A local man enjoying the beach at Seafield, Ballymoney was surprised to happen upon a larger than normal piece of marine debris.
Local History and heritage enthusiast Owen J Dunbar upon finding the large buoy washed ashore, immediately set about identifying it and establishing what it was doing on his local beach.
The eagle eyed, unintentional beach comber had identified a serial number on the buoy. Well rusted but still legible, he submitted the number to WET TECH who promptly responded to him with details on their missing buoy.
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Todd Carl Operations manager at WET TECH was able to tell Mr. Dunbar that the metal navigational buoy had been manufactured by them in 2005. The buoy had been commissioned following Hurricane Katrina and was moored in The Gulf of Mexico as a marker for a wrecked oil platform that had fallen foul of the angry mistress.
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Naughty buoy 3372899399 appeared to have broken its moorings at some stage in 2007 based on service records. As this particular buoy was not fitted with a GPS tracker, it is believed that the buoy washed ashore in Ballymoney following an epic 17 years at sea.
Finding itself caught in the Gulf Stream and North Atlantic Drift seems to have served it well as after 17 long years at sea the buoy washed ashore at Seafield, Ballymoney in Co. Wexford. What a beautiful place to end up!
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WET TECH began in 1999 as a small family company located in Louisiana, USA
Focusing on offshore navigation aid system inspections and project management services, the next 25 years has seen them grow to be one of the biggest
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Images: Owen J Dunbar / WET TECH
