Wednesday is Photo Day

TomY

Alden Forum Moderator
Jun 22, 2004
2,758
Alden 38' Challenger yawl Rockport Harbor
No doubt everyone knows about the carnage in Italy due to the corona virus. Places like Venice which are over run by millions of tourists every season have been closed up tight for a few weeks now. Everything in Venice comes by boat (no roads) and of course the canals are opaque to look at and polluted beyond sustaining life. The pollution was thought to be sewage.

In fact (residents are discovering), the pollution these days is more due to the human traffic and wash from roads, buildings and sidewalks.

After a few weeks with no human traffic (excepting a few locals), the canals began to clear up. Locals have been amazed to see the bottoms of the canals for the first time in lifetimes. And without the flow of chemicals and excess sewage or thousands of spinning propellors, small schools of fish have begun to be seen in the clearing water. Unbelievable.

We are loving Venice to death.

Venice canal fish 2.jpeg


Venice canal fish.jpeg
 
May 1, 2011
4,192
Pearson 37 Lusby MD
Wow! Visited a few times on business a lifetime ago - sure wasn't like the photos above. Tks for sharing.
 
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Oct 19, 2017
7,733
O'Day 19 Littleton, NH
Swimming with the sharks....from the safety of a shark cage. Galapagos sharks off the North Shore of Oahu.View attachment 176432
They're all swimming away. What'd you do, Phil?


Met a couple of those Galapagos Reef Sharks in the Galapagos. Our guide took us all out on a hammerhead safari. Just snorkel equipment, no cages. We tried our best to look like a school of bait fish. I thought we were doing a pretty good job, but no hammerheads showed up except at a distance. Only a curious Galapagos reef shark came out to see what was going on.

-Will (Dragonfly)
 
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Oct 22, 2014
20,996
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
Did you get to see the Whale Sharks that visit the East side of the reef near Gladden Spit Marine Reserve?
 

WayneH

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Jan 22, 2008
1,039
Tartan 37 287 Pensacola, FL
No. I was snorkeling with my wife who doesn't snorkel because "THERE ARE THINGS IN THE WATER THAT WILL EAT YOU!" Her emphasis, not mine. Anyway we swam along the side of the cut and then crossed over to the other side. She's marveling the whole time. We get back to the boat and she asks when do we go out into the Caribbean? I get to tell her "You remember those two scuba divers way down below us when we crossed over?" "They were in the open ocean."

Swimming pool clarity evidently reduces stress. ;)
 
Feb 11, 2017
122
former Tartan 30 New London, CT area
Loved the report on Venice - we live on a resilient planet, we just have to give it half a chance! But how to limit the number of tourists?
Re: canals and bridges. Was in Hamburg, Germany recently. More bridges over canals than Venice! U-bahn great for getting around town, S-bahn for visiting the surrounding villages. Spent a few days - could see spending a few weeks!
 

WayneH

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Jan 22, 2008
1,039
Tartan 37 287 Pensacola, FL
I saw pictures of the San Antonio Riverwalk on Twitter today. It has cleared up completely. Not going to stay that way. The city makes way too much money from people riding the riverboats.
 
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BruceC

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Oct 6, 2008
37
Oday 26 So. Orleans
Venice canals must have been cleaned up significantly since we were there 53 years ago; back then there was nothing swimming there except garbage!
 
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TomY

Alden Forum Moderator
Jun 22, 2004
2,758
Alden 38' Challenger yawl Rockport Harbor
Venice canals must have been cleaned up significantly since we were there 53 years ago; back then there was nothing swimming there except garbage!
It's an amazing side bar to the sadness in Italy right now. Will this incredible improvement in environment from a pandemic time-out, inspire Venice to re-set itself in some ways, and is that even possible? It's happening in several places around the globe as man made pollution abates, temporarily.

Because it's on FB, I can't attach the video but I've been amazed by one in a back canal in Venice. We've been there a couple of times and I have never seen the bottom of any canal. Amazingly, this vid shows a Cormorant chasing schools of fish in the 'back alley' canal. He is eating them and quite content with his new - temporary, habitat. The scene is clear to see in the water with the fish, bird and canal bottom in perfect view.
 
Jan 22, 2008
8,050
Beneteau 323 Annapolis MD
Venice canals must have been cleaned up significantly since we were there 53 years ago; back then there was nothing swimming there except garbage!
Remnds me of a visit to Ft Myers, Fl to see mom. The evening news did a story that I don't recall the subject of. News event story completed, one guys said, "That's the greatest thing since sliced bread". The other asked what was the greatest thing BEFORE sliced bread? The first one says, "Florida, before the snowbird tourists came". Chicka-boom.
 
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Jul 7, 2004
8,402
Hunter 30T Cheney, KS
I saw pictures of the San Antonio Riverwalk on Twitter today. It has cleared up completely. Not going to stay that way. The city makes way too much money from people riding the riverboats.
They drain it completely, annually I think to clean it. The newest things they are finding now are those scooters/razors for rent.
The boats are going all electric BTW.
 
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Feb 11, 2017
122
former Tartan 30 New London, CT area
Re: the canals in Hamburg. Everything in Hamburg drains to the Elbe river - eventually. There may have been a swimming beach on the Elbe well downstream of Hamburg, but I wouldn't bet on it (or swim there). The city itself has a large lake, the Alster, which seems to be a collection point for multiple canals. It has a lot of boating activity, but NO swimming. The lake eventually drains to the Elbe.
Cleaning up the Alster would take a big commitment by the city of Hamburg. Could it be done? Sure, just look at what's happened in Venice!
Would they want to? I didn't sense any desire by the locals to clean the Alster or the canals.
Can Venice keep clean canals and still keep tourists? Obviously, but not with the number of tourists it has had in the past. There are many ways to limit tourists, but whether they want to is up to the people of Venice.
 

DArcy

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Feb 11, 2017
1,691
Islander Freeport 36 Ottawa
Hamburg is a great city; there are some beautiful sand beaches along the Elbe. There is one right at the Teufelsbruk ferry dock but I wouldn't swim there. I was surprised at the number of mooring slips on lake Alster considering it can't be more than a mile long and the canals seem pretty cumbersome to navigate with all the bridges and locks. The warehouses on some of the canals are pretty cool, mostly converted to condos now but some of them still have the cranes above from when they were there to unload cargo from barges.
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The harbours along the Elbe have a wonderful assortment of vessels from small private boats, ferries, tour boats, sailing ships, to ocean going cargo ships.
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