BTB, charter companies, donate buoys

On yesterday’s newscast, we reported on problems that tour operators were having with newly imposed visitor fees at Goff’s Caye. But while the northern half of Belize deals with the dramatic rise of cruise ship based tourists, coastal communities in the south are coming to terms with the rapid expansion of a different kind of cruise tourism: that is the chartering of sailboats. Based in Placencia, two companies, the Moorings and TMM, have dozens of large, fast, luxurious catamarans available for bareboat or crewed charters. Business is good as the scores of Cayes allow sailors to anchor at a different site each night, and during the day enjoy diving, snorkelling, and fishing over a large area behind the protection of the reef. And thanks to a combined effort by the two companies and the Belize Tourism Board, seafarers all over Belize will be able to anchor without causing damage to the sometimes-fragile seabed. According to a BTB release, the Fisheries Department has been presented with thirty thousand dollars worth of equipment to install additional mooring buoys at popular sites. Since 1990, over two hundred such mooring sites have been created. The establishment of the permanently anchored buoys, to which boats simply tie, means that throwing an anchor into the sand–or all too often the coral–is no longer necessary. A committee is in the process of updating a national plan for placement of the buoys and installation should begin soon. The equipment includes a hydraulic jackhammer, underwater drill, power unit and accessories.