Guardian of the Reef

Read about what it's like to sink a 1,100-pound statue in Grand Cayman!

Steven P. Hughes

I’m waiting at 60 feet with about 30 other divers while an 1,100-pound, 17-foot statue dangles above us. Divetech owner Jay Easterbrook and his crew grapple at the surface with the piece, trying to jockey it into position so it can be placed atop its 14,000-pound concrete pedestal, which the team placed yesterday — when it was downed, a concussive wave of sand and water knocked a safety diver backward 20 feet. I’ve come to Grand Cayman to witness the end of the statue’s journey to its new location of the dock at Lighthouse Point Dive Resort.

Guardian of the Reef — a mythological creature that’s half ancient warrior and half seahorse — has been 10 years in the making. It’s traveled 4,552 miles, from a studio in British Columbia, Canada, to Grand Cayman. Its last land leg was an I-can’t-look journey: strapped atop a truck, driven from Divetech’s Lighthouse Point location to George Town’s harbor, lowered into the water, attached to heavy-duty lift bags, and then towed by a small boat back to Lighthouse Point. A circuitous route, but neither the concrete base nor bronze statue could be dragged out from the Lighthouse Point shallows.

The statue is floating horizontally, and the team is focused on getting it vertical. From below, it looks like a drunken frat-boy scene from Animal House. The statue’s sculptor, Simon Morris, is in the water, and I think he’s biting his nails.

The statue is lowered onto its base, and the team works to secure bolts. Guardian, a symbol of Grand Cayman's commitment to conservation, now presides over a sand-bottom realm. Long may he reign.

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