Mexican Shipwreck

"I wonder where this road goes?" I mused, turning off the highway in the middle of nowhere near Huatulco, Mexico. It was November of 2003 and this is only one of many stories that I remember as Jeanne and I drove south towards Argentina, with Alaska in our rearview mirror.

After a few kilometers of driving through massive sandunes, a large and deserted beach lay below us. We nervously locked the vehicle and started to walk.

Although the beach looked deserted, after a kilometer or so, we saw in the distance what looked like a small yacht on the beach near the shoreline. As we got closer, we could see that it was on its side on the sand and mast-less. The yacht was in good shape and looked to be about fifty feet in length. The deck was in excellent condition but all the hardware had been stripped from it.

A bigger surprise awaited as we rounded the vessel to find a local standing by a rather large hole in the hull.

After introductions, we could hear someone else deep in the vessel hard at work. We realized very shortly what was going on. These enterprising fellows had chain-sawed through the side of this abandoned vessel and were attempting to remove the engine, presumably before the now rapidly rising tide was upon them.

We said our goodbyes and returned to thankfully find our vehicle intact. We then drove back to the main road and continued south. I sometimes wonder if these fellows were ever successful in extracting that engine.