Helping out and using our skills

On Friday a few of the newer members of the team got to put their skills to the test. We were requested by a local business if we could survey the area around his fuel dock and boat slips for any debris that can be dangerous to boat in the area.

   Perry B and Evan S and I headed down to see what we could do to help out. Evan and Perry jumped in behind Red’s Lobster pot to check the boat slips there and I jumped in over at the fuel dock to survey that area. After a survey of the fuel dock and marking all the things to move I got out to check on Evan and Perry.

   They had found a few things and were removing them from the water. A large lobster pot, floor mats and a lot of line that Perry had a hell of a time cutting it free (2 inch line is pretty hard to cut on dry line and its only harder underwater) The biggest job was helping the boat crew from the fishing boat Lady O Margaret getting a large piece of piling out of the water. Working together we were able to get the piling out of the water and off the dock.

   Then it was over to the fuel dock to remove a large box (that later was found to be a very large sink) and a few tires and many feet of lines. Here the ends of the lines couldn’t be freed from the bottom and had to be cut at the mud line.

   We planned on using a lift bag to move the sink and tires to an area away from the boats and people. After rigging the lift bag we put just enough air in the bag to float the sink just off the bottom. Then our human tug boat Evan swam the sink to the area that we used to put the sink and the tires in. We weighted them so they would stay right where we put them!

   With the moving done and one last swim through the area it was time to get out of the water. Evan made the last find coming out of the water with a pretty nice fishing pole. The New Jersey State Marine patrol stopped by to see how we were doing and it turn out the officer was a student of mine from 31 years ago (it’s a small world).