A young environmentalist cleaned up Shelly Bay to thank the community which is sponsoring him in the Tall Ships Challenge.

Nesta Wellman hopes to sail on Russian Tall Ship The Kruzenshtern, a 114.5 metre four-masted barque, on the Bermuda-to-Charleston leg of the Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge 2009.

The 17-year-old has been sponsored by Atlantic Conservation Partnership, a US sister charity to the Bermuda Zoological Society, and also helped by Ian Walker of the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo.

However, he still had to raise the remaining $800 of his $2,500 passage himself. Generous friends, neighbours and relatives soon rallied round and Nesta will now complete his dream trip.

The teen however, decided to give something back to the community by clearing one of Bermuda's beaches of trash. He dedicated three hours of his time, filling four bin bags with garbage from the beach, playground, parking lot and football field.

Nesta, who wants to be a veterinarian when he is older, said: "I just wanted to help the community by picking up trash and seeing what I could do. I like helping people."

Nesta is a Grade 11 student at Bermuda Institute and works part-time as a junior staff member at the Local Tails section of BAMZ. A former junior volunteer, he enjoys spending his Saturdays working with the creatures in the exhibit and meeting members of the public.

"You really get to learn a lot working with the animals and I like meeting people as well," he said.

"I would like to thank everyone who contributed to help me join the Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge. I am very excited and can't wait until June.

"The Tall Ships Challenge will be an experience I will never forget. I feel very blessed to be able to travel across the world meeting new people and learning about new places."

Nesta's parents are Leona and Michael Wellman of Warwick. Mrs. Wellman said: "I think Nesta has done extremely well to be able to raise the money he needed. He is very environmentally-aware and did really well on his clean up. We are all excited about this forthcoming Tall Ships experience."