Caymanian dive legend Kent Eldemire dies

Caymanian tourism and diving legend Kent Eldemire has died at age 88.

Eldemire contributed to the watersports industry in the Cayman Islands for over 30 years and was inducted into the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame in 2017.

He was a founding member of the Cayman Islands Watersports Operators Association, the Cayman Maritime Heritage Foundation and the Cayman Islands Pirates Week Development Board.

Eldemire had a “deep and abiding love of the ocean”, which he used to advance dive safety and environmental conservation efforts, like the establishment of marine parks, in the Cayman Islands.

Paul Deegan, director of the Fair Weather Foundation, told the Cayman Compass via email that Eldemire had passed away in Australia on Thursday morning.

“I knew he wasn’t doing great health wise, that he had good days and bad days but generally Kent was Kent. Always tried to remain strong,” he said.

The foundation had been working with Eldemire to get the Fair Weather schooner – believed to be the last Caymanian-built wooden schooner capable of sailing – to Cayman.

“Capt. Kent was unwavering in his support and enthusiasm in making sure that Fair Weather gets home to Cayman. He was a great husband, father, and grandfather, brother and uncle, but to me he was a great friend in the short time that I knew him. Cayman has lost a good one today,” a foundation statement said on Facebook.

Love of schooners

Deegan said when it came to the schooner, Eldemire was the first to offer his services to assist with bringing Fair Weather home.

“Kent was part of a consortium of well-known Caymanians Heber Arch, Suzy Soto, John Jenkinson and a few others that tried unsuccessfully to acquire Fair Weather from her original owners in Spain about seven years ago. Due to health issues and raising the necessary money and then COVID, that consortium gave up on the idea until Chris Rowland and myself decided to save Fair Weather,” he explained.

After reaching out to Jenkinson, they learned about Eldemire’s involvement in trying to acquire Fair Weather previously.

“He wished us the best of luck and anything that he could offer. Of course, he was one of the main driving forces in bringing back Goldfield [turtle schooner] and was still very passionate about Goldfield to the point that he would have a tear in his eye when he’d speak about the sinking and eventually loss of Goldfield. An opportunity wasted,” he added.

He said Eldemire had donated a few pieces of wood from Goldfield about six months ago that he had in his possession. The pieces are currently being repurposed into parts that can be used on Fair Weather.

One of the pieces has been made into a belaying pin, used to secure the sailing lines, by a Caymanian apprentice.

‘Giant of a man’

Suzy Soto, a Cayman Islands diving pioneer, described Eldemire as “a giant of a man in the islands”.

“His curiosity about life and everything in it was unparalleled. As we were co-chairman of the Maritime Heritage Foundation with the Catboat Club, we had many conversations about the world’s maritime history,” she said.

She said Eldemire assisted with stories for the ‘History of Turtlers and Schooners of the Cayman Islands’ book from the Maritime Heritage Foundation.

“Capt. Kent was a devoted family man. There was not a problem he could not come up with a solution. My heartfelt sympathies go out to his lovely wife, Angela, whom he spoke of often. They were a devoted couple. He loved Cayman and when he left, he told me, ‘I am going to Australia, which I love, to die’. All was good with his soul,” she told the Compass.

Soto added that Eldemire’s worldwide collection of marine artifacts was “one of the best I have ever seen”.

Stephen Broadbelt, chairman of the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame, said the hall of fame’s board of directors were saddened by the passing of Eldemire, “a formidable figure” whose career helped to shape the water sports industry of the Cayman Islands.

He said, in a comment to the Compass, that Eldemire was a pioneer, from founding the Cayman Islands Watersports Operators Association to his work with dive operators to promote the Cayman Islands internationally at the DEMA Show.

“In addition to all his work in the tourism industry, Captain Eldemire was a stalwart public servant, serving with the Royal Cayman Islands Police Force in the Water Police Division as well as training members of the RCIPS to dive. We were proud to recognise his invaluable contributions to the Cayman Islands by inducting him as honouree into the ISDHF in 2017,” he said.

Broadbelt said Eldemire’s contributions to the local and international scuba diving community as a member of the ISDHF Board of Directors were “greatly appreciated”.

“We extend our deepest condolences to his family and his legacy will be remembered fondly,” he added.

Eldemire’s life

Eldemire, born in Jamaica in 1936 to Caymanian parents, was a generational diver.

His grandfather, Captain Bertie Bodden, was the Cayman Islands’ first hard-hat diver and his father, Captain Enos Wellesley Eldemire, from Cayman Brac, was a senior salvage diver.

His first job after leaving school was working with his father on board the ship MV Rescue, according to his International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame bio.

That experience started his formal commercial diving career, which he practised his entire life.

Eldemire acquired his first scuba diving equipment as a teenager in the early 50s, his bio states, with the purchase of two Cousteau-Gagnan CG-45 twin hose regulators and three steel tanks.

In 1963, following Jamaica’s independence, Eldemire was seconded as a diving training officer with the Jamaica Defense Force. He was then transferred to the HMS Lochinvar in Scotland and assigned to HMS Lewiston, Minesweeper. Aboard the HMS Safeguard, he completed Royal Navy Training School and qualified as a Royal Navy Master Diver.

As a qualified underwater contractor for most of his life, he trained in underwater cutting,  welding and explosives.

Eldemire was a founding member of the Goldfield Foundation to bring the Goldfield back to Cayman and trained more than 30 young Caymanians to scuba dive under The Duke of Edinburgh Awards Scheme.

He worked to identify and secure Cayman’s marine parks and was the first known diver to scuba dive the 12 Mile Bank.