No shouting guides here. Augustin, above, was a real teacher.

Indeed...we pondered that over our snapper dinner, but not for long. Our hosts provided many details about the local fishing co-op, and how proud they are that marine conservation and ecotourism work so well here. The co-op includes an earnest group of up-and-coming ecotour/fishing guides who are anxious to show their expertise and protect their fish. We even met the school teacher brought in from the States, who teaches night classes on conversational English to fishing guides, among others.

Next day promised a real Mexican offshore fishing tournament—the biggest event of the year for Punta Allen. The boats, mostly center consoles, arrive by water from Cozumel or Cancun and anchor just off the beach. Local guides compete against each other in a spirit of fun. They weighed in mostly big mahi-mahi, kingfish and smaller yellowfin tuna. Hundreds of locals clapped and cheered, beer banners were strung up, kids played on the tops of overturned pangas, small groups of (rather happy looking) dogs wandered everywhere or lay in the dirt roads. The master of ceremony yelled in the microphone while some real talent cavorted on stage to loud music. No one spoke a word of English, but the fun was universal. Top prize was $3,000 and the government donated a free motorcycle for the winning angler.

This is one laid-back town on the edge of the biosphere, electricity provided by the town’s huge generator for 16 hours a day, the entire place only a few feet above sea level. A happy community by the looks of it, with the other half of the fisherman’s co-op continuing to manage and harvest mostly lobster each year, exported to the States.

The commercial fishermen showed us their artificial reefs, which are 6- by 4-foot, low “shadow boxes” made of concrete. The lobsters are free to come and go, when they are not being harvested by divers. None are wasted as live bait, or from traps lost forever in stormy weather. Each year the lobster harvest increases. The entire community watches for poachers. It’s almost a reverse picture of commercial lobster harvest in the Florida Keys.

Perhaps because the town is so isolated from industrial tourism, their fishing co-op has survived and prospered. In other towns along the same coast to the north, such as Playa Del Carmen (fastest growing town in Latin America, now with a Sam’s Club), Isla Mujures and Cozumel, fishing co-ops have withered away or died. Cruise ships, high-rise hotels and jet skis have won out—until some day the economic tide shifts back to fishing.

Meanwhile, Sian Ka’an Biosphere perseveres, under pressure no doubt from would-be developers. Whether it can survive the high watermark of modern development remains to be seen, but they’re doing one heck of a job so far. We only saw a tiny part of the biosphere, though we diddrive back north to Tulum and westward into the real jungle, where pyramids stand the test of time.

Cultures unite in the pursuite of bonefish, a species thriving in this tropical climate.

That’s where we floated down an incredibly pleasant freshwater creek dug by the Mayans around 1200 A.D., connecting a series of lakes with the coast. The folks at Sian Ka’an have been talking about launching overnight kayak expeditions, paddling across and then down Ascension Bay all the way to Punta Allen, a trip of several days in good weather. That would certainly be for paddlers who don’t mind camping in the jungle, or being towed around by tarpon or huge cubera snapper. It sounds like a true adventure, a serious escape from civilization, one we will have to consider soon.

That long road back from Punta Allen, by the way, is way more fun in the morning while driving—after a strong cup of coffee.

FS