Re: [Paddlewise] There's Bombs in them there waters!

At 04:19 PM 7/20/2004 -0400, Rick.Sylvia_at_ferguson.com wrote:
>"Hey" P'wisers.  I haven't posted much in the last few months... I've been
>having difficult times at work and at home.  But, something came up recently
>that I just had to share with the group.
>[snip]
>First.... DAMN!!!!  That's my back yard and usual paddling spot, and now I
>can't go there for a while!  On the other hand, DAMN, do you know how many
>times I swam in the shallows, walked the beach, and drug my boat around over
>sand bars and stuff!!!!!!!  I could have been blown up!

A couple of years ago I was vacationing a bit south of you in Duck, NC 
(Outer Banks).  The oceanfront house we rented was just down the beach from 
a military installation.  Apparently, prior to development in the area in 
the early 1970's the area was used as a bombing range.  As you drive down 
the road past the military installation there are signs warning to stay out 
of the area because there are unexploded ordinances.  That I knew about.

I was sitting on the beach the first day I was there and noticed what 
appeared to be a small shack floating a few hundred feet off shore.  I had 
a look through my telephoto lens on my camera and could see someone walking 
around a platform that surrounded the "shack".  The next time I looked at 
it about 10 minutes later it appeared that it was getting closer to 
shore.  I watched it for awhile and, because there was a pier just behind 
it, could see that it was definitely moving.  When it got about 200' from 
shore I could see that the "shack" appeared to have metal "legs".  As it 
got closer I could tell that it wasn't floating at all, but actually moving 
along the bottom.  It eventually made it to shore and the "legs" were 
connected to large wheels and it just drove up onto the beach and onto the 
military installation.

I found out later that this "shack" was actually a mine collector.  The 
shoreline near the military installation was heavily protected with mines 
to keep submarines from coming close and they are still finding them.  A 
day or so later I heard a couple of loud explosions coming from the 
military installation and a local said that it was actually fairly common 
for them to find a mine and explode it on land.
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