Foxtrot 2 & Sierra 2 2018 Adventures Day 16 – Remarkable Beach Sweep Effort At Cane Garden Bay
written by Provisions Manager, Allie Faulkner
July 30, 2018
We awoke this morning at the crack of dawn to start our big day of community service! We all enjoyed an extra hearty breakfast to fuel us through the active day ahead. After a clean of our boats, we readied ourselves to head to Cane Garden Bay’s dock to take on the Beach Sweep we would be participating in! We headed to shore at 9a.m. to anxiously await the arrival of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Mount Bay crew! Their hard working presence amongst our teens was an extraordinary sight!
100 of our students and staff joined forces with the RFA to work together all day cleaning debris from the coastal shores and ocean floor of Cane Garden Bay, all under the care of ARK (Association Of Reef Keepers) and their service effort planning. Some of us snorkeled, combed the beautiful beach, helped our volunteer staff divers (who were bringing debris up from the sea floor with lift bags) and collected debris on homemade pallet board floats, donated paddle boards and kayaks, dhingies, and RIBs.
After a break for lunch, we got back to work and ended up clearing out 4 dumpsters worth of debris (7 in total were filled from the area as a whole throughout the day!) Among the things we pulled off the ocean floor were chairs, trailers, toasters, roofing sheet metal, and even a fancy umbrella. Our efforts did not go unnoticed as a lot of the local community came out to help and show their support as well. We had throughout the day to meet and work alongside those in the RFA which was an extremely cool experience for our teens and staff alike. At the end of a long afternoon, we wrapped up our efforts to head to shore where we got some celebratory ice cream!
When back to boats, we completed pre-departure checks in order to set sails towards Marina Cay for the evening. Once arrived at our destination, we picked up our diver students who had opted into a night specialty dive! We enjoyed a delicious dinner in the evening among our shipmates and slowly got ready for bed to prepare for our busy day tomorrow.
