International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame induction ceremonies

I have just returned from the Cayman Islands, where the weather was gorgeous. The visit was for the annual ceremonies of the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame, on whose Board I serve.

We had gathered for the induction of a distinguished roster of those who helped diving become what we know today. About two hundred people attended the banquet, a gala sponsored and underwritten
by the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism. We gathered at the Grand Old House as the Sun was disappearing, and our inductees had their rendezvous with history.

 

Among our honorees was Andre Laban, one of Jacques Cousteau's very first employees, as he colorfully tells us here:

Another inductee was Clement Lee, who brought famed Sipadan Island off the coast of Borneo in Malaysia to the attention of the diving world.

I had a camera problem when my friend Allan Power, long-time guardian of the S.S. President Coolidge in Vanuatu (28,000 dives!!) was speaking, So, here is one of Tom Ingram's stills to show Allan as he made his remarks. My trip to Vanuatu in the early 1970s was one of the great adventures of my early career.

Howard and Michelle Hall, the makers of 100 films, most in recent years in IMax 3D, remembered their very first visit to the Caymans:

All in all, some extraordinarily accomplished contributors to our sport were honored by the Hall and the audience. Welcome to the new Hall of Famers! There will be much information and media more posted on the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame web site soon  http://www.scubahalloffame.com/