A scale model of the Rapa Nui Reef
There is a new artificial reef to be sunk off Deerfield Beach, FL in early June. It is an artificial reef which is actually an artwork inspired by the Moai or carved stone statues of Easter Island. The island is also known as Rapa Nui, hence the name of "Rapa Nui Reef" and has been created in the spirit of similar artworks placed underwater off Cancun, Mexico. The project consists of the casting of 15 Moai anchored through concrete platform with nooks and crannies into the deck of a 150' long steel barge. The barge and Moai are to be sunk and placed on the sand between the reefs off Deerfield Beach in early June 2015.
There are a lot of festivities leading up to the sinking, including an underwater cleanup of the Deerfield Pier, viewing of the barge & Moai monoliths at Two Georges, parties and massive public viewing of the sinking from the Deerfield Pier. More at:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1406676429650932/
Margaret Blume and Dennis McDonald stand by the artificial reef under construction on the barge.
The concept and funding came from the same remarkable woman and philanthropist, Margaret Blume. Ms. Blume is an artist painter and benefactor of art, particularly art in public places. The Rapa Nui Reef project has an in-depth and well executed website:
Rapa Nui Reef - Official Website and active Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/RapaNuiReef and even a "sinking page" for the reef,
https://www.facebook.com/events/1406676429650932/ , detailing related events leading up to the placement of the reef off Deerfield Beach.
Moai on the Rapa Nui or Easter Island facing inland and 4160 miles away Deerfield Beach in the Pacific Ocean.
I recently interviewed a key party in the project, Arilton Pavan, owner of
"Dixie Divers" about the origin and evolution of the project.
Pavan with one of his daughters on the Rapa Nui Reef under construction.
Ms. Blume didn't want to mimic nature in this project such as placing dolphins or other recreations of the environment but wanted to create a unique artwork in and of itself. She was inspired by imagery of Jason deCaires Taylor’s underwater life-sized sculpture placed off Cancun, Mexico in a magazine article. More at
Underwater Photo Of The Day - Page 4 - FKA Kiteboarding Forums
The Underwater Museum in Cancun
http://www.underwatersculpture.com
Chiefy Mathie cutting one of the numerous diver access ways into the hull of the barge.
An 1872 reflection on life with the Rapa Nui, among the Moai and the departed, but not too distantly departed?
All this for quarrying, movement and erection of the building of almost 900 Moai or stone statues around the island over hundreds of years. A vessel from the Netherlands landed on the island on Easter in 1722 and coined the name Easter Island or Paaseiland in Dutch. Per
Wikipedia: "By the time of European arrival in 1722, the island's population had dropped to 2,000–3,000 from an estimated high of approximately 15,000 just a century earlier. European diseases and Peruvian slave raiding in the 1860s further reduced the Rapa Nui population, to a low of only 111 inhabitants in 1877." An in-depth look at the ecological problems and origins on Easter Island at:
http://faculty.washington.edu/plape/pacificarchaut12/Hunt 2007.pdf
A photo looking shoreward towards the Deerfield Fishing Pier from the Lady Go Diver in the vicinity of the proposed resting place of the Rapa Nui Reef.
Continued with more details and images at: http://fksa.org/showthread.php?t=12330
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