Vacation pool

[phonedave]

We just got back from a vacation at Sandals Resort in St Lucia.

After watching the maintainence staff do their job down there, it is clear they work on island time/attitude. I could tell stories of them getting a pargo dump stuck in the surf while trying to dump rock to build up the jetty, or the guy that was trying to break 4' boulders into size with a 3lb sledge - it made for a lot of fun watching while on the beach.

Anyway.

One day, one of the pools looked a little "less than clear". I said to my wife "That pool is heading south, I would not go it in". The next morning we awoke to seeing it fenced off with a "out of order" sign on the stairs. There were about 6 guys standing around looking at the water, while another pair had the access hatch in the decking open and were stairing at the valves. My wife says to me "I know you are just itching to run out there with some jugs of bleach" but I resisted the urge . They got it all sorted out, and by the next morning the pool was clear again. There was a guy out there with an OTO test kit, but I decided not to bother him.

When we left the island, I looked at the landscape, and I doubt there is a single residential pool. Must make it a pain for the resorts to get supplies for their pools.

-dave

 

[Christian]

Hahaha! I almost fell out of my chair envisioning that poor guy trying to break 4' boulders with a 3 pound sledge!

 

[phonedave]

Hahaha! I almost fell out of my chair envisioning that poor guy trying to break 4' boulders with a 3 pound sledge!

Since it is the coffee bar, I will tell the whole story.

My wife and I scored some beachfront chairs and set up our spot for the day. We were sitting there when about 9 AM a Pargo type dump - one of those small landscaper types that you see on campus settings - comes driving down the beach with a load of rock. They back it into the surf, and procede to dump the rock. However, just as when you stand in the surf at the beach your feet sink in, so did the truck. It a matter of minutes it was up to its rear axles. First they tried to dig it out - talk about shoveling *ahem* sand against the tide. After a couple of minutes of that, a pick-up truck comes driving down the beach. They tie it to the dump with a tow strap (not a recovery strap, there is a difference - a recovery strap stretches so you can "snap" the stuck vehicle out of the mud - or surf). I turn to my wife and say "that is not going to work" as the guy in the pickup guns the engine and proceeses to slide sideways across the beach. After much standing around and doing nothing a masons dump (A "large" dump with a dually rear) comes down the beach with a load of rock. They hook that one up, and it easily pull out the Pargo (to much cheering from the now assembled crowd of resort guests). The masons dump now backs up to dump its load, but they forget to release the tailgate. Luckly they did not stand the truck up, but instead busted off the tailgate and buried it under a pile of rock. Again, after much standing around and looking, they move the rock, dig out the tailgate, and reattach it. The masons dump now drives off.

Three guys now manouver a gabion cage (a big wire mesh cube that gets filled with rip rap to make retaining walls) into the water, where they proceede to sit around it and chat with the various boats that come by while one lone guy takes a 3lb sledge and starts wailing away on the rock pile. after about 15 minutes, one of the three by the cage picks up a 5 gal pail, wades over to the rock pile. Fills it with smaller peices of rock, wades back, and dumps it into the cage. They did this for the last 3 days we were there.

Maybe they have a future as pool builders?

-dave

 

[Christian]

Well, at least you got a show! Sounds like they have the three stooges working on that project though!

 

[phonedave]

Well, at least you got a show! Sounds like they have the three stooges working on that project though!

It has to be a combination of island mentality and a lack of easily available materials. The bathroom in the airport had three urinals, all connected via EMT (metal electrical conduit) - not pipe, to a repurposed toilet tank that was hanging on the wall above them. I guess you flushed the tank to flush all three unirals. Now this was in their large international airport (8 gates - huge). Some of the stuff I saw "about town" was just insane. I guess when you are 100's of miles from the nearest land, you make do with what you have.


-dave

 

[Christian]

:lol: Yeah I have some family that live in Hawaii and that's nowhere near as remote but you still see some very interesting things.