Raymond Nibbs exudes a spirit of adventure and a great passion for the ocean as is evidenced by his exploits at sea. Photo:Ron Henry/VINO

Mr. Raymond A. Nibbs, an experienced boat captain who loves the sea, is a Marina Manager at Scrub Island. Photo: VINO Team of Reporters

He manages the docks (boats that come into the marina), captains, dock masters and sets schedules for their movements. Additionally, he is in charge of transportation for persons and cargo to and from the island.

“When the [tourist] season picks up, things get challenging,” he said and it is his job to keep the flow steady and the boats in order.

A product of Sea Cows Bay, Raymond attended the Ebenezer Thomas Primary School and subsequently the BVI High School, which is now known as Elmore Stoutt High School.

Our Young Professional revealed that he feels blessed with the opportunity of working at Scrub Island because he started off in the trust industry and just at the point where he felt the need for a change, the opportunity to work at the marina arose.

Anyone that knows him, he explained, would be aware that water is his ‘thing’. “I love the sea, I've been sailing on it all my life so that was like a God sent opportunity.”

Raymond admitted, however, that job was tough at first. “It was a new challenge, a new phase [and] totally different to what I was accustomed… so it took a little getting used to,” He declared however, it became easier as time went on.

Given his professional background of an ‘office setting’, where things were basically ‘laid out’ and the subsequent transition to managing his own staff and setting his own rules and standards at Scrub Island, the challenge presented was getting into a new area and looking at things from a new perspective, Raymond explained.

Our Young Professional started to work at Scrub Island as a part-time evening captain which required him to show up there for work at 5 P.M. after leaving his main job which started from 8:00 A.M. and ended at 4:30 P.M.

After about a year of this hectic schedule, he was offered the position of manager after his old marina manager at Scrub Island had left.

Coming in as the “new guy on the block”, one of the most rewarding memories for him, was being able to set two records of having the most boats in the marina at a single time, he related.

Around the Easter season he was able to have some sixty-six boats side by side and even bettered that in what he referred to as the ‘Christmas in July’ period with seventy-two boats in the Marina.

Our young professional explained that this was a big accomplishment for him since starting at Scrub Island as he was able to fit these boats side by side in a strategic manner and was able to make everyone "happy" about it at the same time. “It was something that took weeks of planning ahead,” he said. “At this present time I’m the record holder as marina manager for having the most boats at Scrub Island,” he proudly revealed.

In his previous job, Raymond worked in the trust industry at CITCO BVI for just about 19 years. “Believe it or not,” he recalled, “I was sort of a jack of all trades, master of none in a sort of way.”

Fresh out of high school, he started off as a messenger at CITCO BVI after working as a Land and House Tax officer at the Inland Revenue office for a short period.

He remarked that it was a strange feeling, “Here I had this semi sort of big position in government… [then I went] to work at CITCO and was making more money there.”

After about six months at CITCO, he was already being offered trainee positions in both the IT and Accounts Departments. He decided that out of respect, it was better to take the Accounts post as he had been first approached by that. He worked in the Accounts Department for about two years before being approached by the IT Department again, at which time he jumped at the opportunity. “That’s my thing,” he said with a smile, “hands-on, learning new stuff, that’s what drives me.”

He worked with IT for about six or seven years and did a lot of training, even visiting the IBM campus and doing some classes there. “Whenever a new programme came out, they would send me away for training on that,” he said.

Much of the work Raymond did was in software but he did some work in hardware as well. “I got hands-on in a lot of stuff, but throughout all of that,” he remembered, “my love was the sea… I grew up on the sea so I guess it’s in my blood.”

Taking us back to his childhood and the development of his passion for the sea, he revealed that it was something of his dad’s making.

Raymond, a father of four, related that his dad is an avid seaman and loves the sea, so naturally his son would as well. “He was a marine mechanic and also used to buy and sell boats,” he related. “He always had a boat… when I was of age he made sure I always had a boat… he took me almost everywhere he went, we were always together.”

“Every weekend we would go somewhere,” he added, “we would go water skiing, diving or something.” He revealed also that many times he even got in trouble for sneaking out on his boat without letting his father know where he was going.

He recalled that in his youth, he would come home from school sometimes and jump into the boat, often ending up at Virgin Gorda, St Thomas or even St John. “I was just all over the place… on my own,” he said.

After the marina, he plans to continue to expand his own boat charter company which is currently in an infancy stage.

He encourages youths to hold education closely, and to take the opportunity to go to college if it is presented. “If I had the opportunity to go I probably would have gone but it has never held me back,” he said. Raymond added that he had learnt that education is the key to whatever you want to succeed at, noting that you would still have to work hard and strive for what you want to achieve but to always push for education.

“Even when you get pitfalls… just keep striving, because eventually your day will come.”