Last post for a little while.
By the time most of you read this, we will have finally set sail. Months of planning and weeks of prep work have prepared us for this. (we hope)
We're heading south to Puertecitos and then San Luis Gonazaga. Up first are the islas encantadas, and later Bahia de Los Angeles.
We have no idea what kind of cell data reception we are going to find, so it may be several weeks before we are able to post again. However you will be able to track our near daily check-ins via the link on the right.
Amidst our final provisioning (buying supplies) we were "lucky" enough to witness a confrontation between hundreds of fisherman protesters and the Mexican EPA (PROFEPA) backed by the Mexican Marine Corps and Navy.
This happened right after we had bought and started drinking some "crappy" beers. Not only were they Tecate, but the store was totally covered in bird poop:
The core of the protest issue was fisherman anger with environmental regulations and punishments up to and including seizure of fishing boats. Each boat seized typically had 4-5 fisherman depending on it. Adding their dependents, each seized boat impacted 20-25 people. We noticed a series of boats inside the fenced EPA enclosure next to the Navy base.
The protests culminated today in a storming of the docks where we were located. We were busy storing food when we looked up to angry shouts and a mob pouring towards the docks. There were a couple of EPA boats (with marines aboard) and one confiscated fishing boat on the dock.
The marines formed a barricade, automatic rifles ready, and prevented the protesters from reaching the boats in question. Instead, the protesters swirled around us, shouting angrily, but leaving our boat alone. They clearly had no beef with tourists.
Eventually, the protesters made their point, the EPA agreed to release one of the boats, and the fishermen left.
We were quite safe, but very interested to see the confrontation, as it reminds us of some disputes between the EPA and blue collar folks in various industries in the US (fishing, logging, oil, etc.)
Here is the crowd leaving the dock:
Here are the protest signs left in front of the EPA office, with some impounded boats behind:
But we were still able to enjoy the rest of the day. We had awesome fish tacos and micheladas in town, and there was a lovely sunset over the boat:
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Well, off we go, into the wild blue (wet) yonder...
By the time most of you read this, we will have finally set sail. Months of planning and weeks of prep work have prepared us for this. (we hope)
We're heading south to Puertecitos and then San Luis Gonazaga. Up first are the islas encantadas, and later Bahia de Los Angeles.
We have no idea what kind of cell data reception we are going to find, so it may be several weeks before we are able to post again. However you will be able to track our near daily check-ins via the link on the right.
Amidst our final provisioning (buying supplies) we were "lucky" enough to witness a confrontation between hundreds of fisherman protesters and the Mexican EPA (PROFEPA) backed by the Mexican Marine Corps and Navy.
This happened right after we had bought and started drinking some "crappy" beers. Not only were they Tecate, but the store was totally covered in bird poop:
The core of the protest issue was fisherman anger with environmental regulations and punishments up to and including seizure of fishing boats. Each boat seized typically had 4-5 fisherman depending on it. Adding their dependents, each seized boat impacted 20-25 people. We noticed a series of boats inside the fenced EPA enclosure next to the Navy base.
The protests culminated today in a storming of the docks where we were located. We were busy storing food when we looked up to angry shouts and a mob pouring towards the docks. There were a couple of EPA boats (with marines aboard) and one confiscated fishing boat on the dock.
The marines formed a barricade, automatic rifles ready, and prevented the protesters from reaching the boats in question. Instead, the protesters swirled around us, shouting angrily, but leaving our boat alone. They clearly had no beef with tourists.
Eventually, the protesters made their point, the EPA agreed to release one of the boats, and the fishermen left.
We were quite safe, but very interested to see the confrontation, as it reminds us of some disputes between the EPA and blue collar folks in various industries in the US (fishing, logging, oil, etc.)
Here is the crowd leaving the dock:
Here are the protest signs left in front of the EPA office, with some impounded boats behind:
But we were still able to enjoy the rest of the day. We had awesome fish tacos and micheladas in town, and there was a lovely sunset over the boat:
Well, off we go, into the wild blue (wet) yonder...
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