Diamond Boats

The photo was taken at Lambert's Bay, West Coast, Western Cape Province in South Africa. These are in-shore boats, the smaller cousins of off-shore boats. (wow!)The large diameter hoses (on the jetty and trailing behind the boats on the sea surface) are simply large vacuum hoses that suck gravel off the seabed and onto the boats where the gravel is sorted. The hoses are operated by divers; hard, cold and exhausting work, so much so that the divers can work a mere 6 days a month.

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