The fantastic Staff & Crew of Blue Island Divers

Deirdre Whitworth-Smith

Deirdre is our diver education and conservation Guru. She is a PADI Course Director , which means that she is able to train divers all the way to Instructor level.

She grew up in New York, and fell in love with everything soft and fuzzy.
She has three goals in life:-

1. Make every animal in the world love her
2. Save the planet from environmental degradation
3. Live in a warm climate.

After seeing a stuffed hammerhead shark (in a pancake house of all places), she knew she wanted to become a marine biologist. The question of how to hug a shark was weighing heavy on her mind.
She earned her Bachelors degree in Marine Science, Biology from Long Island University, where she could be found in one of two places; giving recycling speeches to those in line for the keg, or in the marine lab mastering the, marine animal hug technique! MAHT. If the MAHT was to be fully effective she was going to have to learn to SCUBA dive.

After learning to dive and graduating, she was involved in research, rehabilitation, and release projects in Maine, Florida and Bimini, finally landing in sunny St. Thomas in 1997. Here she became a PADI Instructor and earned her Captain’s license.

Landing a job in the local marine aquarium taking care of the predator tank, she finally had the chance to hug the sharks. She soon realized, that not every animal wants to be hugged and after being bitten on a regular basis, and in a variety of bodily locations!, her reign as the hug queen came to an end.

Despite her lofty scuba status Deirdre has not forgotten her life goals.
She can still be seen trying to con a hug or two from unsuspecting sea life, and her tireless conservation efforts are a credit to Blue Island Divers.

Jimmy Jones

There are old divers and there are bold divers but no old bold divers!!
Jimmy has been a diver for many years and has dived many illustrious sites around the north eastern states including the famous challenging tech dive the wreck of the Andrea Doria.

This was in the days before deep diving was called "Tech Diving" when diving techniques were evolving. Jimmy is a Scuba instructor and USCG Captain and he is usually to be found at the helm of one of the Blue Island Divers boats. He uses his vast experience to make sure that you have a safe and fun dive getting you to and from the dive site in safety and comfort. (If there is a wreck down there Jimmy will find it)

Jimmy was born in Texas and raised in California. After seeing the ocean at age 12 the path of his life was determined. He ran his own flooring business for many years and started his tech diving career in Massachusetts where he met the love of his life, Stacey.

When he wasn’t working the business, he was to be found in the water, looking for lobsters or wrecks. All his life, all he wanted to do was live on the water. Somewhere he could wear T shirts, shorts, and flip flops year round. He is living his dream!

He has lived in the Virgin Islands since 1994 on his boat with his wife, and “girls” (Samantha and Boots, his beloved dogs.) Jimmy is an excellent swimmer and was once, very nearly selected for the USA Olympic swimming team.

James Gill

James is a PADI Staff Instructor and always has an infectious cheerful disposition. If you are having a bad day you can guarantee that ten minutes with James will cheer you up.

James was born into a military family in Texas and has Irish and Native American blood coursing through his veins. He traveled extensively around the states and then the world. It was in the Philippines that he discovered and fell in love with snorkeling and coral reefs.

His travels took him to Japan, Italy and finally back to the states where he traveled the eastern seaboard as a bassist in the band Avatar later known as Mercenary (because they would play for food). James realized the band was not going to be the next Metallica, so it was off to Culinary Arts School for him.

He worked as a manager with several Restaurant Chains, most recently the Olive Garden, traveling the states in order to train employees. After some introspection, he decided to go back to college, earning two degrees; one in Mathematics/Physical Sciences and one in Applied Science and Technology. It was here he became certified to SCUBA dive in order to fulfill a life long dream.

After college, he moved to St. Thomas to continue his studies, which are still in progress. He taught night courses at the University of the Virgin Islands, for a while. However, the Ocean was calling him.

While working at the local aquarium he rescued an Aquarist who was apparently trying to hug the sharks in her exhibit. She introduced him to the PADI Professional world of Diving Instructors. and he knew he had to attempt to be as cool as her, so he joined Blue Island Divers and worked his way through the Scuba ranks to become a PADI IDC Staff Instructor.

Bethaney Pichieri

Bethaney has lived in the US Virgin Islands for nearly 15 years. she is a Lawyer, a PADI Instructor and is the water sports and tour director at our Emerald Beach Location.

She hailed from Boston, went to college in North Carolina, and law school at Emory University. While at Emory, Bethaney achieved not only academic excellence, but also the coveted SCUBA certification.

She was able to take several vacations, to places such as Fiji, the Great Barrier Reef, and Belize, where the underwater world captivated her soul. SCUBA, not law, was on her mind.

After 2 years practicing law in DC, she decided to move to America’s Paradise where she could pursue her passion yet still remain in the field of law .

After completing the move to the Virgin Islands, and the Virgin Islands Bar Exam, Bethaney practiced law on St. Croix and St. Thomas, finally settling on St Thomas and marrying the love of her life, Paul.

Bethaney worked as a Divemaster on weekends, practicing law during the week, until one day, the paperwork Nazi went too far! So, she came to Blue Island Divers to obtain her PADI Instructor rating, and the rest is history.

Ann Quamina

You will meet Ann if you stay at the Best Western Emerald Beach Resort as she runs the tour booking Kiosk at the resort and will be happy to organize your tours and activities for your stay in St Thomas.

She knows all the best tours to take and can schedule your trip to ensure that you have a marvelous experience on your vacation.

Anne came for a vacation on St. Thomas in 1991 and fell in love with the island. She went back home to Auburn Alabama, sold everything she owned, and has been living on St. Thomas for 13 years.

She loves to island hop and listen to music. She enjoys being with Blue Island Divers because it gives her the opportunity to meet people from all over the world and help them enjoy our beautiful islands by assisting them with organizing their island experience.

Aitch Liddle

After living in the Mediterranean until the age of nine, Aitch moved to England in 1969. the lure of the ocean was in his blood and he finally managed to start diving in 1975 in a flooded quarry somewhere in England.

He has dived around the world since then having lived and worked in the Middle East for 12 years. It was in the Middle East that Aitch met Jayne who is a nurse and was working in the area and had similar travel goals. they married and after 12 years in the desert they decided to take a break and bought a sailboat in Grenada.

They cruised the Caribbean for a year looking for a dive business to start or buy and finally settled on a small Island called St Thomas.

Aitch loves to research and dive on shipwrecks and is fascinated by the historical details of these time capsules. The location of so many wrecks around the Blue Island Divers base was a major factor in the decision to buy the company in August of 2000..

Having been disappointed with cattle boat operations in many places around the world Aitch is determined to make Blue Island Divers the sort of dive operation that he would expect to dive with.