Wreck of Tirla, Green Island

As we were approaching Green Island we could see a catamaran ‘anchored’ very near the reef. As we got nearer and the waves were crashing over her we realised she was on the reef. Sailing around here, a reef is one place you definitely don’t want to end up! When we arrived it took us a few attempts to get the anchor to hold in the soft sand and the two boats in the anchorage seemed a bit jumpy about their anchors, so we guessed there holding isn’t great. Is that why the catamaran is on the reef, we asked ourselves. Did she drag? But there had been little wind for the last few days?

The next day Chris went to investigate and met two men unloading stuff from ‘Tirla’, for the owner they said; the owner had apparently been taken off the boat the night before. Chris was on the outside of the reef and didn’t want to get too close so didn’t find out any more. Next day he took Susie in the rib into the lagoon behind the reef and then Kayaked up to Tirla. They discovered all the anchors on board were stowed and not used so she hadn’t dragged her anchor. Things on board her had been turned over and Chris guessed more things had gone missing. Slowly she was being pounded by the waves and being pushed farther onto the reef. A couple of days later Chris and Susie went back again to see if she had broken up any more. Chris wanted to rescue her; it seemed such a shame to let a good boat go to waste. While they were there the owner turned up on another boat with some helpers. The owner looked very sick, one of the guys said they had been sailing by in the night and hadn’t seen the reef. They were going to try and get her off the reef with floatation bags, Chris offered the use of ours and any help if they needed it. We never heard any more, later that day we saw them leave and when we left Green Island the following day Tirla was still sat filmy on the reef. Who knows if she will ever leave in one piece or if she will be pounded into little pieces as the weather changes?