AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums The Cayes Ambergris Caye BOATING ACCIDENT LEAVES TWO PEOPLE INJURED

Hi JMR, not sure if you're referring to the water taxis specifically or not but if you are you may want to read this account...

http://ambergristoday.com/content/s...oon-horror-san-pedro-after-boat-accident

You'll note that statements made by passengers clearly indicate they were in their normal route offshore. From my own experiences, as the water taxis from BC are our preferred way of getting to AC, the water taxis do operate several hundreds of yards offshore until they make their dock approach. The incident was about 2 1/2 miles south of town so no approach manuevers would normally have been in process.

Its also curious that early "eyewitness" accounts of them being 50 feet off the docks just doesnt jive when you compare that with statements made by the Captain of the Caye Caulker run (i.e. that the SP Express boat had just passed them and was ahead of them when the accident happened). I mean wtf? To have BOTH taxis that close in to shore operating at speed? That just doesnt makes sense particularly if one were trying to chalk it up to negligence on the part of one skipper.

Again I think waiting for the results of the investigation is incredibly important. What this has done in the interim is raise the concsience level for many owners and operators as to the need to inform and educate their visitors and guests who may not be aware or used to the kind of water traffic that occurs in the inner reef areas. They need to be made aware of the hazards not only in the main channels but of boat traffic in close to the docks as well.

Concurrently I would suspect that this incident would serve to act as a reminder to all boat captains; Swimmers are more likely to be in close to the dock areas and they need to keep a good weather eye out and steady gentle hand on the throttle is needed.

I too jumped all over this intially until I tried to make sense of some of the early information (vis a vis the Caye Cauker Captian statements). I was perplexed. Once I saw the story above it made me realise I obviously didnt have the whole picture. In fact until the official inquiry is completed and released I dont think any of us do and that hoepfully will include the state of awareness held by the swimmers thmeselves.

Regardless of the facts about this incident, it demonstrates the need for better boating safety as we all have seen reckless and unsafe boat driving. It is time for the Water Taxi and Tour Guide Association to work with their members to come up with safe boating procedures and insure that everyone adheres to them.
You can have all the buoys and restrictions you can think of put in place, but if the boat captains are not operating safely, the problem will not be solved.

Don't all the water taxis have gps? Shouldn't the investigators be able to pull the boats route, speed and postition from the GPS memory? Were the police sharp enough to sieze it. don't know much about boats but just a thought

this is NOT just about the boat captains. this is NOT just about boat safety - this is about SNORKEL safety. People - you can put all the barriers, posts, bouys etc wherever you want -but so long as that gorgeous reef is out there - like a shiny toy - the tourists and locals alike want to play with - people will try to swim to the reef, or just absentmindedly snorkel (wander) around.

the ONLY true solution lies with the snorkeler...and the proper education of them. If you put in traffic lights, cross walks, side walks, street signs and crossing guards, you still cannot replace "look both ways before crossing the street"

It is OUR responsibility - every SINGLE one of us- to EDUCATE people on the dangers of the waters. Have you never been snorkeling only to suddenly discover you were waaaay farther than you thought? Current is a very real thing....

I am deeply sympathetic to the property owners whose guests were hurt, incredibly compassionate to the poor man whose leg is lost, to the brand new bride whose duties have completely changed, and to the incredible guilt the boat captain must feel, and send healing thoughts to those who witnessed the tragic event. there are ONLY victims in this situation, NO ONE person is at fault... please, everyone needs to be part of the solution - let's work together to make sure we educate all the tourists that come to this forum and to this island.

i for one, will be purchasing a diver down float for my friends and family to use, and i will make every reasonable effort to require all hotels with which i do business have one available for my clients as well.

Safety is everyones responsibility. Snorklers must do so in a safe manner as must boat drivers. Driving a boat brings with it the responsibiliy to do so safely, and that means not runing over a coral head, log or person.

Now circumstances dictate whether someone is at fault as opposed to responsible. The fact remains that anyone operating a vehicle, boat, plane, automobile etc., is responsible for its safe operation. If they hit something, they are responsible for that, whether they are at fault depends on the circumstances.

Most, if not all, of the accommodations I have stayed in have some sort of guest 'manual' listing attractions, restaurants, emergency contacts and phone numbers. When I am visiting a location for the first time, I tend to devour this information.
Is it feasible to have a page about snorkeling in general (don't stand on or touch the coral, be aware of tides) and safety in particular (stay close to the pier, opt for the north side of the pier whenever possible, wear brightly colored swimwear)?
As has Lara, we've had many discussions with newcomers about staying out of the boat lanes only to have our concerns brushed aside with 'I'm an excellent swimmer' or something equally as irrelevant...and off they go.
In January, we had to get one of the guys from Eloy's boat repair to go pick up some first day tourists staying at Brianna's who started snorkeling/swimming due east from Patojo's dock after we warned them that the tide was going out and, as it was around 4:00, that there would be a lot of tour boats buzzing back and forth. They returned to shore, laughing about how they got a free ride home when they should have been horrified at the potential for disaster.
Maybe if they'd read a page in the manual (they had read about snorkeling at Patojo's) they wouldn't have been so quick to brush off our concerns for their safety.

Just need to clarify a couple things about this unfortunate event for some new comers to our island and for others that dont know. First off our island isnt stretched in a straight line because after you hit around the BYC(Belize Yatch Club) area the island tends to curve in more southwesterly. For someone to say or believe that boats pass 50 feet from the docks or shore is absurd. Myself being a captain knows that when you are familiar with a route you usualy run in a straight course as to burn minimal fuel. If anyone has ever been alot in the southern part of the island they will tell you the more south you go the shallower it gets which means wether you in a vessel with outboard/inboard engines your vessel would need to draw atleast 4-5feet of water. Secondly, if anyone recal the news where these water taxis are constantly battling against each other and would day anything to sink the other. It caught my attention because I dont fully agree with captain of the rescuing vessel's account of what happened. Lastly it is the responsibility of the hotels to let their guests know these things because many of us locals have once or twice yelled at tourists swimming in heavy traffic areas of our coastline.

For many years I spent my Sunday afternoons with friends on the dock just south of Caribe Island, I can assure you that boats do pass within 50' of the docks in that area. I also had the opportunity to witness a snorkeler almost lose their life just off that same dock. We had warned her not to go out to far and we had to sit and watch as a boat came up the coast knowing it was on a collision course. We yelled at her but she didn't bring her head out of the water to be able to hear us. We watched as the boat came closer and closer and prepared to call the police and to jump in the water for a rescue. At the last second she looked up, saw the boat, took one or two strokes and was luckily missed by less than a foot and pushed aside by the bow wave. The boat never slowed down and kept on going. She was about 100' off the dock...

INVESTIGATIONS CONTINUE INTO LAST FRIDAY'S BOAT ACCIDENT


A letter has been issued to suspend the licence of a boat captain involved in an accident in San Pedro last Friday. As we reported, 31-year-old Rob Leonard and his wife 32-year-old Dina Leonard who were on their honeymoon on San Pedro were snorkelling when they were hit by a vessel. Rob suffered a severed right leg from the knee down while his wife received injuries to her hand. The incident involved a thirty eight foot vessel belonging to the San Pedro Belize Express that was making its way back from a charter run to Belize City. At the time of the incident, the Port Authority and the San Pedro police station launched an investigation to determine the cause of the incident and to verify if the vessel was too close to shore as per eyewitness accounts. A check with the Port Authority officials revealed that while the investigations are ongoing, they have issued a letter to the boat captain Anthony Ortiz, to suspend his master's license and have confiscated the vessel pending the outcome of the investigations.

LOVEFM

I'm just curious Simon for purposes of clarification are you referring to the mainland water taxis routninely coming that close or other boats in general?

Aside from a Captain's responsibility to be situationally aware your story perfectly exemplifies the need to effectively educate and impress the dangers of swimming in a traffic area to our guests. I'm starting to think I need some gory pictures ala CHP DUI slide shows to accomplish this. YOur story serves as a reminder that I can be dealing with the mind set of "I'm invulnerable" or "it wont happen to me."

Was the boat involved in your rather hairyass nearmiss account a mainland water taxi?