February 18th - a Yola on the Beach

(I'm guessing by now everybody north of Key West is pretty tired of being reminded of how long winter is lasting so I'm dropping the "xth Day of Winter.")

A yola came ashore late Sunday night or early Monday morning.I've written before about the human tragedy these boats represent. There are those who insist it's mostly gang-bangers, criminals and drug-runners who brave the crossing from the Dominican Republic across the Mona Passage. Others are people who paid huge dollars to try to get away from the DR to a "better" life in Puerto Rico. (It seems to me this is a ridiculously inefficient , inconsistent and unreliable way to move drugs.) Regardless of who is making the trip, it is dangerous. There are no guarantees the "boat people" - good guys or bad - will make to shore. There are no guarantees they will avoid capture if they do make it to shore.

These boats bring environmental tragedy as well. Usually the boats are just rammed through the reef regardless of damage to either reef or boat. After all, these are disposable, single-use boats. The debris from the "passengers" - clothing, plastic water bottles, food and food wrappers - are left on the beach, eventually to wash out to sea. No one has any responsibility for cleaning up the mess.

 For reasons unexplained and inexplicable, Customs and Border Protection (formerly Border Patrol, now reconfigured and renamed as part of the post 9/11 creation of the Department of Homeland Security) won't let anyone touch or take the boats. They are just left on the beach. Usually someone eventually sets fire to the boat, sending fumes form burning fiberglass into the atmosphere. The burned-out hulk is left to the wind and waves, eventually washing down the beach and breaking up, leaving chunks of fiberglass imbedded in the reef.

This particular boat didn't end that way. Someone dragged it up on the dune and set fire to it. I could see the flames from the boat and the resulting brushfire from our window. In the middle of the night the fire department went roaring across our neighbors' field to put it out.

Now it's a ugly melted hulk draped over the top of the dune. It will be interesting to watch what happens to it in the coming months.