On November 30, NOAA CBIBS technical staff joined the U.S. Coast Guard on board a buoy tender to completely replace the CBIBS Stingray Point buoy. NOAA, working with the Aids to Navigation Team from the U.S. Coast Guard’s Milford Haven, Virginia, station, pulled the existing Stingray Point buoy and deployed an identical buoy in its place.
While the CBIBS buoy system includes ten buoys in the water, at any time, there is also a spare buoy out of the water. This enables CBIBS technical team members to repair and refurbish parts in a dry, non-moving location. To ensure buoys function at best capacity, they are swapped out with a “new” buoy on a rotating basis.
The team captured several photos during the buoy swap process. First, a crane lifted the “old” buoy onto the buoy tender.
Then the “new” buoy was lifted from the deck and positioned using the same anchor as the old buoy had used.
Their task complete, the team left the new buoy on station and brought the old buoy back to shore so the NOAA CBIBS team can refurbish it and prepare it to replace another CBIBS buoy in the near future.
