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CREATIVE CONSERVATION
IN AUGUST LAST YEAR, BVI NONPROFIT BEYOND THE REEF
sank the Willy T, the famous BVI floating bar and party barge that
had been destroyed by Hurricane Irma. In the months before it
was sunk, Willy was converted into an interactive pirate-themed
underwater artwork, with masts and sails, a crow’s nest, a dozen
pirates (made from recycled materials), a bar and card table for
divers to sit at, a treasure chest and cannons strewn about the sea
floor. We asked Kendyl Berna, Beyond The Reef co-founder: why?!
QThis project sounds brilliantly
crazy – why are you doing it?
First, we want to recycle derelict vessels
that would otherwise be discarded as
waste (and would be costly to dispose
of in landfill), creating artificial reefs
in areas that are in need of additional
habitat for fish species and coral
growth. We also hope it creates positive
tourism publicity for the BVI in a
visually interesting way while increasing
the number of dive sites.
But the main goal is to generate
revenue to benefit local children. We
hope that a donation of US$5 will be
collected from every diver on the site,
which will go directly towards teaching
BVI children how to swim. If an average
of 30 people dive these sites each
day, and each donates the suggested
US$5, we will have generated almost
US$55,000 in just one year.
Why is teaching kids to swim so
Q important? Not only is swimming
a fun, social and confidence-boosting
activity that all children should be
comfortable doing (especially when
you live next to some of the world’s
most beautiful beaches), it’s also an
important skill to ensure safety when
living on an island chain.
It’s thought that fewer than a third
of children in the BVI know how to
swim – it might even be closer to one in
ten. This is unfortunate for recreational
and safety reasons, and also narrows
job opportunities in BVI. The ocean is
the BVI’s greatest resource for tourism,
and our hope is that, once local children
become comfortable swimming, they can
benefit from lucrative careers, becoming
boat captains, scuba-diving instructors,
sailing instructors, paddleboarding guides
and surf instructors. Better yet, if kids
learn from a young age that some of the
most fun and lucrative jobs are in ocean
ecotourism, they will be more likely to
protect natural resources.
How did you choose where to sink
Q the Willy T? The boat was sunk in
65 feet of water in Key Bay, Peter Island.
This is a beautiful, peaceful spot only
a short ride away from Road Town, a
sheltered bay with minimal current that
can be dived any day of the year. It’s also
a barren, sandy spot next to a reef that
could use an ecosystem boost. Chris
Juredin (co-founder of Beyond The Reef)
is a ship-sinking mastermind and sank
Willy T perfectly so that the end of the
plank sits about five feet away from the
coral wall. We also situated cannons on
74 | ZiNG CARIBBEAN www.liat.com | January - February 2020