|
How much actual time was put into Spiral Island's construction?  Richie and Carlos Yescas - March 2001 How much money did he invest into building it? RANDYMAC: Spiral Island has been a labour of love for Reishie. I would have to ask him more specifics for a ballpark cost in actual dollars amounts ($$). Read more Q&A about Richie Sowa's Spiral Island on page 2. Click the Read more link below.
I don’t have the specific dollar cost amounts, but I do believe the main costs were an investment of Reishie’s time and elbow grease efforts to gather the materials, and then the time he spent constructing the actual island. If you include the time others helped Reishie with conmstruction of his island, I’m sure it would be many many man years in the making. And it would be hard to put a dollar cost figure to the construction of Spiral Island. Off course, there have been many expenses over the years and Reishie was helped by others, as has received a number of small donations from his many Spiral Island vistors, and this allowed him to work on his island cause on many occassions rather than having to busk music to afford to live. The plants/ trees .....many appear to be mangroves. I assume that their roots go all the way down to sea-water. Is this true? What other plants/ tress does he have growing on the island? How are they set up to be protected from salt in sea- water? How often does he water the non-mangroves? RANDYMAC: From what Reishie told me, the mangroves he planted on the island came from shoots that he gathered from the banks of the lagoon in the back of Puerto Aventuras resort. He planted the mangroves on top of, the over 10 tons of clear white beach sand that he gathered from a nearby beach, and this beach sand covered the island structure, or the plywood frame that was put on top of the net bags filled with plastic bottles tied together to float the island.  Fishermen's Nets holding plastic bottles Back in 2001, I snorkeled under the island to repair the net bags, and I found that the mangrove roots were all intertwined under the island within the plastic bottles and fisherman net bags. This mass of roots gave the island its’ natural structural integrity, which helped to hold the island intact. In 2001, I’ve snorkeled under the island many times to repair the nets, and it’s a real ecosystem under there. One should see thousands of small fish and ocean creatures that made their home under Spiral Island. It’s a whole chapter or two unto itself.  Small barracuda under the island
What are mangroves?
For those that aren't familiar, mangroves are trees and shrubs that grow in tropical and subtropical tidelands throughout the world in areas that are frequently inundated with salt water due to tidal activity of gulfs, seas and oceans. Mangroves are able to thrive salt water inundation because of specialized rooting structures or their prop roots and pneumatophores, the mangrove's specialized reproduction (vivipary or live birth) and the ability to exclude or excrete salt. The mangroves grew exclusively on the island as it sat in a tidal area in the lagoon in Puerto Aventuras, where it developed into it's own ecological community, collectively called mangroves.  mangrove roots under the island Why did Richie plant mangroves on the island? Richie knew that the mangrove community is valued for its protection and stabilization of lowlying coastal lands and its importance in estuarine and coastal sea creature and fish food chains. He also knew that by planting mangroves on the island would protect it from storm winds, waves, and floods. The amount of protection afforded by mangroves depends upon the width of the forest. Since Spiral Island was the size of a small tennis court or a 66-by-54-foot structure, the mangroves played a very important role in the stability and livability of the island. The mangroves prevented island erosion by stabilizing the beach sand with their specialized root systems. The relationship between mangroves and their associated marine life that thrived under Spiral Island cannot be overemphasized as they provided protected nursery areas for fishes, crustaceans, and shellfish. It is estimated that 75% percent of the game fish and ninety percent of the commercial species in the Maya Riviera of Mexico and Central America are dependent on mangrove ecosystems (Law and Pywell FRC-43). Since the mangroves thrived on Spiral Island, they grew and shed old growth over time, and this provided food for the multitude of marine species such as snook, snapper, tarpon, jack, sheepshead, red drum, oysters, and shrimp. Many animals also found shelter either in the roots or branches of mangroves and they served as rookeries, or nesting areas, for many of the beautiful coastal birds around Puerto Aventuras in the Yucatan peninsula.  Back lagoon in Puerto Aventuras Other types of plants and trees? I will have to ask Reishie what other type of plants and tress that he had growing on his island. Since the Yucatan gets it's fair share of rainfall throughout the year, I think Richie left it up to nature to water the mangroves and plants. Do you have any plans or sketches that you could share? RANDYMAC: Richie made plans for the island and has a book which details the designs throughout the years. There are also a few sketches made by newspapers that have written stories about Richie's Spiral Island, and I will track them down and post these images to this site. I hope to create my own sketches of how I remember the island, based on my own experience and information gathered from my many conversations with Reishie back in 2001. I spent hours listening to Richie describe how he came up with the idea of building the island, and how he planned in the construction of Spiral Island. I read that Sowa plans on attaching some sails and a motor...................has he already attached a motor? At what speed does the island move? RANDYMAC: Yes, Reishie discussed his many future plans for the island back in 2001, and in late January 2001, I donated a new 9.9 Mercury outboard motor to Reishie and we attached it to the back of Spiral Island and it moved the island up and down the lagoon before Richie decided to move the island from the lagoon in Puerto Aventuras to a lagoon just 1 km south. The 9.9 worked hard to move the island, and the speed was probably a whopping 2 kms per hour, without wind, and that's screaming for an island that probably weighs in excess of 20 tons. As for adding sails, keep in mind that Reishie is a dreamer and visionary, and if there is a will, Reishie will find a way to add sails and make it all work one day. More later...
Comments () |
 |
|
|
|
|
