft wreck hosts an abundance of marine life and is a spectacular site.
