The San Pedro Sun can confirm that a passenger boat belonging to San Pedro Belize Express Water Taxi ran aground early Tuesday morning September 23rd. The accident happened around 6:20 AM on the reef between Caye Caulker Village and Ambergris Caye while the vessel was making its first trip of the day to the city. Luckily no one was hurt, but for the 50 plus passengers, the incident was frightening.

The accident happened during heavy rain and according to two residents, who went to rescue their family members who were on the boat at the time of the incident, the water taxi vessel ran into the main reef near Shark Ray Alley and within the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. One of the family members told The Sun that her son called her, frantically saying that the boat had slammed into the reef.

According to officials at the Belize Port Authority, the matter was not reported to authorities. They confirmed that the boat captain and his assistant have been summoned to give statements. Miguel Alamilla, Manager of Hol Chan Marine Reserve, said that the water taxi operator removed the vessel before anyone in authority arrived on the scene. He indicated that by removing the vessel, the company has violated the law [further]. Alamilla also said that whenever a vessel is involved in an accident, the captain must report the incident to the relevant authorities and wait for clearance to remove the vessel.

The company has indicated to authorities that the grounding occurred in the Coral Garden area, contrary to what residents reported. Nonetheless, the Belize Port Authority indicated that they are conducting a joint investigation along with the Department of the Environment. The San Pedro Sun tried getting comments from the San Pedro Belize Express Water Taxi Limited, but no one has responded to our requests.

Click here to read the rest of the article and see photos in the San Pedro Sun

If this was a North American who "grazed" the reef with his sailboat, there would be the usual hoard of "Officials" levying multi-million dollar fines on this egregious offense.
Since it's someone who's already bought his way into the politician's hearts, it not so surprisingly gets no comments.

The GPS failed...in 2010...

We have rocks that big in that area?

How did a "Rock" get to "Coral Gardens"?
Meteorite, Gotta be!

You know those crazy rocks just roll all around and even jump up now and then.

Unless the 'rock' rafted out on a passing iceberg, or was dumped by a passing ship, it was not a 'rock'. The most likely explanation is that the water taxi hit a dead or living patch reef build-up. Or a sunken ufo?

ScubaLdy, you'll be happy to hear that I just sent out an email to the SPTB, suggesting that all wild rocks out there should be leashed from now on.
Just trying to be part of the solution!

When is a rock a rock?

Here on the island we often refer to coral heads as "rocks". For instance, Mexico Rocks is not a collection of boulders made of granite or other kinds of stone - it is a wonderful spot filled with formations of coral heads. Maybe it's not called a "reef" because it is a cluster, not a solid line of coral as we have in the Barrier Reef - but for sure it is coral, both live and dead.

Coral Gardens is mostly a thin spiky coral, the name of which escapes me. It is a very dense cluster and a large one. I've gone in there snorkeling and become lost in the labyrinth. Maybe it also qualifies in the vernacular of the local boaters as "rocks" but for sure, it's coral.

Other than a limestone bottom on the seabed, the hard stuff that protrudes up from the bottom of the sea is coral regardless of what you choose to nickname it.

Mexico Rocks is Patch Reef. Stag Horn and Elk Horn Corals are your missing terms. Otherwise spot on