Don Burke
Contributor
http://www.bonaireenews.com/html/apr99stack_4.html
Hilma Hooker Adrift
Bonaire Marine Park rangers have been scrambling this week to try and prevent serious damage to the reefs in the Punt Vierkant area of Bonaire. The potential cause of the damage would appear to be the wreck known as the Hilma Hooker (actually a drug-smuggling freighter which sank mysteriously a number of years ago).
The Hilma Hooker wreck has very slowly been shifting locations this week during the higher than normal seas, which have been brought on by stronger than usual winds. The wreck has apparently gained buoyancy from the trapped air left behind by the thousands of divers who inspect the vessel each year, and has begun to drift, albeit slowly, barely an inch above the bottom.
The currents began pushing the wreck northeastward and are threatening the coral at Punt Vierkant. The harbor tugs attempted to captured the wayward wreck early this week and tow her back to her home on the bottom of the sea, but so far such attempts have been unsuccessful, thanks partially to the huge amount of drag caused by the wreck in the water. The next step in the Marine Park's effort to reverse the course of the Hooker is to have rangers arrange for siphon lines to suck the air pockets out of the wreck, with the hope that this will cause Hilma to settle back down on the sandy bottom. One of the designers of the siphoning system has dubbed it the "Hilma Hookah", as it will involve sucking on one end of a large hose in order to create the necessary vacuum for siphoning the air out of the hull.
Plans are currently underway to close off the inside portions of the wreck with metal bars to prevent the build up of trapped air from future scuba divers.
People wishing to watch the "Hilma Hookah" effort in progress, and possibly add their sucking ability to the effort, are being encouraged to go to the Punt Vierkunt dive site at 10AM on Thursday, the 1st of April.
Hilma Hooker Adrift
Bonaire Marine Park rangers have been scrambling this week to try and prevent serious damage to the reefs in the Punt Vierkant area of Bonaire. The potential cause of the damage would appear to be the wreck known as the Hilma Hooker (actually a drug-smuggling freighter which sank mysteriously a number of years ago).
The Hilma Hooker wreck has very slowly been shifting locations this week during the higher than normal seas, which have been brought on by stronger than usual winds. The wreck has apparently gained buoyancy from the trapped air left behind by the thousands of divers who inspect the vessel each year, and has begun to drift, albeit slowly, barely an inch above the bottom.
The currents began pushing the wreck northeastward and are threatening the coral at Punt Vierkant. The harbor tugs attempted to captured the wayward wreck early this week and tow her back to her home on the bottom of the sea, but so far such attempts have been unsuccessful, thanks partially to the huge amount of drag caused by the wreck in the water. The next step in the Marine Park's effort to reverse the course of the Hooker is to have rangers arrange for siphon lines to suck the air pockets out of the wreck, with the hope that this will cause Hilma to settle back down on the sandy bottom. One of the designers of the siphoning system has dubbed it the "Hilma Hookah", as it will involve sucking on one end of a large hose in order to create the necessary vacuum for siphoning the air out of the hull.
Plans are currently underway to close off the inside portions of the wreck with metal bars to prevent the build up of trapped air from future scuba divers.
People wishing to watch the "Hilma Hookah" effort in progress, and possibly add their sucking ability to the effort, are being encouraged to go to the Punt Vierkunt dive site at 10AM on Thursday, the 1st of April.
