The event was organised by Daniel Rogers, a local dive operator. The MBYBC diving section hosted the day with the club president Mr Mike Keet in attendance and although unable to dive himself due to health reasons, he saw fit to tag along as the designated photographer of the day.
The atmosphere was great and a competition quickly developed between the divers and the shore crew to see who could gather the most rubbish on the day.
"The event served to get our shores ready for the influx of visitors during the holidays," said Daniel.
"However, more importantly, it was a way of bringing people together for an afternoon of fun and as diving is our passion, we love to see how divers pull together for the cause of keeping our oceans clean."
Mike Keet of the MBYBC said, "It is always great when we can give back time to clean up the oceans as a sign of our gratitude to all the hours we spend using it as a source of enjoyment.
"The Yacht club has many members who all use the sea for recreation and fun; it is therefore logical that when Adventures Edge asked us to get involved, we gladly offered the club as the gathering place the project. What I didn't realise was how much rubbish is dumped into the sea. We could clean up daily and still would not make an impact, as this was only one beach out of all those available to the public. The results were shocking."
After all the rains and windy days Mossel Bay had recently experienced, Sunday was a hot and glorious day to scratch out the diving gear and spend it in the sun. In the 34 minutes the divers spent under water, no less than five large refuse bags were filled by the underwater team.
Rubbish consisted of everything from PVC pipes, plastic bottles to kilometers of fishing line, hooks and sinkers. The most alarming of items was an old plastic crate (the type you get at the veggie markets), which was broken and simply tossed into the water.
In conclusion, Rogers said, "It would have been great to have more people on the day, however, I am really grateful for all of the people that participated and as volunteers. We will be back with similar events and look forward to more people joining us in future."
The shore crew, Keet (Rear Commodore of the MBYBC dive section and photographer for the day); Susan Oelofse; Roelf Oelofse; Rogers and Alison Farron managed in turn to collect several bags of refuse to make the beach a safer place.
The diving team, getting ready for their first dive of the day to rid the sea of debris. Photo: Mike Keet
The dive team that took care of the underwater clean-up on Sunday managed to recover several bags of rubbish from the sea. The dive team is, from left: Barbara Louw, Marcelle Whittal, Henrico Louw, Susan Jerling, Christo Botha, Bettina van Wyk, Sean Snyman, Stefan Jerling and Edward Terblanche.
ARTICLE: SEAN SNYMAN
