Two anglers had their very own ‘Cast Away’ moment after finding a barnacle-covered – BASKETBALL.
Ian and Annie Gilbert were fishing ten miles south of the Isle of Wight when they spotted the bizarre sight.
After bringing it aboard they found the basketball was covered in Goose barnacles.
In scenes reminiscent of Tom Hanks’ film friendship with a football named ‘Wilson’, the couple posed for photographs with their new friend.
The couple from Poole, Dorset, returned it to sea so it could continue its journey.
“We’ve never seen anything like it,” said Annie, 54. “I saw something bobbing about in the water and shouted to my husband ‘quick, go get the landing net!'”.
“When we brought it on board it was amazing. There were crabs and all sorts in there.
“It was beautiful. I’d have liked to have kept the basketball. It would have been such a cool souvenir.”
Ian, 57, said it would have taken the ball a couple of years to grow its barnacle buddies.
“The ball would have been floating about and a spore from a barnacle would have attached itself,” he explained.
“From there they self-reproduce. There’s probably a couple of years growth on that.
It would have been a shame to kill all those barnacles [by keeping it].”
