KOLOA — Visitors admired the calm waters and basked in the warmth of the morning sun, unaware of what Josh Helmin and Lynn McQueeny were doing nearby Tuesday morning. The pair, representing the Kauai Down Under Dive Team, hefted shovels
KOLOA — Visitors admired the calm waters and basked in the warmth of the morning sun, unaware of what Josh Helmin and Lynn McQueeny were doing nearby Tuesday morning.
The pair, representing the Kauai Down Under Dive Team, hefted shovels full of debris onto the backs of their personal vehicles for transport to the Hanapepe transfer station, greenwaste section.
Helmin, the owner and manager of the dive shop that operates out of the Sheraton Kauai Resort, said the site is a very good one for divers, and decided they would take it upon themselves to clear out some of the debris that accumulated from Waikomo Stream where it meets the ocean at Koloa Landing following the weekend storm.
“It’s got to be done,” he said. “This is a great dive site so, hopefully, what we do will help make it nice again.”
McQueeny, in the meantime, had already left with one of four loads the pair had managed to accumulate within two hours of starting.
“There’s at least six more loads,” Helmin estimated as he shoveled debris from the boat-launch ramp. “At least we can make a path to the ocean.”
Non-organic marine debris were separated from the remaining organic material that washed down from Waikomo Stream as a result of the storm, and this debris was what the pair was transporting to the transfer station.
Tuesday was a great day for diving, as evidenced by several boats anchored offshore of the Koloa Landing site, and Helmin explained that he had his crews working at their offices so he could do his community service with McQueeny.
The Koloa Landing site is shared with the Koloa Canoe Club as well as used by several dive companies.
Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@pulitzer.net.
