Well it’s 2010, we had a BLUE MOON on new years eve, first time in donkeys years, pity is I wasn’t at Lime Tree Farm to enjoy it.
I’m in Falmouth – no not Cornwall but Jamaica trying desperately to move 25 acres of living coral before a huge cutter dredger arrives in Feb. to cut out a channel through one of Jamaica’s richest coral reefs for Royal Caribbean’s new state of the art cruise ship terminal on Jamaica’s north coast.
Environmentally this doesn’t sound to sound an idea but economically Jamaica cannot afford to turn this project away, even so NEPA – Jamaica’s National Environmental Protection Agency have demanded, quite rightly that the reef be moved rather destroyed & the Jamaican Government through the Port Authority of Jamaica have undertaken the biggest Coral Relocation in history – by far – who said developing nations don’t look after their environment

This is where I come in:- I work as a sub-contractor for a commercial diving company based in Kingston, Seaport Equipment Ltd, normally 1 or 2 days a week, we landed the contract & now I find myself as Project Manager for the Relocation works, with a team of 92 divers & boats crews – 11 boats & a huge amount of equipment.
In a nutshell we cut the the corals from the dead substrate/reef using hydraulic saws & chisels, load them into baskets & tow them underwater to the relocation site away from the dredge footprint & stick them back down again using cement & epoxy. Sounds simple? Trust me it’s not but we’ve now moved in the region of 60,000 corals over a 3 month period & we’re getting good at it.
The results are impressive, the almost dead reef we’re relocating to is a myriad of different coloured coral species & fish that are attracted by our work & turn the site into an open water aquarium of underwater life, octopus, turtles, dolphins, manatee & even a couple of sharks have passed by drawn by the commotion.
All of this is monitored by NEPA who work closely with us to resolve the various problems we encounter.
Our normal team of about 12 commercial divers has been suplimented by divers from all over Jamaica, now is not a good time to go diving from an all-inclusive hotel on the north coast, most of their staff have joined this effort to save the reef- 7 days a week from 5AM till 5PM these divers have become an organized underwater army, even surprising the big multi-national companies working on the project with their dedication & discipline.

If you planning a trip to Lime Tree Farm early this year don’t worry Suzie my wife & Rodger my business partner will take good care of you, please excuse me for not being there, I’m on a mission & I soon come, I hope!

Blog by Charlie

Diver at work