Yesterday was a long, but really good day. I left home at 4 AM for the 180-mile drive to Horseshoe Bay ... arriving in time for breakfast at The Troll before meeting up with the volunteers and ARSBC crew at the dock at 8 AM.
This was the largest turnout I've seen yet ... there must've been 20 folks crowding into the Topline for the ride out to the ship. Kevin and Jan also had a couple of divers going out after they dropped us off, so the boat ride out was "festive".
We arrived at the ship, got our briefing, into our work clothes, and spread out around the ship to start hauling stuff out through the main hatch and loading it onto the barge. Mostly this was heavy stuff that required the crane to lift it out through the hatch.
About 10 AM the Coast Garde (love the way you Canadians spell that word) showed up in a hovercraft to inspect the ship. These guys were so friendly and curious about what we were doing ... and after their inspection they invited us to come tour the hovercraft, as well as get a really nice "show and tell" talk about all the rescue equipment on board. As it was by then about lunchtime, we invited them to stay for lunch, which for this day was a BBQ. After lunch, it was back to work. By then there was a lot of stuff on deck, as well as what had already been loaded on the barge, and the deck was humming with activity as people separated copper from steel from aluminum, etc.
We worked till about 5 PM, and as we were leaving the scene I couldn't help but notice that the waterline on the ship's about five feet above "normal" ... imagine how much stuff has been stripped off this ship to raise it five additional feet out of the water. Looking at those containers on the barge ... loaded with various sorted metals ... I wonder how much of that happened this past week-end.
For the ride home, I opted for the Lyndon crossing ... and was rewarded for that decision with a 2-minute border crossing. That made the 3-hour drive a lot more pleasant, and I arrived home about 9 PM ... grabbed a quick bite to eat and a shower and hit the rack hard. After that workout I could've slept a couple extra hours this morning.
I had a great time yesterday, with a really fun group of people. For anyone considering diving on this ship once it's down, I would urge you to consider volunteering some time helping on this final stretch to get it prepared for its final resting place. Besides some satisfyingly hard work, it's a great way to get to know the layout of the ship before diving on it.
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
