Capturing the Channel Islands

Alderney, Herm, Jethou, Sark, Jersey & France can be seen from Jerbourg Point; a fantastic panoramic look-out; one of my favourite places for an awesome view! It was a very memorable day here at Jerbourg Point in August when I took my Nephew & the rest of my family to watch a Royal Naval team tow a 12 ft mine out into these waters to be detonated. The 850lbs bomb was found in Bluebell Woods, and a close family member was in charge of operations to dispose of the bomb safely. It was an extremely complex procedure due to the dangerous nature of the operation. The Navy were called over to the island, air & sea traffic had to steer clear of the area & hundreds of homes in the area had to be evacuated. Thank goodness the whole island were so cooperative because this mine was still active and anything could've happened with catastrophic results. The authorities had to act quickly but with the utmost care and attention to detail. Every little detail had to be carefully thought and planned out, from tide times to the authorities having to meet each individual household to help them with the evacuation process and advise them if they were unable to leave their home. An old people's home was in the evacuation area, a very tricky situation for the people involved. We were on the edge of our seats watching the Naval dinghy tow the bomb, kept on the surface of the water by inflatable pontoons, out from Fermain Bay, since these bombs were designed to activate with water pressure. Word had got round the island and there was quite a crowd. After a couple of hours of watching the harbour authorities struggle to keep on top of keeping sea traffic away from the designation area, we called it a day and went home. However when we heard that the Navy were planning on detonating the bomb at 7:15pm that evening, we rushed back to Jerbourg Point with a picnic. By this time, the area had swelled with eager on-lookers and we abandoned the car outside Jerbourg Hotel because it was ram packed in the car park. We excused ourselves past the crowds and made our way down Jerbourg steps for the closest view from land. The media joined us some 20 minutes later and my Nephew gave a brilliant scientific explanation of what he expected to see while being interviewed by Channel TV. I was very excited that he was here in Guernsey with me, on holiday from his home Jersey, with a wonderful interest in anything to do with WWII. Some 15 minutes later we were finally treated to what we had been eagerly awaiting. And we weren't disappointed. Conditions were perfect in detonating the hefty mine safely, half way between Guernsey and Herm and the spectacle was exactly what my nephew had predicted and the footage (of many versions) can be found on you tube! This is my first ever blip. Expect much shorter descriptions in future;-)