Large barge still beached, awaiting final action
The "Waldo" barge still sits, and waits, at the beach between 10th and 11th Streets.
The fate of the barge that remains on the beach between 9th and 10th Streets is still a mystery, as its owners ponder what to do next, but turning it into a reef isn’t out of the question.
Phil Gauntlett, a spokesperson for American Marine Constructors, Inc. out of Sarasota, is trying to maintain a sense of humor as he contemplates the 135-feet of steel and tons of rock that need to be moved.
“Well, we just haven’t gotten all the gold doubloons out of it yet,” he said. “We have to leave it there for now.” Gauntlett is referring to the wreck, which looks like a rock-laden pirate ship to some. The story of the barge is long and harrowing, but he described the vessel’s journey from beginning to end. “The day they were heading into the Pass it was very stormy with six to eight foot swells,” he explained. “They ended up fighting with the barge for about five hours but couldn’t get it back together. They never even made it into the Pass.”
The barge, which was headed to El Jobean on Monday, Aug. 23, broke loose from the tug that was towing it and wandered from the old “L” dock on the south end of the island (near the Boca Bay Pass Club), all the way up to its current resting place.
When salvage crews went out last Friday, Aug. 27, they found the beached barge had a broken back. “That’s what we call it when it snaps in the middle,” Gauntlett said. “It’s back is broken. The structural steel isn’t good any more, so it has to be salvaged. There’s a lot of people involved in this, from the Coast Guard to the people of Boca Grande, and we want to make the right decision.”
When presented with the idea the barge’s remains be turned into an offshore reef, Gauntlett said that would work very well for his company if all parties involved agreed.
“It’s definitely worth looking into,” he said.
