Metal railings, storm gutters, PVC piping, tyres and a set of eight foot metal gates were just some of the things that faced divers when they set about cleaning up of one of Cayman’s most famous dive sites.
The group of divers turned out on Saturday to tackle the clean up on the Eden Rock site, about 200 yards offshore in George Town and in about 40 feet of water.
‘The weirdest thing we saw out there was a shopping trolley embedded in the sand,’ said Dave McKay, manager of Eden Rock Diving Centre Ltd., who staged the underwater event.
The clean up is a regular task but this year, with some Hurricane Ivan debris still in the water, the volunteers – who were each offered a free tank of air – were kept busier than ever.
‘We found all kinds of stuff and had to use lift bags to bring things to the surface,’ said Mr. McKay.
‘The clean up was a success and we are definitely going to have another one, probably towards the middle of October,’ he said.
‘Anything like these things that we are taking out of the water is beneficial to the situation,’ said Mr. McKay.
‘And once the community realises that we are going to do clean ups on a regular basis we should be able to get more people out to help us,’ he added.
Before the diving work got under way there was a coral clinic to give background information about the reefs and how to protect them.
Participants received a certificate of recognition from Project Aware, the dive industry’s leading non-profit environmental organisation dedicated to conserving underwater environments.
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