Down in the valley by the waterside lives Louise, who has a dock and boat
ramp... and lets us launch our kayak into the water.
The latitude of the Island which is very similar to Perth should mean that
the waters are too cold for coral to develop. However the Gulf stream runs
close to the Bermudan Islands and has allowed the "colder coral reef' to
form.
Yet as with most societies where there is a cliff face there's a dump! So
Louise asked if we'd give a hand and help recover about 46 dumped
scooters from along 2 km of coastline.
We had our hands up so fast saying "pick me, pick me" that our berth's on
the barge were assured.
"Early one morning, just as the sun was rising..." we trotted down the hill
and loaded our cooler, snorkel & flippers, sun-block and selves onto the
barge [OK Ok it was closer to 9:00 am]
A motley crew set sail... there was Louise, her son & a few of his mates, all
surviving on less than 3 hours sleep from the night before, [Bermudians]
who boarded at various points as we motored around the coast. Then
there was Curtis, Dinah & I [the Ex-Pats]. When we arrived at Admiralty
cove, a 2nd barge with crane was already working with a hooker diver and
2 policemen with scuba gear - they'd started at the original start time of 8.
Soon we were all at work. Haul a scooter from 2 - 3 m deep, via the 2nd
barge and swing it across onto our barge. Easy work with a crane and
'divers'. Alas the crane barge was only with us until noon. We'd pulled
about 10 scooters in this time.
Now we really started to work. Curtis & I snorkelling down, down deeper
into the clear waters. Rope a scooter, surface and connect the rope to a
hauling line. I didn't appreciate the weight that was being manually lifted
by the 3 on board until later.
By 12:30 we'd hauled 20+ scooters from about 1 km of coast line. The
barge headed south to a jetty where the police were waiting. I now found
out how heavy and cumbersome these pieces of scooter were. There was
three of us lifting a scooter up chest high onto the jetty where they were
then dragged across the landing to be identified.
After they'd been unloaded it was back to where we'd left off to pull the
next 23 scooters, one of which was only 3 days wet. We'd lost one
volunteer by this time and Louise & Dinah were now on the ropes hauling
wrecks from the deep. By 4:30 all 46 had been lifted and landed... time to
head home.
We Ex-Pats were tired, scratched and pleased that our day was a way to
return something to a community that had welcomed us... a top day which
was finished with a cooling Ale as I washed down the barge deck!
ramp... and lets us launch our kayak into the water.
The latitude of the Island which is very similar to Perth should mean that
the waters are too cold for coral to develop. However the Gulf stream runs
close to the Bermudan Islands and has allowed the "colder coral reef' to
form.
Yet as with most societies where there is a cliff face there's a dump! So
Louise asked if we'd give a hand and help recover about 46 dumped
scooters from along 2 km of coastline.
We had our hands up so fast saying "pick me, pick me" that our berth's on
the barge were assured.
"Early one morning, just as the sun was rising..." we trotted down the hill
and loaded our cooler, snorkel & flippers, sun-block and selves onto the
barge [OK Ok it was closer to 9:00 am]
A motley crew set sail... there was Louise, her son & a few of his mates, all
surviving on less than 3 hours sleep from the night before, [Bermudians]
who boarded at various points as we motored around the coast. Then
there was Curtis, Dinah & I [the Ex-Pats]. When we arrived at Admiralty
cove, a 2nd barge with crane was already working with a hooker diver and
2 policemen with scuba gear - they'd started at the original start time of 8.
Soon we were all at work. Haul a scooter from 2 - 3 m deep, via the 2nd
barge and swing it across onto our barge. Easy work with a crane and
'divers'. Alas the crane barge was only with us until noon. We'd pulled
about 10 scooters in this time.
Now we really started to work. Curtis & I snorkelling down, down deeper
into the clear waters. Rope a scooter, surface and connect the rope to a
hauling line. I didn't appreciate the weight that was being manually lifted
by the 3 on board until later.
By 12:30 we'd hauled 20+ scooters from about 1 km of coast line. The
barge headed south to a jetty where the police were waiting. I now found
out how heavy and cumbersome these pieces of scooter were. There was
three of us lifting a scooter up chest high onto the jetty where they were
then dragged across the landing to be identified.
After they'd been unloaded it was back to where we'd left off to pull the
next 23 scooters, one of which was only 3 days wet. We'd lost one
volunteer by this time and Louise & Dinah were now on the ropes hauling
wrecks from the deep. By 4:30 all 46 had been lifted and landed... time to
head home.
We Ex-Pats were tired, scratched and pleased that our day was a way to
return something to a community that had welcomed us... a top day which
was finished with a cooling Ale as I washed down the barge deck!
August 2006
| Any old Iron... or how we made some friends |
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