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[yak]

We dove Mama Vina, then cruised around the two ships before diving Jardines. There's some floating booms in the water, but they're just single lines, not really set up to contain anything. No evidence of any oil or other residue.

While we were drifting up from the Mama Vina, we could hear this "crunch, crunch". It was the sound of the ship grinding on the reef.

 

[driftwood]

Well, that is news, TY - and an excuse, albeit a poor one. Engine failure on anything nowadays is quite rare; on a freighter that could be easily wrecked - hard to forgive; and on a freighter running close to an endangered reef - unforgivable in my opinion.

I bet my life against engine failure on the hiway often, passing a car on a two lane road, etc.

I will be down there in a couple of weeks and attempt to find out what really happened. That entire coast is a reef system and there really is no "good" place to run aground. Too bad it was on a particularly good section of reef, but I imagine that the options were limited at the time. I am sure that the captain didn't mean to wreck his career, but that's generally what happens when you screw up this badly. Lets all be thankful that we are not in hurricane season.

One of the big problems with the entire Mayan Riviera and Cancun is that virtually everything is brought in by ship. There is no rail service and the highways are limited. You have four ports, if you count Cozumel, and only one that can handle bulk cement cargo. That port is Calica, and they had to blast a lot of reef to get a deep channel there. Given the explosive growth in the area, 30% of all tourism income in Mexico is from the area, there is a high demand for concrete. The area has a limited ability to manufacture cement (remember concrete is cement, sand and gravel) due to an inadequate power grid. So they have to import it and a 5 star all inclusive resort uses a lot of concrete.

There never is a good excuse for this type of failure. It may be negligence in maintenance, or just bad luck. One thing is certain, if tourists continue to visit the region in increasing numbers, the number of environmental accidents related to the growth, that most of us tourists fuel, will increase.

That being said, this tourist is looking forward to hitting the Mexican waters in PDC on May 10th! Who knows, we may even visit the site that day.

 

[DandyDon]

There never is a good excuse for this type of failure. It may be negligence in maintenance, or just bad luck. One thing is certain, if tourists continue to visit the region in increasing numbers, the number of environmental accidents related to the growth, that most of us tourists fuel, will increase.

That being said, this tourist is looking forward to hitting the Mexican waters in PDC on May 10th! Who knows, we may even visit the site that day.

Yep, all the more reason to keep up pressure to maintain competence operating there. It's their country, but it's a world heritage system.

I hope they can minimize damage, drag it out on a sand bottom at 150 ft somewhere and sink her where she won't cause problems.

 

[driftwood]

Better to repair her than sink a dirty boat.

 

[yak]

Some additional details:

The crunching sound was actually the machinery used to transfer the load to another ship.

The Cembray is sitting on the reef midships, with the bow and stern hanging above the bottom. Don't ask me how I know this, but it's gospel.

 

[Byte Me]

Wow, this is too bad. We're going down to Playa 5/7 - 5/14 and I'm diving w/ Jason for 3 days. Coz, Dos Ojos and some playa reefs. Wonder if it'll be gone by then?!?

 

[DandyDon]

I bet Jason knows many good sites to take ya'. We're diving with him in 3 months - looking forward. He's been great at dealing with a barrage of my emails over this, that, the other... :silly:

 

[PlayaCountryBoy]

GOOD news folks! They finally removed the ship from the reef. I have not had a chance to dive the area yet but will this week. I'll let you know the extent of the damage. I really DON't want to see the damage but I guess i'll have to...:11:

 

[CenoteXperience]

Those are very good news, hopefully the reefs are not so damage, and this kind of accidents could be avoided for the good health of the enviroment, and the life quality of the people that lives in this beautiful.

 

[guggie]

I bet Jason knows many good sites to take ya'. We're diving with him in 3 months - looking forward. He's been great at dealing with a barrage of my emails over this, that, the other... :silly:

Wow, this is too bad. We're going down to Playa 5/7 - 5/14 and I'm diving w/ Jason for 3 days. Coz, Dos Ojos and some playa reefs. Wonder if it'll be gone by then?!?

GOOD news folks! They finally removed the ship from the reef. I have not had a chance to dive the area yet but will this week. I'll let you know the extent of the damage. I really DON't want to see the damage but I guess i'll have to...:11:

I'm going down in a month too and am not concerned. Hey Jason, a short (public service) video would be great of the damage you see, to compare against the many others that show what is available elsewhere on the reef.