VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — A 36-foot cabin cruiser that has definitely seen better days has been in Broad Bay for more than a month now, sitting in shallow water about 100 feet from the otherwise pristine shoreline of First Landing State Park.
It’s a complicated and costly process to get rid of it.
“There’s no easy and affordable way to get rid of an unwanted vessel,” said Mike Provost, president and founder of Virginia Maritime Solutions.
In the meantime, it’s an eyesore and a hazard to people and sea life. Provost has boarded the boat and surveyed it, and says he found oil, chemicals, trash, paint solvents and other environmental hazards.
A clam and oyster farm sits nearby.
“[The farmer] is very concerned about the next storm that rolls through. It might push the vessel off the beach, and if it rolls through his farm, it’s going to completely destroy it,” Provost said.
He says the boat had been on the Lynnhaven River before it got to Broad Bay. While he’s not sure exactly what happened, he doesn’t think it drifted that whole way.
“It was tied up along the shoreline to a tree for several weeks, and then kind of overnight it ended up here at First Landing.”
The process of removal will involve several steps.
“You have to de-water it, get it afloat and get it towed over to First Landing State Park,” Provost said. “Cut it up into pieces in the parking lot, and then we’ll transport the pieces to a local landfill.”
Provost and his company are looking for help — and even corporate sponsorships with a GoFundMe — in an effort to raise about $19,000.
He says this is just one of many abandoned and derelict vessels in the area. His company is working with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, First Landing State Park, Lynnhaven River NOW and other organizations to solve the problem.