10th ANIVERSARY SEBASTIAN INLET CLEANUP DIVE – JULY 23RD
On a late Saturday Afternoon dive, 26 divers left the Sebastian Yacht Club Ramp and staged on the North side of the inlet from the tidal pool West as far as the 8 vessels could spread. The water was swift and murky but these divers set about to gather in over 25 anchors, 15 casting nets with three being massive and needing several divers to move. One boat had 10 encrusted fishing poles set in their rod holders on-board. One diver just collected lead weights.
The entire dive was in question when dark skies and thunderstorms gathered over I-95 all day. Our 10th annual cleanup day was shared with the 4th annual Waterway Committee’s 4 hour shore cleanup, but this year, they sent divers on a low tide slack current into the inlet mouth before us. And, although any thrash removed is a good thing, it felt like that part of movie, “Braveheart” where the English nobles slept with the bride the night before the wedding. The worse most dangerous and toxic water would be that flowing out of the inlet around low tide. Not the smartest time to place humans there. These are things divers and captains learn with our certification program. As their efforts were around the sandbar anchorages, it had little actual effect other than for show.
Our massive diver response yielded 2600 pounds. Our normal take for such a number of divers should have been more, but with the continued attention we have given to this fishing area, our impact is being seen here and we are making great progress. Construction continues around the “L” pier, so we avoided the south side again. Later next month, we will return and hit that side and give it a good scrubbing.
Limelight Event Production again provided pizzas from Papa John’s with beer, soda and water to go along with the T-shirts and gas cards for captains. After boats were cleaned, food eaten and cleaned up and all debris sorted, separated and disposed of, we looked ahead to a few weekends off and our next operations.
Thanks to all the captains and their boats without which this season would have been impossible. Thanks to Water N’ Sports and Dive Odyssea for supporting our efforts with air fills and lots of additional services.
Thanks,
Captain don
