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Well known & well loved Belonger Eva Baskin passes

Well known Belonger and entrepreneur Eva Baskin, who made the Virgin Islands her home in 1986, passed away on March 17, 2025, at the age of 81. Photo: Team of Reporters.
LAMBERT ESTATE, Tortola, VI- Well known Belonger and entrepreneur Eva Baskin, who made the Virgin Islands her home in 1986, has passed.

Information reaching our News Centre is that Eva passed away on Monday, March 17, 2025, at the age of 81.

A long time Belonger on Tortola and friend to so many on the island, Eva was tremendously dedicated to her community. She spent many years at H. Lavity Stoutt Community College working with chemistry students in the lab and leading the Environmental Club.

Eva was born Eva Cope in New Jersey and grew up in Florida. There, she met her future husband, Alan Baskin. They built dive operations on several Caribbean islands, and in 1986 settled on Tortola and built their highly successful resort dive operation, Baskin in the Sun. Eva and Alan taught thousands to dive over the years and inspired many repeat customers to return to Tortola.

According to family members, Eva was a human mermaid. "She would come up from a dive with a full tank of air."

Pioneer

As part of the BVI Dive Association, Eva also pioneered a reef protection programme, installing coral safe, color coded buoys so boaters wouldn’t drop their anchors and destroy the coral.

Eva was also a co-founder of ARK, the Association of Reef Keepers, a non-profit organisation dedicated to preserving and sustaining the marine environment in the Virgin Islands.

Eva and Alan retired to Lambert Estate and built their "dream house" overlooking Little Bay, and called it The Magic Castle. When her husband Alan passed away in 1999, Eva began renting the beautiful villa which created a new following of tourists returning over and over.

A friend to many

According to family members, Eva loved tending to her garden, taking care of her dogs and cat, and nurturing many friends with her practical advice and wisdom. "Her sunny disposition and generosity of spirit was a magnet. She was always attracting new friends and sharing the wonders of Tortola."

Details of a memorial service on Tortola are to be announced soon.

17 Responses to “Well known & well loved Belonger Eva Baskin passes”

  • rip (28/03/2025, 08:34) Like (38) Dislike (0) Reply
    RIP Ms. Baskin you will be missed
  • good people (28/03/2025, 08:37) Like (31) Dislike (0) Reply
    RIP & thank you for your contribution over the years. I was able to gain my open water dive certificate from Baskin in the Sun over 30yrs ago when they were operating from Prospect Reef.
  • That one meme (28/03/2025, 08:56) Like (1) Dislike (33) Reply
    This photo reminds me of a meme
    if you know then you know

    but RIP
  • co-worker (28/03/2025, 09:55) Like (31) Dislike (0) Reply
    Ms. Eva was a sweet soul. Her contributions to HLSCC and the wider BVI community were immeasurable.
    May her soul rest in peace
  • For Real (28/03/2025, 11:28) Like (10) Dislike (52) Reply
    Because of her color , I don't hear nobody saying she ain't belong here, but black people who born here and dem parents ain't born here, all you call dem al kind ah ting!!!
    • stfu (28/03/2025, 11:46) Like (26) Dislike (3) Reply
      It's people like you that keep prejudice and hate alive. May her soul rest in eternal peace
      • For Real (28/03/2025, 14:52) Like (3) Dislike (2) Reply
        @stfu you know the meaning of hate and prejudice?? You got to be kidding, you need to STFU.
    • Let it go! (28/03/2025, 12:16) Like (19) Dislike (2) Reply
      It's too early in the day to be so bitter!
    • @For Real (28/03/2025, 14:10) Like (13) Dislike (1) Reply
      Only you are the only one looking at she skin color. SMH!
    • @For Real (28/03/2025, 23:14) Like (1) Dislike (1) Reply
      Anyone who comes and lives PEACEABLY in the BVI host country and with its peoples is welcome and belongs here whether white black yellow brown or blue. BUT the warsome and confusion stirring and equal rights and demanding and insatiable greedy lot like you need to go the hell back where you swim from.
      • For Real (29/03/2025, 12:54) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
        To you illiterate person who talks about go back to where I swim from, you better swim back to school, and get some Education, the truth really Hurts you, GET A LiFE!!
  • @ for real (28/03/2025, 11:37) Like (16) Dislike (1) Reply
    You are disgusting! RIP, dear lady.
  • For Real (28/03/2025, 14:33) Like (1) Dislike (2) Reply
    You all are the ones who are full of sh------- you idiots keep talking about island people, who prejudice???
  • Here or elsewhere (28/03/2025, 16:38) Like (1) Dislike (1) Reply
    What part of the World she was when she died. ?
    • NEIGHBOUR (28/03/2025, 18:01) Like (8) Dislike (1) Reply
      BVI, her home. RIP to a wonderful human. Eva will be very much missed.
  • Blind Man (28/03/2025, 18:15) Like (2) Dislike (0) Reply
    Condolences to her family knew from working st prospect reef hotel she and her husdand were very nice people. Rip
  • Bruce Lindsay Belmont & Spyglass hill (30/03/2025, 12:32) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    What a lovely woman beautiful inside and out and friend to me. I was so sorry about her health decline and she truly made a difference in this world. at Bascomb in the Sun and the College too. to know her was to love the woman she was. As an islander once told me "We shall never see another such as she." so true


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