Yola update

The yola the Domincans came ashore in a couple of weeks ago is still on the beach but now it has been burned.

All the yolas left on the beaches eventually get burned. We wondered about this until a friend asked a former Customs and Border Protection agent. (BTW - Customs and Border Protection is the new politically-Bush-Administration-Homeland-Security-correct term for what we used to call Border Patrol.)

"Per [a former] Border Patrol agent who now works for [another agency] there are several reasons for burning........... at one time the Border Patrol used to cut a V shape out of the stern to prevent additional use, but they remained intact for a long time and were sometimes mistaken again as a new arrival. Now, usually either the CG (Coast Guard) or Border Patrol burns them which prevents misidentification and hastens disposal."

So that's the story. By "disposal" I guess they mean "breaking up on the beach" since none of the boats are actually "disposed" of. Couldn't they just spray some yellow paint on them so they are not "misidentified?" None of us who live close are very thrilled with having fumes from burning fibreglass and treated wood in our immediate atmosphere. Besides the glass fibers don't burn. Once the resin that binds them is burned away, they just lie there in a bunch, kinda like a bad fright wig.

Better yet, couldn't they tow or lift (so as to avoid damaging the reefs any more than they were when the boats landed) the boats off the beach, tow them far out to sea and sink them? Some microbials out there will eat the wood and the fibreglass with just sit there, inert. Basically, that's what happens anyway. Eventually the waves break up the boat, wooden parts float out to sea and the fibreglass pieces wind up stuck in the reef. Better a mile or more off shore than right here on the beach where people walk, swim and snorkel.

Hmm. And yet another conversation to