It is increasingly hard at any stage of life to make social connections, but it is especially true in the second half of life when institutions of connection like school and work are in the rear-view mirror for many. But not for the Old Ladies Against Underwater Garbage. OLAUG, as it is dubbed, is a group of some 30 self-described “old ladies” who swim the freshwater ponds of Cape Cod collecting trash “and spreading the joy that comes from being involved with nature and working to protect it.”
OLAUG has some very specific rules: you have to be at least 65 (the oldest current member is roughly 85), and you have to pass an open water swimming test, because their work is rigorous and demanding. They dive in ponds across Cape Cod, Falmouth, and Chatham, often for hours at a time until their clean-up work is done. For that, they get coffee and donuts, and the camaraderie of working in a team.
You might think the ponds of Cape Cod are pristine, but the divers of OLAUG regularly fish out: beer cans, golf balls, fishing lures, dog toys, jackets… plus the occasional tire, box of fireworks, or even an entire toilet that someone went to a lot of trouble to dump in a local pond.