This series of posts will take a while for all the pictures to load. Be patient while I do this whole story, OK?

When the ReefCam Came Back to Life:

(Link to BT -- 2 July 2004)

A Quotation from the old thread:

By Daniel Senie on Friday, July 2, 2004 - 7:37 pm:

Greetings folks!

With the assistance of a whole lot of BT folks, plus the marine park folks, we got the mooring block in position this afternoon. We'll have more on the exciting drop of the cubic meter of concrete later.

Second dive, we placed the reefcam, and ran the cable. It was outstanding having so many folks in the water and on shore helping. Made the job go smoothly.

Now the crowd is at Bongo's Beach Bar. Present are: Jake, Linda, Bas and Yana, Dan, Bob & Niki, Roger & Karen Huff, Chuck Schroeder, Liz & Ed Ginocchio, Christine & Paul Hughes.

Special mention to Din, the Marine Park Ranger and Master Mooring Block Positioner, who landed the concrete block right on target, and Marine Park Rangers Sixto and Karl.


Phase One: The mooring block was moved down the slope to its prepared landing spot near the wreck at Eden Beach.

Bob and I knew the group would get to work at 14:00. Dan told us. We were planning on doing land support only, because the next day was our flight home. No diving for us. Oddly, “island-time” took us over at lunch and we were late. The gang was already underwater, so all we could do was document the process from the middle.

First thing we saw was a boat, with Sixto and Karl(?), providing support for Din who was on scuba and staying near the surface (I think due to sinus trouble). Everyone else was below, and the lift bag had just disappeared below the surface.


Fifteen minutes later, air was releasing from the lift bag, boiling up to the surface.

Ten more minutes, and divers began surfacing with huge grins on their faces!

Jake and Dan:


Ed:


Karen:

Chuck and Paul:


Paul:


Roger:

Cynde, help me later by deleting the failed messages, OK?

Niki...*Poof*;-)

Cynde :-)

Christine:

The two major lift bags being drained and hauled in:

The whole crew:
Dan, Ed, Jake, Paul, Christine, Chuck, Karen, Rog


Refer to eye-witness reports
for the amazing underwater details of the Phase One events!
Hint: post your stories below, everyone!
Karen has underwater photos!!

Next, the surface interval with cold drinks and a planning meeting.

Phase Two: Installing the camera and running the cable. The crew used dozens of six-pound lead weights at intervals to keep the cable in place.

Bob holding the reefcam end of the cable which Jake delivered to Dan, who was already down attaching the camera to the block.


This all went smoothly, as far as I know, and here are Jake and Dan relieved to be done with the underwater work!

Phase Three:

Testing the connection of the cable to the server took quite a while and we were all rooting for Dan to get an image before it got dark. Jake and Bob were clowning around outside the air conditioned closet where the server is kept.



But all of a sudden, it’s LIVE!

Everyone gathered around for the excitement!




See that mischievious look on Tim’s face? He (left) and Karen (right), ran to gear up and dive down to the camera before darkness enveloped the new ReefCam.

Great pics and story Niki! Thanks for posting!

Liz G. (white skirt) came back from errands and joined in too.


Fifteen minutes later, we saw the first divers! Actually, the very first thing was an Amstel bottle! Another surprise was a full-moon! The monitor was much brighter than the web upload, so the world missed out on those delights… Your esteemed camera-woman was not fast enough either…

We adjourned to tables at Bongo’s Beach Bar, ooh-ed and aah-ed at the gorgeous sunset, toasted each other, and ate the delicious BBQ!





I look forward to additions from the rest of the team!
Thanks for the great fun, everybody!!
Niki

Din leaving the scene in triumph:

Wonderful Niki!

Wonderful job everyone, and Thank-you so much again.

Niki, Many thanks for these pictures and the story behind the moving of the reef cam. I knew this was gonna be hard work for the guys, almost an impossible task. Jake and the gang will never know just how much their hard work is appreciated. Thank you all for keeping our cyber family intact. I luv you all. Annie B.

Niki, wow, even more! Great report! Thanks again! Looking forward to the other pictures you mentioned..hint hint!

just to be really accurate. The first attempt to sink the complete webcam system at Eden Beach failed. THe current was to strong at that time. So, to complete the history some more images. The webcamsystem was temporarily just below the Wannadive-zodiac.

Wow! Stan, what time is it in your part of the world???

Niki, THANK YOU for posting these pictures...I know that this whole project was no small feat by an stretch of the imagination, and looking at the pictures, it surely was a TEAM EFFORT BY ALL!!!! It is so nice to be able to see the new webcam locations come to life, and a big thank you again to those involved. You will have memories of a project in which you had the privilege of being a big part of a great team:-)

Cynde,
is Bonaire-time +6.
So, early in de morning...hehe. An early start today.

*Poof* Indeed! Thanks, Cynde!

Hi Stan, July 1st there was a terrible current too, and so it was great fortune that smiled on us July 2nd when there was no current.

Niki,

Thanks so much for putting this story together. Great job.

Niki ,

thankyou for the story and the stunning pictures .
(makes me want to dive suddenly, don't know where that came from)

Great effort by all participants and "very much" appreciated

sjosss

GReat story and even better pictures. It's good to see all the familiar faces again...

Hi Niki,

Wow great report, thanks so much taking the time and posting. Pictures, what can I say - wonderful.

Great story, Niki! Thanks for putting it together. Hey Tom! Did you notice the steps at the end of the dock? They must have added them after we left.

Niki, Thanks for taking the time to document this whole adventure!!!! It is great seeing everyone involved in the process!!

Wow, Niki! What a great memorialization of the big event!! The hard work and efforts of all involved is much appreciated by we BT'ers. Thank you ever so much for being a part of it all and for letting us in on the "event" of the Century for we BT'ers! Fantastic job, everyone. Carole

I love the look on Jake's face when it went LIVE! Like, "Holy cow! IT WORKED!"

Niki, perfect on the spot coverage of the cam setup. Meanwhile we were all out here panting in an-ti-ci-pa----tion.

Stan, thanks for adding to the story.

Rusty, like Marcia Brady when she used karate on that guy and flipped him over!! LOL

Niki, kudos to you, it was great "watching" it all happen.

Nikki,
You did a great job with the pictures. I really enjoyed meeting with you I wish we would of had more time to visit.
Karen also took some wonderful pictures of what was going underneath the water.

Christine
this msg was approved by christine Hughes
(for you who are not in usa for both kerry and bush after thier political advertisement they state this msg has been approved by which ever one is running the ad )

Karen and Roger Huff sent me their pictures, with descriptions, let's hope I get this right!

Mooring block - where it sat in the shallows (8 feet) at Eden Beach

Beginning to tie off the lift bags to block


Lift bags almost on


Up she goes!


...and higher still


guiding block and lift bags to area where she was dropped


Dropped ...and there she goes, down the slope (and stopped only feet from intended location!!!)


Jake checking lift bags after mooring stopped


Intended location: 4 rebars and cut-out in position to accept mooring block


Refilling small lift bags in order to man-handle mooring into position


Final check before the big PUSH


Frenchie...checking out the newcomer to the reef


"PUSH...we only have 6 feet to go"


"Got Air?" 018: "...almost there"


Releasing air from lift bags


The local residents coming to welcome the mooring block to the reef


Top of mooring block sitting against rebar


Jake checking out position after shims were put in place


Almost done


It's all in a days work!


Let's take five (our surface interval)


There she sits (for at least the next 3 years)

OK, this was supposed to be right after "Got Air"


And as Karen said:

---

quote:

Next...the placing of the webcam and laying of the cable...(I worked placing weights so didn't have the camera for this portion)

---

Oooh Nelly! That was a job! Look at Ed pushing the block! Look at someone's foot under it!!

Thanks Karen, Thanks Cynde!

I happened to come away with a piece of history, courtesy of Jake:

Niki, you lucky dawg!!! Is Ed the one with the great head of hair...and also of "Liz and Ed????"

Hair?

Or...lack there of? Like Martini?

Correct on both questions, buddie.

Looking at these pictures is just truly amazing...you realize what a HUGE project this was (well, we knew that, but trying to move a mountain underwater is a HUGE feat!)

BTW, just how much does a mooring block weigh....anyone? anyone?

Niki, I think you and Bob should come down South, and Dara can go West, and Karen and Roger can come down and we can do a So Cal Kelp dive...

Neat idea!

WELL, word has it that another BTer may be coming to the Left Coast in August...hmmm....long 3 day weekend?

Off to spend time with Michael...and wish me luck on counting sheep!

Everybody:
what a great coverage of this ( allready to be called) "historic event"

Isn't it just great to see how much work/effort Bt-ers present were willing to put in to get the cams back running???
Makes me a tiny bit jealous actually , they got to be a part of it , and hey Niki even got to keep a part of it

I can't wait till I get a chance to go visit the new location of the cam myself.
Till then : I'll enjoy the cams and the company of all BT-ers on BT

Sjoske

he he he, careful there ladies...

Hey agent Curly

are you going to hunt garibaldis?
Or are you going to test your gadged abroad???

sjosss

Wow! Amazing photos! The work that went into this is incredible!

All of a sudden I realized what a huge job moving the mooring block was. I knew it was tricky but the photos from everyone are priceless for telling the story. Cool.

And I love the French angel and Spanish hogfish peeking in. Funny - it's like the UN sent a couple representatives to supervise the placement!

These pictures are great!!! They really depict what a huge under taking moving the block was. Thanks for sharing!!!!

F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C! Can´t wait to get my picture taken by the webcam!!!!

Cynde...thanks for posting my pictures for me...it seems everytime I post one it gets all messed up...I know everyone says it's not hard but I can't seem to get the hang of it!
"Dive long and prosper"
Karen & Rog

Nice job all and thanks for the work and the pictures.

Cynde, did you slip in a physics question? How much does the block weight? Well here's a case where the weight does equal the mass. First the mass, concrete has a density of 150#/ft^3, if the block is 3'x3'x3' then it would have a mass of slightly over 2 tons (4,050 #'s), water has a density of 63#/ft^3 which would give the block a weight of 2,300#'s which is also how much lift would be required to float it (less if it's smaller).

And if you take all that math into account, that makes it that much more impressive that the Lenny storm surge moved that block at least 15-20 feet with NO help from lift bags, back before we got the webcam hooked up to it. Jake had to have it moved back into place before we could do the initial installation at Small Wall...

Faith

Here's a shot of the mooring block

I shot this on the morning of July 3rd, on my one fun dive of the trip.

Cecil, yes, I did ask how much the block weighed...thank you for your explanation...If anyone lurking has good use for a smart engineer, Cecil's your man, that's obvious!

Faith...wow...I was doing some searching last night about the Baka di Lamen yacht, and came across a thread the day the waves hit Bonaire...Jake had an unbelievable commentary about 10-50 foot waves...I've seen the pics, but never stumbled across his commentary as it was happening...all I could think of were the poor fish and little critters (along with all of the topside destruction!!)

Dan, glad you got one fun dive in...Faith thought you were down there diving diving diving and having brights and having fun (just kidding)

It's obvious from the pictures that you guys had your work cut out for you! I think I'm inspired to write to Scuba Diving mag and send them the link...one of the greatest underwater feats!!!!

I'm pretty sure I had written about 10-15 foot waves. 50 foot waves would have wiped most of Bonaire off the map... :-)

Jake

Jake, I thought a Tsunami had hit...I was imagining 50 foot waves hitting the Salt Pier...thanks for setting the record straight...still was a chilling thread to read...

OK, had to go back and look...it was spray in excess of 50 feet...BIG difference Cynde my girl! DUH! Quote from Jake:

---

quote:

The worst water damage caused by the waves is in the Belnem area, where we witnessed spray in excess of 50 feet high resulting from waves crashing into the shore.

---

I was searching for sites and more information on Hurricane Lenny last evening and came across our old Bonaire E-News publication...(early BT days) for those of you who were not with us back in the "old" days, here is the link to Jake and Linda's wonderful publication. This is the notification of the last issue. For information on Hurricane Lenny start by clicking on the November 1999 box and move forward. I remember when Jake and Linda decided to pull the plug on this wonderful endeavor and news information media...so much controversy invovled....the more things change, the more they remain the same....enjoy the Bonaire E-News and also read up on Lenny and how it was back then....ayo. Carole

PS Jake, I hope you don't mind my posting this link to the old site.....it was such a good one! cb

http://www.bonaireenews.com/

http://www.bonaireenews.com/