“My only worry - is the tide gonna reach my chair?”

Living on the edge of the sweet blue ocean, watching the tide, and listening to Zac Brown's music – it just doesn’t get any better.

Lawrie and I have had boats of various forms most of our lives: rowboats, speed boats, work boats, and even some beautiful big cruising boats.  

We know about tides and tide tables; that’s the handy-dandy information that tells you when the sea level is due to rise to high tide and six hours later when it will recede to low tide.  In, out, higher, lower; every six hours, every day of every year, into infinity. 

Lawrie on our Sealander in BC

So imagine our surprise when we first discovered that the tides on Isla Mujeres are minimal.  It’s one of the quirks of living closer to the equator where tide-change is almost non-existent.  

In the Vancouver area, we frequently experienced dramatic tidal differences of ten, twelve, or fifteen feet (5 meters) between the high tide and low tide.  Here on Isla, if I look at the tide tables the difference between high tide and low tide is just a few inches. 

In the tropics wharves and docks are stationary, fixed to their pilings.  In Vancouver, all the wharves and docks have various mechanisms that allow the floating platforms to rise higher or drop down depending on the tides.  

BC the ramp at mid-tide.  It gets very steep!

Ramps for accessing the docks on some days can be very steep, slippery affairs necessitating a firm grip on the handrails to prevent you from sliding down and landing in an ungainly heap on the dock.  

Here on Isla, things are level.  If there happens to be a slightly higher tide due to a storm surge, well your feet get wet.  Too bad, but at least you won’t slip and spill your beer.

Passenger boats loading for Isla 

In areas of big tidal swings the loading and unloading of cargo takes on new dimensions.  Heavy crates are lugged up the steep ramps.  The cargo going down the ramps has to be controlled otherwise it could slide and tumble, scattering across the docks when it thumps onto the floating dock.  In coastal British Columbia ambulance stretchers take a lot of careful maneuvering to ensure the patient stays on the stretcher and is not deposited in the ocean for an unscheduled swim.  On an icy winter night, with a big tide differential, this can be an exciting adventure.  We know.  We were volunteer ambulance attendants for several years on a similarly-sized Canadian island, Bowen Island.

 

Tourists heading back from Isla to Cancun

Here in the tropics, the ambulance attendants are able to wheel the stretchers directly to the boarding ramp and hoist the patient across the railings of the boat and into the cabin.  For commercial cargo and tourists’ suitcases the Isla Mujeres bicycle porters “Maleteros” gather dockside, load up the cargo, and then pedal off to their destinations.

British Columbia - skipper made a mistake

A few years ago when we still lived in Vancouver we saw the dramatic results of a commercial fisherman who either hadn’t paid attention to the changing tides, or he fell asleep after an exhausting night of working the nets.  His boat was well and truly jammed up on sharp rocks, awaiting the next high tide.  Embarrassingly for him, the next really high tide, high enough to free the boat was not for another eighteen hours. 

Isla Mujeres - Capt. Nephi sinking.

In the meantime, when boats are run aground here on Isla Mujeres, it is usually for emergencies, or to make repairs.  Two years ago the skipper of the Capt. Nephi had to ground his boat on the west side of the island.  He was taking on water at sea.  The navy cruiser rescued the crew and boat, pulling it to safety and leaving it in shallow waters.  It was a dramatic end to his day, but not nearly as dramatic as the skipper who tried to steer his boat over the rocks in British Columbia. 

Beautiful water of Isla Mujeres

So this whole musing on tides, water, and boats started because Lawrie had been looking for a small boat, one we could use to poke around in paradise.

Bureaucracy - gone international, Lawrie’s turn to write



Heading to Canadian Consulate in Cancun

No … not Mexico, but in Canada - and the USA.

It’s time.  Time for us to renew our passports, and since we live year-around in Mexico we decided to renew from here.  First we travelled to the Canadian Consulate in the hotel zone of Cancún to obtain the proper forms.  We were told we could not use the quick renewal process requiring only two new photos and our old passport.  This service is available to Canadians living in Canada, USA, Lebanon, Guinea, Cape Verde, Gambia and Senegal.  It is not available to the estimated 500,000 Canadians living full or part-time in Mexico.   We are given the long form to fill in, requiring two new photographs, a qualified guarantor such as a lawyer or doctor, our birth certificates, and our old passports. 

A week later: okay, got it all.  We returned to the Cancún Consulate and paid for two passport renewals in exact cash – no change available, and no credit cards accepted.  The Consul checked our forms for errors and told us to send the completed forms and the receipt, with a pre-paid return envelope included to the Canadian Embassy in Mexico City.  Done.

Filling out request for new birth certificate

Then we waited.  I emailed the Canadian Embassy in Mexico City twice.  “Did you receive our applications?”  The first reply was: “We don’t do visa applications.”  Really?  Well, that is certainly a useful, or perhaps, useless piece of information.  “Again, did you receive our applications?”  No response. 

And we waited some more.  Two and a half weeks later the Consul in Cancún phoned to say there was a problem with my passport application.  My birth certificate was no longer valid.  You can probably feel the steam coming from my ears by now.  “Not valid?  I have had my birth certificate for 70+ years – and now it’s no good!  Did I exceed the best-before-date?” 

Apparently, the Province of Manitoba, in their infinite wisdom, decided to change to a more secure form of birth certificates.  The bureaucrats merely neglected to publish the information - as I discovered on an internet article written in 2009 discussing a similar situation.  Lynda, who was born in British Columbia, Canada, does not have to replace her birth certificate.  It’s an old folded, faded piece of paper much like mine, but still valid.  The Consul said they would hold our passport renewals in Mexico City until my new birth certificate arrived.



UPS in Cancun - birth certificate arrives



So, back to the computer I go.  I obtained the necessary forms on-line from the Manitoba government, downloaded, printed, and filled in the appropriate spaces.  But the Manitoba government will not accept a scanned copy.  The completed form must be faxed.  With much searching around on the island I located an internet business that had an antique fax machine, disconnected, but available for use after a warm-up period.  Off goes my application, along with my credit card information to pay for the $100.00 speedy approval and expedited return courier service.  Wow! They did an eighteen hour turnaround.  The new birth certificate was on its way.

The courier special delivery envelope, with one thin sheet of paper, got as far as US Customs in Louisville Kentucky.  And there it sat – for six long days – waiting to be processed through US Customs.  Finally, someone decided that my birth certificate was not a matter of US national security and cleared it through. 

UPS in Cancun - and birth certificate leaves

Back to Cancún again.  This time to the UPS courier office where we picked up the envelope, cut it open, and addressed a new courier envelope to the Canadian Embassy in Mexico City.  Luis at the UPS office was terrific, very helpful.  UPS had my birth certificate delivered the next day in Mexico City. 

At 9:00 in the morning I called the Consular Section in Mexico City.  The French-Canadian woman, working at the Canadian Embassy in Mexico City answered in French.  It took me a few attempts before I was able to communicate what I wanted.  “What was the expected delivery date of our new passports?” 

The reply …. 15 working days.   We’ll see.  

For once, both Canada and the USA, have out-bureaucrat-ed Mexico!

And then one final frustration: today's email from the Canadian Embassy dated August 30, 2012

Dear Canadian citizens,

As of September 17, 2012, Canadians living in Mexico, who meet specific eligibility criteria, will be able to apply for a new Canadian passport through the simplified renewal application process. Further information can be found at the following link: http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/mexico-mexique/consul/ppt.aspx?lang=eng#SimplRenew

 

Our passports are already 3/4 of theway through the renewal process and the rules have changed.