They came, they saw and they cleaned up. That was the case last Saturday in the waters of Deep Bay as a volunteer group led by Island diver Amber Spitkovski spent the afternoon diving and dragging up junk from the ocean floor.
It was a group effort that took divers, kayakers, boaters and plenty of volunteers to help drag, sort and ultimately haul away the garbage once it got ashore.
"There were 31 recorded volunteers," Spitkovski said. "We collected 827 lbs of underwater garbage and there's stuff we saw but couldn't get up. And there are still more areas to look in."
Divers reported murky water down deep but there was enough visibility to see and haul up junk. They left some items behind because of size, like a stove top, but brought up a garbage list that included two deep-cycle marine batteries, an outboard motor, three generators, a very large battery charger, plenty of electronics, a crab trap, lots of rope, a blender and miscellaneous boat garbage.
Spitkovski says that the help from all the individuals and Bowen businesses made the clean-up a great success. "A huge thank you to everybody," she said. "They all did such a great job."
Joining the clean-up were divers Adam Taylor, Larry Morse, Brian Hartwick, Sean Hartwick, Vince Huggins, Noelle De LaVega, Brad Lysak and Amber Spitkovski and boaters Greg Smith and Moe, Peter Mathews, Mike Bingham and Cam Rolfe. The kayakers were Ed Kane, Barbara Wiltshire, Karla Everitt, Bridget Knipe, Mercia, Nicola Murray and Collin Cossette. As shore coordinator, Conrad Juraschka did a fabulous job. Roy Mulder, Ed Jordon and Marcus Hondro took care of the documentation. The Chillbillies provided musical entertainment. Food was donated by Ellen and Louise from the Ruddy Potato, Joan and Piers from the Snug, Nancy's Tacos and the Village Baker. And the effort was supported by generous donations from The Edge Dive Center (Mike Delaney), Bowen Island Sea Kayaking (Martin Clarke), Bowen Island Marina (Norma Dallas), USSC (Rondy Dike), David Smith, Ian Henley, an anonymous donor and the Bowen Island Municipality (Will Hilsen).
