Who doesn’t love a shipwreck? The Kalk Bay and St James Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association, for one. This fishing boat ran aground inside Kalk Bay harbour over two years ago, and is now apparently a drug den and source of a variety of illicit activities that plague the residents of Kalk Bay. Predictably DAFF, who must make the final call on dismantling or removing the vessel, have failed to act, probably because they’re too busy awarding illegal tenders and going on overseas trips.
Tony and I visited Kalk Bay harbour in a gap between a series of winter storms, and popped down to the beach (right next to the main road) where the ship is aground. It is not in good shape, with the bow half melted after a fire. The vessel is obviously inhabited, with a small laundry line in place on the superstructure.
We would love a new wreck dive, if permission could be obtained from the relevant parties (DAFF, basically) to tow this boat out of the harbour and sink it in deeper water. The example of Malta in this respect is salutary.
In addition to these photos, I also walked partway around the boat and took this video:
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=os1fKBRAyOk&w=540″]
If the quality looks totally horrible, please adjust your youtube player to show it in HD or at a higher frame rate… Helpfully, youtube reduces the quality at which it plays back video based on how fast it detects your Internet connection to be. In South Africa, that’s not very fast.
One thought on “Boat aground in Kalk Bay harbour”
Comments are closed.