Sailboat Stuck On Reef

A sailboat is grounded on the reef outside San Pedro tonight.

Around 11:00 last night - the 35 footer named Ramblynn captained by Canadian Glenn Peter ran unto the reef in an area known as the Tranqulity Channel. This is off northern Ambergris Caye close to Tranquility Bay.

This morning at 9:00 the Coast Guard responded and rescued the captain and took him to San Pedro.

But his vessel remains grounded on the reef and the Coast Guard informed all the relevant agencies of the grounding. They must now determine how to move it - and what charges - if any - to bring.

The vessel was coming from Mahahual and was heading to Rio Dulce, Guatemala.

Channel 7

When Will Grounded Boat Be Moved from Reef?

And the minister added that seismic testing could even help to map out our reefs. This is after a 35 foot vessel was grounded back in March. Its owner, Canadian National, Glenn Peter, had run into the reef in an area known as the Tranquility Channel. And now, the Ramblynn will remain there forever, since Perez said they are unable to remove it.

Andre Perez, Minister of the Blue Economy
"The assessment has been done on that. It is irretrievable. I think that was done through the Port Authority; they are working on that but it got damage; I think the person - there's not much we can do for it. It's too much of a big project to extract from the reef. It's going to cost money and we don't have that kind of money, but it's unfortunate that we have that. We go back to your question, the last time that this seismic test was done was basically nothing to do with oil. It is basically trying to map out and that's one of the problems, our waters are not properly map out and that could have been perhaps a possibility why that ship..."

Reporter
"Is it damaging the reef right now?"

Andre Perez, Minister of the Blue Economy
"Its stuck on the reef and the assessment has done, but it's pretty much well-embedded and it's going to be part of the reef eventually."

Reporter
"Have they been fined or penalized for it?"

Andre Perez, Minister of the Blue Economy
"I think the port dealt with. It's a port matter."

Channel 7