On
Sunday afternoon I was sitting in the cockpit reading when I noticed
a dark cloud overhead. Except it wasn't a cloud it was a plume of
smoke and it coming from somewhere behind the beach front buildings.
Was it a house fire or a car on fire? The smoke was very dark
indicating the source material was man made. The smoke was noxious
and we were directly under the plume.
We
radioed the Port Security to ask for information to help us decide
whether we should move away. The wind was blowing over twenty knots.
Port Security advised the fire was the island rubbish dump and a
pile of tyres were burning. The fire brigade were in attendance and
would be through the night trying to put out a mountain of burning
trash. The local name for the dump is Mount Trashmore.
Fortunately
there were free moorings to the north of where we were so we dropped
the line and moved out of the smoke and into clean air.
On
the day the fire started there weren't any cruise ships visiting,
next day there were four. Of these three anchored further south than
their normal positions and one cruise ship left because of the smoke
hazard for their guests. The fire continued to smoke for three
days. The press blamed deep seated pockets of self generated heat
fanned by strong winds. Seems this isn't the first time Mount
Trashmore has burned.
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