One of the most photographic sites above the water on Guanaja are two rusting boats that are in the mouth of the Canal. They were hauled into safe harbor in 1974 in anticipation of Hurricane Fifi and remained there after the storm; stuck in the mud and rusting away. On one of our dive trips to the island, in 1989, I took a photo of the two fishing boats and put it away.
Lately, I dragged it out, scanned it and decided to include it in my blog. Why? Because after all these years being a photo attraction, some people of the island found they could get money for the rusting steel. I don't have any idea who pays for rusty steel, but there must be a market for it because late last year people descended upon the boats and started stripping them.
Just before that, I had notice a tree growing on the deck of one of the boats! Yes, a tree. Out in the middle of the water, on a rusty deck. Before I could get a photo, however, the men attacked the boat stripping them of their top cabins and, in the process, broke the tree.
But it lives! It was somewhat bent but had begun the process again of putting forth shoots again. I wanted to share these photos as an honor to the perseverance of Mother Nature. It is sometimes just unbelievable where plants will start to grow. Trees out of rocks, trees in salt water, plants on trees, the list goes on and on.
From the photos you can see the boats are not nearly the photo opportunity they were before. Now they are just ugly, rusting hulks in the water but still of some use. For life has rooted there and in making this valiant effort it shows that anything is possible!
Mother Nature never gives up and tries to make something beautiful out of what is scarred and ugly.
No comments:
Post a Comment