The 3 Ds Plus Two More

The Three "Ds": Dirty, Difficult and Dangerous

At the beginning of the video "heavy lifting," you saw Jesus Martinez ( red shirt ) and several others struggling with a heavy rock.  At the end of the same video, you saw a young man in yellow nearly fall with a heavy rock in his hands.  This was dirty difficult and dangerous work and their are plenty more examples.   Below is a picture of an adaptation of a bucket brigade only this rock brigade is standing on (what is for me) a nerve wrackingly high wall.

Arq.  Montoya frequently put himself in risky situations in order to gather information or direct operations.

These steps are normally covered by sand and are directly in front of the  steps to the beach.  See note at end of this entry.

Disheartening

The work was not only dirty, difficult and dangerous, it was often disheartening.

Recall that the first attempt to plug the breach failed.   Accordingly, Arq. Montoya changed his plan from using sandbag forms to using wooden forms supported by timbers.   This is a different technology.   The needed materials arrived early in the day and the forms were constructed by the end of the day which coincided with low tide.  Everything was ready for the cement.  But the order of cement never arrived.

Without cement, the forms were not supported on one side and over night the relentless wave action disassembled the form and in the morning we awoke to see the forms askance and floating and that the previous day's work was lost.  See below.

Similarly, at the north end of the wall, a fresh pour of cement was undermined and broke away taking a good sized section of wall with it.

The disheartening nature of this development is well shown in the following short video entitled "Not Good"

In addition the hole below the wall was at a very low elevation  making  it virtually impossible to clear direct access to it.   Furthermore, the high tide and lack of beach made it impossible to work from the  ocean side (see video "Not Good" ).   Accordingly, cement had to be pumped into the breach from the inside  against the  wave action on the outside.   The photo below shows that much of the newly pumped in cement bled out and into the sea before the breach was finally sealed.

For nearly a month the solution to one problem heralded a new problem.

And another new sink hole!

Determination

But the dirty difficult, dangerous and sometimes disheartening situation was met with stubborn determination and an always coherent plan of action that was supported by high moral, lots of personnel and lots of energy.   I haven't any video of this but frequently, after unloading, the workers would run back to refill their empty wheelbarrow.   The moral and determination is not so easily captured on film, but the following pictures illustrate those days well.

Oralia hoses down a hot, muddy worker

When your wheel barrow goes in the drink, There is only one thing to do!

Pull it out.

The video "Problem Solving" illustrates this determination very well.   With the south end of the wall water tight, water could not drain out, creating a one meter deep, muddy bottomed  lake in the unfilled private beach area.   Sandbags, each weighing about 50kg were required in the central section.   The problem was to get the sand bags to where they were needed.  Check out the video  "Problem solving" to see the world's first amphibious wheel barrows in action.

All in all this was an amazing effort of a team held together by Arq. Montoya's leadership and planning and while I don't want to make this an annual event, I will remember September, 2014 as a time when human intelligence, spirit and determination won the day in a battle with the elements.

  Montoya's Army

Note Rock Brigade in Right Foreground.

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Note:

Steps seen from North Sundeck

Steps Seen from Beach At Low Tide September 12

The Response to Norbert

The Response to Norbert

Lesson learned

The first attempt to deal with the problem of drainage under and through the wall was to use the easiest, quickest and least expensive means possible.  That is: cement was transported by wheel barrow and contained by forms made of sandbags.   The results of this effort were disappointing. We awoke the next morning to see the previous days work in complete disarray.

The photo below shows the excavation required to expose the breech below the cement that was poured the day before.

Undaunted, Arq. Montoya escalated his response by excavating deeper and using wooden forms and timbers to contain the cement which was delivered by pumper truck.    He also hired more experienced construction workers capable of multitasking and heavy lifting.  They were an amazing workforce and definitely were inspired by Arq. Montoya  who was always at the centre of the action.  See note at end about sandbags.

The following picture shows the first result of this patching, bracing, plugging effort.   ¡It is beautiful isn't it!

You can best get the feel for this dirty, difficult and dangerous action from the following short videos.  The videos bring to life the still images and commentary.

Heavy Lifting II.                http://youtu.be/bULl-mOSduA

Here Comes the Cavalry.  http://youtu.be/W6eup1Y38vE

Holding our Own.             http://youtu.be/OL8QzAehJlU

Encouragement.               http://youtu.be/MZQJcSMWd7Y

Cement.                           http://youtu.be/nub2NBUDABQ

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Note: Although sandbags were not used again to make the primary forms, they were used to: support wooden forms;  prevent superficial erosion of the beach surface; fill holes; and reduce erosion on both sides of the seawall.  

Norbert

Early Days

A significant hurricane hit seafront Mazatlan last season.   Though it  passed well to the west of Mazatlan and brought minimal rain and wind, it pushed very high waves towards the coastline.   It also coincided with extremely high tides and a "super moon."

The  hurricane was named Norbert.  Norbert was our introduction to "waves without wind".  Thus we could be in the palapa, drinks in hand, watching huge waves dumping sandy sea water into the pool and not get wet from blown spray.  To get a feel for this, see:  http://youtu.be/Db8n13dc0HQ .   

One wave was so strong that when its direction was changed 90 degrees as it slammed into the sea wall,  it shot straight up and lifted the roof from one of the small palapitas on the private beach.  It was like a giant water uppercut.

Following are some photos that show the "Early Days"

A few Scattered Sandbags....Nothing to be alarmed about here.

The waves are big, but the Palapa bar is open.

There is a little disarray but no cause for concern.

Paraiso 2 is not faring so well.  A huge volume of water is exiting below their wall.....taking their private beach with it.

Uh oh!!! Looks like we have a similar problem.

Huge volumes of water are coming over the wall and exiting slowly.  

However, we are optimistic. Check out Daniela's Winston Churchill "V" for Victory!

We are going to have this place cleaned up in nothing flat!

It looks like the water is exiting very slowly.   Exiting is bad!  Very slowly  is good!

But quite suddenly we can see that the water is draining faster and faster!   Where is the water getting out???   Arq. Montoya dons mask and snorkel to check it out.

As Milton said:  "they also serve, who only stand and wait"

And over time, the "hole below the wall" gets bigger and soon we can see the sand of the private beach return to its mother.

The Sand is Washed out by huge volumes of water coming over the wall.

Note: (1) In this month of high tides, this is low tide!!! (2) The beach is all but gone (3) water has drained out taking the private beach sand with it; (4) and the condition of the wall is precarious!!!

The strategy to protect the wall is straight forward.   Plug the hole to stop the erosion of our sand and then back fill to brace the wall against the waves.  The first step...build a "highway".

Then create forms with sand bags.

Arq.  Montoya is involved at every step. 

The cement is transported by wheel barrows. 

This is dirty, difficult and dangerous work!  

Notice the erosion and the now cantilevered steps from the pool deck to the "private beach" and that all hands are on deck.   Here we can see Adolpho in foreground,  Arq. Medina (wearing cap in background) and Juan Carlos (blue shirt by yellow bag)

The cement is poured and is setting up.....

And it is Monday, so it is potluck time.

But wave action over night destroys all of yesterdays work.  

Arq. Montoya always had a plan of action.   If sandbags and wheel barrows were ineffective, he would find something that worked!

Read the next post (The Response to Norbert) to see what happens next!

P2 fared worse than we did

Still early days,  These pictures were taken around Sept 5

Still early days.  "We'll have this cleaned up in nothing flat!"

 Except the waves kept,coming and coming and the huge volumes of water that came over the wall were starting to exit under the wall, taking the sand with them!

The waves kept coming and coming!

The first attempt to staunch the bleeding was to use sand bags for forms and deliver the cement by wheel barrow.  That was ineffective and after that wooden forms were used and the cement came by pumper trucks.

It seemed that just as soon as one leaky area was plugged, another opened up,  so pretty much all of the wall is reinforced like the section shown above.

You may not notice this the first time around, but it is very obvious in many photos that there is no beach.   This was my greatest worry!   At the peak of this combination of storms and seriously high tides, the drop from the top of  the wall to the sand below was 14 feet.  The other day when I walked the beach, I effortlessly stepped from the wall to the sand.    

And wouldn't you know it??? I don't have any pictures!!   However, if you need any reassurances I can arrange to get some.

Jack Spratt loved his fat

It helped him to stay lean!