Her Serene Highness, Lady Long Beach

Introducing… Lady Long Beach!

Tami gets introduced to Lady Long Beach
Tami gets introduced to Lady Long Beach

Steve and his hard-working team at Pisces Divers in Glencairn have been labouring for a few weekends now on their artificial reef at Long Beach. I finally had an opportunity to check it out on a dive with Tony, Tami, Keren, Nils and Corne, and was extremely impressed by their work so far. Check out this awesome contraption to transport breeze blocks – this is ingenuity!

Awesome inner tube transport contraption
Awesome inner tube transport contraption

The main feature (or hostess, if you will) of the reef is Lady Long Beach, who I think used to live in Erika and Steve’s garden. She looks much happier in the sea! We did speak to another diving instructor who said that some students of his came across her on a night dive, just after she’d been placed in the water, and almost jumped out of their wetsuits to see a “wee girlie” (he’s Scottish) standing calmly on the sand, illuminated by their torches!

Her Serene Highness, Lady Long Beach
Her Serene Highness, Lady Long Beach

Recent additions include a large plant pot (which we’ve taken to calling the bird bath) – I think this could be an excellent place to hide, if you’re small enough… And a very impressively constructed, gently curving wall of concrete breeze blocks, held together by cable ties.

The "bird bath", with a large klipfish on its base at the right
The "bird bath", with a large klipfish on its base at the right
Curved wall of breeze blocks
Curved wall of breeze blocks
The wall and Lady Long Beach
The wall and Lady Long Beach

We are so looking forward to seeing how this develops… Artificial reefs are a wonderful habitat for fish and other creatures, and this one is sure to be a popular diver attraction at Long Beach. It’s located 25 metres north of the seaward end of the pipeline… Go check it out!

The Pisces divers' sign
The Pisces divers' sign

Published by

Clare

Lapsed mathematician, creator of order, formulator of hypotheses. Lover of the ocean, being outdoors, the bush, reading, photography, travelling (especially in Africa) and road trips.

Comments are closed.