The station was visited on July 19, 2023. During this period all components were working effectively. The anchoring systems were still in good condition with butterfly clips still securely fastened. All components were cleared of macroalgae and mooring lines remained in good condition.

 

In accordance with the maintenance schedule suggested by the CCCCC, the CREWS station was visited approximately two weeks post-installation on May 31, 2023 and again on June 29, 2023 to assess its condition. The state of the various components are outlined below.

Condition of CREWS Station Components

Reports had been received that the beacon was not functioning days after the station’s installation. On the first visit, efforts were made to reprogram the beacon. The required codes were entered to test the battery health and reset the beacon to its previous settings. However, it was reported once more that the beacon still remained unlit at night. On contacting the CCCCC technician, it was suggested that the beacon be completely uninstalled from the station and properly assessed prior to its reinstallation. The beacon was uninstalled on June 29, 2023. Once retrieved, the battery was changed, charged and the new flashing code programmed. It was then verified that the beacon was being activated on dim light conditions before being reinstalled on the station on July 5, 2023.

The above-water components of the station were wiped with a cloth and freshwater. One of the bolts connecting the solar panel to the station was noticeably missing. It was reattached to the frame utilising a cable tie (Figure 1). Other than this failure, all other bolts and sensors were in good condition.

Figure 1: Cable tie used to reattach the solar panel

Shackles on the mooring lines were in goood condition beyond a thin coating of algae (Figure 2). The butterfly clips holding the bolts on the anchors were also in good condition.

Figure 2: Bolts at the southern U-anchor

The Seabird water quality monitoring equipment was cleaned and cables remained securely fastened. Some of the butterfly clips on the cage were seen to be straitening on the first visit. This was corrected on the second visit in June. The sacrificial anode will likely need to be replaced soon.

Figure 3: Degrading sacrificial anode.

The CREWS station was finally installed and became operational on March 8, 2023.  It is an anchored buoy located near Dottin's Reef off the southwest coast of Barbados not far from Holetown.  It was purchased by the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC or 5Cs) for the Barbados Coastal Zone Management Unit.  

We are informally referring to the buoy as DRBB2 (Dottin's Reef, Barbados, the 2nd CREWS station) although the National Weather Service in the US will also likely be giving it an all-numeric buoy designation.

The coordinates of the CREWS station location are:

N 13° 11.018'
W 59° 38.77'

Launching, towing and installation of CREWS at Dottin’s Reef

At 6:30 AM, the teams met at the Coastguard base to prepare the CREWS for launching with the travel-lift. Mr. Jones made last adjustments and assured functionality of all systems. The Folkstone Marine Park Rangers were on standby with their vessel to tow the buoy to the installation site. There was very good cooperation among the teams, including Coastguard personnel and the buoy was launched successfully at the slipway. The park rangers spliced a simple bridle for towing and fastened it to the attachment points on top and below the buoy for easy towing without risking that the device would tip over. However, a very slow towing speed was necessary to avoid any risk of damage to the buoy or its sensors. The tow took two hours and thirty-five minutes (8:25h – 11:00h) from the Coastguard base at Bridgetown to Dottin’s Reef near Holetown. Upon arrival at the installation site, two snorkelers were deployed to retrieve the buoy line ends, since the dive boat with the scuba tanks hadn’t arrived yet.

Although they were successful, it turned out that the turbidity instrument was mounted on the side facing the chain and there was the danger that by water movement the heavy chain could reach and bang against the instrument, thereby damaging or destroying it. Thus, the mounting plate and the instrument had to be relocated underwater, for which scuba gear was necessary.  Because of prevalent water current, swell and surge, the exercise, dealing with small nuts and bolts and conventional fasting tools underwater, was quite difficult and took much patience, time (1.5 hours) and skill to succeed.

In the meantime, divers attached ceasing wire to the shackles, but due to the surge, Marijn van der Laan was pushed into the fire coral encrusting the marker buoy of the anchor. He got badly stung around the neck and had to abort further involvement in the installation exercise, due to severe pain. He took several days to recover from the incident. The installation was finalized at around 13:00h, after an inspection dive, including the filming of the entire system underwater.

Upon return to the marina, the SCF crew was dropped in St. James, where all equipment and tools were rinsed and packed for travel. The underwater footage was transferred to external hard drives for sharing with the CCCCC.

Checking of Cured Anchors Installation of Mooring Rigs

 Before picking up the SCF crew, Ms. Howell loaded the two prepared mooring rigs at the coastguard station. As on the previous diving days, the boat trip started from Port Louis. The SCF team was again assisted by the rangers of the Folkstone Marine Park. Three dive teams were formed to check the anchors and to attach the mooring rigs to the anchors with stainless steel shackles.  The inspection of the anchors revealed that the epoxy had settled as anticipated and both, the new anchor pin and the U-anchor were fixed solidly to the bottom substrate and could not be moved even slightly, showing no signs of playroom.

The installation of the mooring lines went without any problems. However, the ceasing wire to secure the shackle pins was deemed not appropriate and it was decided to use a different kind during the next dive. Surface buoys were attached to the rigs to keep the chains of the ground and to be easily retrievable at the time of the actual deployment of the CREWS buoy.As on the previous dive days, upon return to the marina, the SCF crew was dropped in St. James, where all equipment was rinsed and prepared for the next deployment. The underwater footage was transferred to hard drives and batteries charged for the next day.

Assembly of Mooring Rigs Curing of anchor pin

 At 9:00 AM, Albert Jones picked up the SCF crew and they proceeded to the Coastguard base in Bridgetown, to prepare the rigging and set up the instrumentation for the CREWS buoy. The Barbados CZMU, including Ian Timothy, Shonée Howell and Richard Suckoo was present, and they were taught in the assembly techniques, including line splicing et cetera. Parallel, they could observe the instrument setup, conducted by Mr. Jones.  Furthermore, discussions were held with the travel-lift operator and officers of the Coastguard, about how best to launch the CREWS buoy. Modifications to the standard setup of the travel lift would have to be made, exchanging standard pulleys to smaller ones, in order to balance the CREWS buoy and avoiding tip-over to either side.  Another challenge was that the buoy had to be lifted high enough to allow attachment of the counter-weights. No issues were encountered and all aspects of the mission for the day were concluded successfully.

Buoy Rigging

 

Installation of Anchor Pin Structural Enforcement of U-anchor

The team was picked up again by Ms. Howell in St. James at 9:00 am and they proceeded to Port St. Louis. A new air pump had to be bought to pressurize the electric underwater drill on the way.  The group was met at the marina by the Folkstone Marine Park Rangers and a fisherman, who was captaining the second boat. The gear was loaded onto the two boats. To leave the option open to install a cement anchor, favorable for limestone substrate, the first group drove by boat to Holetown to purchase cement that could be used underwater, while the other group picked up cement and epoxy anchors, as well as “Liquid Rock” two-component epoxy at the Folkstone Marine Park office. When the two groups met at the installation site, two dive teams were formed:  one to install a new anchor, and the second one to reinforce the North U-anchor. The dives went as planned, without any major issues. The park rangers were cautioned not to untie the boat until all divers had safely exited the water.  As on the previous day, upon return to the marina, the SCF crew was dropped in St. James, where all equipment was rinsed and prepared for the next deployment. The underwater footage was transferred to hard drives and batteries charged for the next day.

Assessment of Mooring Site Anchor Stress Test

At 9:00 am Ms. Howell picked up the SCF team at their accommodation in St. James and drove
them to Port Louis, the starting location for the dive trip to Dottin’s reef. There they were met by three officers of the Folkstone Marine Park.  The marina was chosen, because from there it was easiest to load heavy dive equipment, tools and materials onto the boats. Because of the larger group, including six divers, two boats, the 17’ Boston Whaler of the marine park and an additional 21’ pirogue, a fishing vessel, were necessary to conduct the work. The pirogue was captained by a local fisherman. Travel time to Dottin’s reef by boat was approximately 15 minutes.

A briefing was held outlining the objectives of the dive:

a) Locate the North- and South U-anchors,

b) Confirm depth and GPS coordinates of each anchor,

c) Measure the exact distance and cardinal orientation of the anchors in relation to each other,

d) Evaluate the condition and suitability to the task of each U-anchor,

e) Clean the anchors from marine growth and corrosion

f) Perform a stress test to confirm the integrity of the north anchor,

g) Scout for potential alternative anchor installation sites.

Dive teams and specific tasks for each diver were assigned, as well as relevant safety procedures reiterated. Because of the well qualified dive team and good coordination, only one, instead of the planned two dives was necessary to accomplish all objectives.

The South U-Anchor proved to be in perfect condition, as already reported in the report by Renata Goodridge. The Folkestone marine park rangers had already cleaned the anchors and there was very little sign of corrosion on the stainless-steel anchors. 

Nonetheless, the North U-Anchor was found bent significantly, although it had not moved at all and seemed solidly secured in the bottom substrate.  The stress test on the anchor at approximately 2,500 rpm by 2 x 150 hp Yamaha outboard engines showed that it was still very stable and the marine park vessel was not able to bend the U-anchor any further. Hence, there is a high probability that a large vessel had previously tied to it previously,  exerting a large force on the system, without damaging it. The continuous force of that vessel had to be much larger than the CREWS buoy could ever pull with, even in harshest conditions.  However, a crack seems to have developed between the two embedded anchor pins and some

play could be felt in the upper bore holes when attempting to wriggle the anchor.  Hence, it was decided to fortify the existing U-anchor by chiseling the crack deeper and fill it with special two-component “Liquid Rock” epoxy. Additionally, a new drilling spot would be scouted the next day to install a backup single-eyed anchor.

The stress test on the anchor at approximately 2,500 rpm by 2 x 150 hp Yamaha outboard engines showed that it was still very stable and the marine park vessel was not able to bend the U-anchor any further. Hence, there is a high probability that a large vessel had previously tied to it previously, exerting a large force on the system, without damaging it. The continuous force of that vessel had to be much larger than the CREWS buoy could ever pull with, even in harshest conditions.  However, a crack seems to have developed between the two embedded anchor pins and some play could be felt in the upper bore holes when attempting to wriggle the anchor.  Hence, it was decided to fortify the existing U-anchor by chiseling the crack deeper and fill it with special two-component “Liquid Rock” epoxy. Additionally, a new drilling spot would be scouted the next day to install a backup single-eyed anchor.

Upon return to the marina, the SCF crew was dropped in St. James, where all equipment was rinsed and prepared for the next day. The underwater footage was transferred to hard drives and batteries charged for the next day.

Introductory meeting with Barbados Coastal Zone Management Unit (CZMU) and Coast Guard

Upon invitation by Coastal Zone Management Unit (CZMU), the Saba Conservation Foundation (SCF) team, including Albert Jones of the Caribbean Community Climate Change Center (CCCCC), met with CZMU staff at 11:00 am at the Warrens Tower. The meeting was chaired by Dr. Leo Brewster (Director). Other participants included Ian Timothy (Field Inspector), Shoneé Howell (Water Quality Technician) and Richard Suckoo (Marine Biologist).  Actions to date were discussed and a work plan for the next 10 days was outlined.  Afterwards, the CREWS buoy sensors, equipment and materials were inspected at the storage in the basement of the tower.

After lunch, Ms. Howell took the SCF crew and Mr. Jones to the Barbados Coast Guard (BCG) facility, where they were introduced to helpful personnel. There they were also met by Lieutenant Marshall who took them to the warehouse where the CREWS buoy was stored and where the assembly and the launching of the buoy would take place, in preparation for towing to the planned site.

Tools were inspected and discussions took place on how to move the buoy. Specifically, the travel lift posed some challenges, because the usual straps would need to be replaced by smaller ones. Instead of four, the buoy only has 3 attachment points. Hence, adjustment needed to be made to keep the buoy balanced and prevent it to tip to either size, potentially causing damage to the sensor arrays. Mr. Jones stayed to continue assembly of the instruments on the buoy, and returned later that day and next to continue the work.