Never Dull: Oyster Dome Construction

Finished concrete oyster domes

Did you know that West Coast oysters are sweeter than East Coast oysters in the USA?  But Tampa Bay oysters filtering our waters are not for eating as they have too many pollutants! An adult oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water per day removing algae, including types that cause red tide, and also nitrogen pollutants. Fun facts to know and tell when building oyster domes on a Thursday morning at Tampa Bay Watch.

Here's how to build a dome or 'reef ball' with a fiberglass mold:

1. build your mold from 3 pieces and hammer in the bolts/wedge pins; secure to the base ensuring the two top holes for the metal rod line up
2. spread a little concrete dust around the inside bottom to ensure a seal and then place in 3 balloons to form holes, and insert the buoy/bladder in the center. 
3. Run metal rod through two holes and top of buoy
4. Inflate buoy/bladder and seal inflation point with plug
5. Spray a sugar water mixture (1 pound sugar to 1 US gallon of water) inside to act as a non-toxic lubricant to keep concrete from sticking to the fiberglass mold
6. Mix concrete and pour into the mold, vibrating mold with a rubber mallet as you go to ensure no air bubbles
7. Spray with water sparingly to ensure access to the bladder and removing any spilled concrete from the metal rod and the outside of the mold
8. Let dry for several days
9. Using hammer, bang out the metal rod and concrete at top of mold to release the buoy/bladder
10. Remove bladder; bang out the wedge pins and remove mold pieces
11. Hammer out ballons, stack concrete mold
12. Tidy up areas of any concrete dust/pieces and clean off any excess concrete from the mold
13. Place the domes in water between high and low tide, creating habitat for oysters

oyster domes at work
source: Tampa Bay Watch

This morning we made 19 oyster domes and set them out to dry.  We freed another 20 or so made Tuesday so we could re-use the molds to make our 19.  Great fun (and lots of dust) was had by all!

Tuesday night eating dinner,reflecting on the antics in our local "City" politics (if <5,000 people can be a city - without a cathedral!), and watching the Gulf of Mexico with the surf up, what did we see . . . but a sailboat beached on our offshore sand bar.

The boat apparently ran aground and had to be rescued by a small tug that circled it several times before getting it adrift and towing it back to John's Pass.

from Janis and Larry Andersen travel blog

Our sandbar apparently also occasionally "traps" manatees along the shoreline and then they have to wait for high tide to get back out to sea.

cormorant on left; dog with woman on right

The next thing we saw was a small dog chasing a cormorant - not once, but twice and then three times - and clearly the cormorant was injured and could not fly.This says it all about unleashed dogs (or owners!) on the beach . . . and I like dogs! We called for professional help, but none seemed to arrive and the cormorant had disappeared by morning :-(

Now for a less demanding and cleaner evening of sewing & stuffing pillows for the kids at All Children's Hospital.  The poly-fil stuffing has been growing steadily ever since I released it from the box in which it came - I think it is now double the size it was in the box! Hubby finds this a bit spooky!