No walking around town today, but a cab ride out to Las Brisas. A couple of Navy chaps
invited me to tag along on a crocodile-spotting event, and I had to meet up with them
before sunup.
Local environmentalists prophesied what would happen as a result of the expansion of
the port of Manzanillo, and they were right.
The new construction swallowed up over 74 hectares of lagoons and mangroves, driving hundreds of species of aquatic life forms from their habitat. Now these displaced beings are desperately looking for somewhere else to live and survive. The saltwater crocodiles, or Crocodylus porosus, are one species of this unfortunate group of creatures.
My message and instructions were to meet up in front of the entrance of the Navy base. I am familiar with this location as fourteen years ago, I was allowed to use their commissary and banking facility.
The dollar-to-peso exchange rate was better at the time than at any other bank in town. But alas, with so many ‘white’ people now in Manzanillo, that courtesy has been discontinued. In Jamaica, they would say, ‘Dem days long gone, mon.’
The Navy was ready for me. They claimed to have only waited about five minutes. They
had a map and notebook, high-powered pencil beam flashlights, and binoculars, and off
we went. We had access to areas of the port where no lone gringo would ever be allowed,
and I was told in a serious way not to take pictures. I didn’t ask why, but assumed this
had more to do with the presence of Cartels than crocodiles.
It wasn’t long before our lights reflected off the eyes of a couple of crocs cruising around
a moored ship being off-loaded. One of the men in our group thought this was unusual
and wondered if this same ship had dumped garbage while at anchor, and the crocs had
remembered it and were looking for more.
The sun was rising now, and we had worked our way around the port and to the beach.
This is where it got exciting for me. With the binoculars, I spotted three crocs just past the
surf line. They were hanging out like small craft kedged at anchor.
My new friends spotted two more and were curious as to why they were not coming in toward the sand. I’m thinking that they’re cruising for fish and that I would not like paddling around out there in a kayak.
My associates seemed satisfied with the morning survey, and we headed off for coffees
and pastries at Café Andrade. For me, the trip was a curiosity. To my new friends, it was much more. Their concern is that if the presence of crocodiles becomes a perceived problem or threat to the tourist and real estate industries, they may be given orders to start killing them. These are nice men, and that is not what they will want to do.
What we did want to do was order cappuccinos. And if you haven’t been to Café Andrade, I highly recommend it. Try the banana dessert – pan fried in butter– cinnamon dusted – and
with sweetened condensed milk – oh yes!
And ditch the car. It was Werner Herzog who once said, “The world reveals itself to those who travel on foot.”
