THE LAFARGE BARGE

These pictures were taken at daybreak yesterday. Here is where the barge is sitting at the edge of Enterprise Channel (remember you can click on the images to see them bigger):


And close-up from the front:

I could hear pumps from where I stood, and as it became lighter out, I could see water being pumped out (at a great rate!) on the left-hand side:

(The news report this morning has confirmed that there is a hole in the bottom and they're having to keep pumping out sea water.)

And here it is from the Golf Course on the other side:

My hunch, when I was there, was that this barge isn't going anywhere any time soon! It's listing very badly, and there wasn't any attempt being made to move it. It occurred to me that they'd have to unload whatever its cargo is first to lighten the load, and this morning's news report also confirms that.

Here's the latest Times-Colonist story ... which isn't saying much.

Luckily, it's been calm out there for the past two nights. If the wind comes up again before they can refloat the thing ... well, let's just say we may have a new artificial reef here on Vancouver Island.

Meanwhile, back at the knitting -- I'm teaching a Moebius class at Knotty by Nature this morning based on Cat Bordhi's invitation, and I think it's a great way to start a new year!