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When all else fails, try journalism. Smugglers, Pirates and Fishermen All Tend To Be the Same Guys—FishermenLobster Boats Stalk a Catamaran in Recent Caribbean Incident
In the Caribbean, they’re all fishermen. Drugs smugglers in go-fast craft—fishermen. Pirates stalking you on a night passage—fishermen. And, in between all the shennanigans, some of these fishermen might actually go fishing. So when Colombia says we killed a fishermen, and the U.S. says, no, we killed a smuggler, both sides may be telling the truth. The Caribbean Safety & Security Network (CSSN) recently reported an encounter with fishing boats that is illustrative:
When I was seminar manager for TrawlerFest, we had a class on firearms regulations along the American Great Loop and in the various Caribbean nations. Taught by a pair of lawyers, the class was agnostic about whether carrying guns was a good idea; it’s goal was only to summarize differences in laws and other factors worth considering. The lawyers projected two different images in succession on the screen. One showed a pirate gang on a boat, the other showed a group of Caribbean fishermen on a boat. The audience was asked which they would unload their ARs upon, and, of course, no one could tell the difference. Pirates are as pirates do, not as pirates look. The picture at the top of this story was taken when I was delivering a trawler from Isla Mujeres to the Panama Canal. The most direct route took us through shallow waters at the eastern tip of Honduras, where we anchored next to a cay to get a night’s sleep. When I saw them approaching in the morning, we started the engines and raised anchor. They were scruffy looking and paddling with planks, but there were four of them and only two of us, and we didn’t have a gun. They hollered that they had marijuana for sale. I laid on the throttles and headed for deep water at full speed—8 knots—slow but more than enough to outrun that skiff. My fear was that these four fishermen might have decided that this remote area was a perfect place to try out a new robbery gig. To state the obvious, poverty is the reason fishermen are so easily recruited by criminal organizations. Even we in America are not immune. During the heyday of the “cocaine cowboys,” saying you were a commercial fisherman in South Florida was like wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with, “I smuggle coke in my boat.” So, they know how to handle a boat. They’re not afraid to go to sea. And they need more money. They are fishermen.
No fan of the Trump Administration, Colombian President Gustavo Petro declared that the United States had murdered a humble fisherman recently when it blew up a boat from under Alejandro Andrés Carranza Medina and his fellow mariners. Trump’s people responded that Carranza was smuggling drugs on behalf of a terrorist organization that threatened national security. One should always check local news in Latin America for a better understanding of this kind of issue. The Informador of Santa Marta, Colombia, reported that Carranza was a more enterprising young man than Petro had given him credit for.
While it is difficult to be certain, it appears the boat in which Carranza was riding had twin outboards and was a dark color. Most panga-type open boats in the Caribbean are white or brightly colored and sport a single Yamaha for power. Fishermen may use their own boats to commit robberies at sea, but when carrying drugs, they are apt to use someone else’s go-fast (or a submersible “narco-sub.”) So, circumstances suggest that Carranza’s income mosaic did indeed include a smuggling component. Meanwhile, today’s Washington Post contained a well-sourced story noting that the boats we’ve been blowing up were almost certainly part of operations delivering drugs to Europe and West Africa, not North America. There you have it. Perfectly clear, right?
LOOSE CANNON covers hard news, technical issues and nautical history. Every so often he tries to be funny. Subscribe for free to support the work. If you’ve been reading for a while—and you like it—consider upgrading to paid.
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Trick, Treat & Trail Family Fun Run and Festival on Oct. 25
Get in the Halloween spirit with a fun-filled event for the whole family!
From: Sarah Reynolds <Sarah.Reynolds@ccprc.com>
Date: August 25, 2025 at 1:00:00 PM EDT
To: Sarah Reynolds <Sarah.Reynolds@ccprc.com>
Subject: Trick, Treat & Trail set for Oct. 25: Family Fun Run and Festival at Wannamaker County Park
NEWS RELEASE
Public Contact: 843-795-4386 / www.charlestoncountyparks.com
Media Contact: Sarah Reynolds / (843) 762-8089 / sarah.reynolds@ccprc.com
Read this online: www.ccprc.com/newsreleases
Trick, Treat & Trail Family Fun Run and Festival on Oct. 25
Get in the Halloween spirit with a fun-filled event for the whole family!
{NORTH CHARLESTON} — Get ready for a spook-tacular time at the second annual Trick, Treat & Trail Family Fun Run and Festival! Hosted by Charleston County Parks, the event will be held on Saturday, Oct. 25, beginning at 10 a.m., at Wannamaker County Park.
The festival includes ghoulish music, trick-or-treating, jump castles, face painting, and a craft. A variety of vendors will be on site selling food and refreshments, including King of Pops, Donut Daddy, Miracle’s Tasty Express, and Sweet But Not So Sweet.
Check-in for the event and trick-or-treat bag distribution will be held from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. at the Tupelo Shelter at Wannamaker County Park. The fun run begins at 10 a.m. The course closes for runners at 10:45 a.m. The course will re-open for trick or treating from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. The Festival will be open for the entirety of the event 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. A costume contest will be held at 12:15 p.m. Registration includes a custom trick-or-treating bag, finisher medal, and candy.
Participants are invited to dress in costume. Prizes will be awarded for the best Halloween costume in the following age categories: Under 6, 6-8, 9-10, 11-15, 16-20, and 20 and up. Awards will also be presented for the best pet costume, best duo costume, and best group costumes of 3 or more. The costume contest will be held shortly after noon.
Admission to the race and event will be charged per vehicle of up to 15 people. Advance registration is $20 per vehicle and ends Wednesday, Oct. 23. If not sold out, registration will be available on-site for $25 per vehicle only until 12 p.m. Advance registration is recommended. Register for the event on the event webpage at https://www.ccprc.com/3715/Trick-Treat-Trail.
The fun run is open to runners and walkers of all levels, including beginners. Accessible parking and restrooms are available. The route includes a grass meadow and paved trails. This is a loop course with water stations and an optional shortcut route. Dogs are allowed at this event but must remain leashed and under control at all times.
This event is hosted by Charleston County Parks. For more information about this event and to register, please visit https://www.ccprc.com/3715/Trick-Treat-Trail or call (843)-795-4386.
Owned by the Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission, Wannamaker County Park is located at 8888 University Boulevard in North Charleston, SC (Hwy 78). The mission of CCPRC is to improve the quality of life in Charleston County by offering a diverse system of park facilities, programs and services. The large park system features over 11,000 acres of property and includes four land parks, three beach parks, three dog parks, a skate park, two landmark fishing piers, three waterparks, 19 boat landings, a climbing wall, a challenge course, an interpretive center, a historic plantation site, an equestrian center, cottages, a campground, a marina, as well as wedding, meeting and event facilities. The park system also offers a wide variety of recreational services – festivals, camps, classes, programs, volunteer opportunities, and more. For more information, call 843-795-4386 or visit www.charlestoncountyparks.com.
Charleston County Park & Recreation Commission / 861 Riverland Dr. / Charleston, SC 29412 / (843) 795-4386
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Oriental is a wonderful place with friendly people and good food. And, if you do stop here, by all means, eat at our good friends at Toucan’s Grill and stay at Oriental Marina, a SALTY SOUTHEAST CRUISERS’ NET SPONSOR!
A longtime CRUISERS NET SPONSOR, historic Edenton always has an exciting calendar of events and places to visit! Edenton is at the mouth of the Chowan River on the northwest shore of Albemarle Sound.
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Click Here To Open A Chart View Window Zoomed To the Location of Edenton Harbor City Docks
Cruisers Net publishes Loose Cannon articles with Captain Swanson’s permission in hopes that mariners with saltwater in their veins will subscribe. $7 per month or $56 for the year; you may cancel at any time.
When all else fails, try journalism.
Back in May, a marine industry player described as a “boatbuilding entrepreneur” purchased one of America’s last production boatbuilders, Catalina Yachts. Happy talk ensued, not just about the venerable sailboat brand, but sister company True North, Catalina’s sister company for Downeast style power craft. “We’re not just preserving the legacy—we’re building upon it,” Michael Reardon said. “Catalina and True North are iconic American brands. I’m honored to lead them into the next era of growth and innovation.” Earlier this week operations at Catalina’s Largo, Florida, plant were suspended temporarily. The announcement was made by company President Patrick Turner, who had been promoted from sales manager under the new ownership. Turner said:
The company had little choice, if an employee named Lisa Cayce is to be believed. “The new owner, Michael Reardon, had not paid our wages for the past two months and our insurance was cancelled. We had meeting today and hopefully we will be back in two weeks when the owner pays and the vendors,” Cayce wrote on the Catalina Parts & Pieces Facebook Page. Reardon is founder of Daedulus Yachts of North Carolina, a company once described by sailing writer George Day as a “high-tech disruptor.” Reardon’s partner in Daedulus is Stefan Muff, who created the technology for Google Maps. In late August, Reardon announced the acquisition of the classic American brands Tartan, Freedom and AMP Spars from Seattle Yachts. Freedom was just a brand name with no assets. Although Tartan was struggling at the time of sale, it hadn’t stopped building boats at it’s Ohio factory and apparently production continues today. Also in August, Catalina announced that was bringing a new model to the market. The 48 represented a new look from a partnership with Tripp Yacht Design to bring a new Catalina 48 to market. It was billed as the first of several new generation models. Since 1970Catalina Yachts was founded in 1970 by Frank Butler, with the first model being the Catalina 22, quickly followed by the Catalina 27. In May 1984 the California company acquired Morgan Yachts in Largo, Florida, a division that specialized in cruising and charter boats. True North was acquired in 2019 to establish the company in the powerboat market. At one point, Catalina was the biggest sailboat manufacturer in the world and has sold more than 100,000 boats to date. The 22 is one of the most successful sailboats in history with nearly 18,000 sold. LOOSE CANNON covers hard news, technical issues and nautical history. Sometimes he tries to be funny. Subscribe for free to support the work. If you’ve been reading for a while—and you like it—consider upgrading to paid.
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Notice to Navigation: 2025-024 – Ortona Lock fully operational
US ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS JACKSONVILLE DISTRICT
LOCAL NUMBER: 2025-24
WATERWAY: Okeechobee Waterway – CALOOSAHATCHEE RIVER
EFFECTIVE: 23 October 2025
ATTN: CESAJ-OD-SN
PO Box 4970
JACKSONVILLE, FL 32232-0019
POC: Kriss Zeller, Chief of Navigation (772) 380-6928
REFERENCE:
Attention all concerned boaters! The Ortona Lock mechanical failure (NTN 2025-023) has been resolved and the lock is now fully operational.
Navigation locks along the Okeechobee Waterway remain open and staffed during a government shutdown. Ensuring safe passage for boaters and supporting water management are mission-essential functions that do not pause. Although staffed at minimal levels, crews stay on to ensure safe passage for vessels, regulate water levels, and support flood risk management.
For the current Lake Okeechobee water levels, please see: https://w3.saj.usace.army.mil/h2o/currentLL.shtml
St Lucie Lock & Dam 772-287-2665 or 863-662-9148
Port Mayaca Lock & Dam 561-924-2858 or 863-662-9424
Julian Keen, Jr. Lock & Dam 863-946-0414 or 863-662-9533
Ortona Lock & Dam 863-675-0616 or 863- 662-9846
W.P. Franklin Lock & Dam 239-694-5451 or 863-662-9908
Canaveral Lock 321-783-5421 or 863-662-0298 (6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.)
Thank you! Jeff
Jeffrey D Prater
Public Affairs Specialist
Corporate Communications Office
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District
South Florida Office
4400 PGA Blvd.
Suite 501
Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410
Cell: 561-801-5734
jeffrey.d.prater@usace.army.mil
Twitter @JaxStrong
Jacksonville District Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/JacksonvilleDistrict
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Great news for the cruising community. One of my personal favorite marinas is going to be rebuilt four years after being destroyed by Hurricane Ian in September 2022. Legacy Harbour was a longtime CRUISERS NET SPONSOR, and we look forward to their new 131 slip marina featuring Bellingham’s wave attenuator and dock systems. Construction is expected to be completed in Spring 2026.
Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Legacy Harbour Marina
Thanks to Dawn Matheson of GoChesapeake for forwarding this updated schedule, effective October 21st. GoChesapeake is a Cruisers Net sponsor and organizes the Marker 12 Event at Atlantic Yacht Basin for the boating community. See below for more details.
Marker 12 Events – Every Tuesday and Friday in October
 | Located at mile marker 12 on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, the Marker 12 Pop-Up Bar is open exclusively to our waterway guests. This outdoor pop-up bar is open seasonally on Tuesdays and Fridays in May and mid-September thru mid-October and features locally brewed craft beers, wine and light hors d’oeuvres. Hours4:30 – 7:00 PM |
Click Here To View the Cruisers Net NC-VA Bridge Directory Listing For Great Bridge Lock
Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Great Bridge Lock
AREA SPONSORING MARINAS
Click Here To View the VA to NC Cruisers Net Marina Directory Listing For Atlantic Yacht Basin
Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Atlantic Yacht Basin
Cruisers Net publishes Loose Cannon articles with Captain Swanson’s permission in hopes that mariners with saltwater in their veins will subscribe. $7 per month or $56 for the year; you may cancel at any time.
When all else fails, try journalism. Latest Sea-Doo Switch Deaths Happened After Safety Recall Work Was DoneU.S. Coast Guard Issues Safety Alert for Capsizing Hazard
The hybrid jetski-pontoon boat accident that killed four women on a Maine lake happened after it had undergone recall repairs intended to improve stability underway, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The Sea-Doo Switch, subject of numerous Loose Cannon articles, is now the subject of a U.S. Coast Guard Safety Alert due to a “capsizing hazard.” Maine Inland Fisheries & Wildlife initiated an investigation after a triple fatality over Labor Day weekend on Flagstaff Lake in Maine. One of the questions to be answered was whether the vessel had undergone safety repair work as part of a factory recall earlier in the year. The purpose of the repair was to make the vessel less like to flip forward. According to the Coast Guard, the recall repairs had been performed on the vessel in question. “As a result, the Coast Guard is currently evaluating the recall repair procedures to determine if additional action is required to mitigate the hazard,” the Safety Alert said. The Alert described the Switch “capsizing hazard” in this paragraph entitled “Vessel Design and Unsafe Operating Condition”:
You can download the Safety Alert in its entirety here:
None of the four fatalities and one case of lifelong incapitazation involved alcohol, according to investigators. So far, no charges have been filed against the operators involved in the accidents. For more stories about the Switch, visit the Loose Cannon website and enter “Sea-Doo” into the search field. LOOSE CANNON covers hard news, technical issues and nautical history. Sometimes he tries to be funny. Subscribe for free to support the work. If you’ve been reading for a while—and you like it—consider upgrading to paid.
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Cruisers Net publishes Loose Cannon articles with Captain Swanson’s permission in hopes that mariners with saltwater in their veins will subscribe. $7 per month or $56 for the year; you may cancel at any time.
When all else fails, try journalism. Erie Canal at 200: Tech Marvel With Unintended ConsequencesOut With the Iroquois, in With Lamprey Eels
The author chairs the Department of Science, Technology & Society at the Rochester Institute of Technology. This story was first published on October 15, 2025 in The Conversation and is reprinted here with permission. By CHRISTINE KEINERIf you visit the Erie Canal today, you’ll find a tranquil waterway and trail that pass through charming towns and forests, a place where hikers, cyclists, kayakers, bird-watchers and other visitors seek to enjoy nature and escape the pressures of modern life. However, relaxation and scenic beauty had nothing to do with the origins of this waterway. When the Erie Canal opened 200 years ago, on October 26, 1825, the route was dotted with decaying trees left by construction that had cut through more than 360 miles of forests and fields, and life quickly sped up. Mules on the towpath along the canal could pull a heavy barge at a clip of four miles per hour—far faster than the job of dragging wagons over primitive roads. Boats rushed goods and people between the Great Lakes heartland and the port of New York City in days rather than weeks. Freight costs fell by 90 percent.
As many books have proclaimed, the Erie Canal’s opening in 1825 solidified New York’s reputation as the Empire State. It also transformed the surrounding environment and forever changed the ecology of the Hudson River and the lower Great Lakes. For environmental historians like me, the canal’s bicentennial provides an opportunity to reflect upon its complex legacies, including the evolution of U.S. efforts to balance economic progress and ecological costs. Communities RupturedThe Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the Indigenous nations that the French called the Iroquois, engaged in canoe-based trade throughout the Great Lakes and Hudson River valley for centuries. In the 1700s, that began to change as American colonists took the land through brutal warfare, inequitable treaties and exploitative policies. That Haudenosaunee dispossession made the Erie Canal possible. After the Revolutionary War, commercial enthusiasm for a direct waterborne route to the West intensified. Canal supporters identified the break in the Appalachian Mountains at the junction of the Mohawk River and the Hudson as a propitious place to dig a channel to Lake Erie. Yet cutting a 363-mile-long waterway through New York’s uneven terrain posed formidable challenges. Because the landscape rises 571 feet between Albany and Buffalo, a canal would require multiple locks to raise and lower boats.
Federal officials refused to finance such “internal improvements.” But New York politician DeWitt Clinton was determined to complete the project, even if it meant using only state funds. Critics mocked the $7 million megaproject, worth around US$170 million today, calling it “DeWitt’s Ditch” and “Clinton’s Folly.” In 1817, however, thousands of men began digging the four-foot-deep channel using hand shovels and pickaxes. The construction work produced engineering breakthroughs, such as hydraulic cement made from local materials and locks that lifted the canal’s water level about 60 feet at Lockport, yet it obliterated acres of wetlands and forests. After riding a canal boat between Utica and Syracuse, the writer Nathaniel Hawthorne described the surroundings in 1835 as “now decayed and death-struck.” However, most canalgoers viewed the waterway as a beacon of progress. As a trade artery, it made New York City the nation’s financial center. As a people mover, it fueled religious revivals, social reform movements and the growth of Great Lakes cities.
The Erie Canal’s socioeconomic benefits came with more environmental costs: The passageway enabled organisms from faraway places to reach lakes and rivers that had been isolated since the end of the last ice age. Invasive Species ExpresswayOn October 26, 1825, Gov. Clinton led a flotilla aboard the Seneca Chief from Buffalo to New York City that culminated in a grandiose ceremony. To symbolize the global connections made possible by the new canal, participants poured water from Lake Erie and rivers around the world into the Atlantic at Sandy Hook, a sand spit off New Jersey at the entrance to New York Harbor. Observers at the time described the ritual of “commingling the waters of the Lakes with the Ocean” in matrimonial terms.
Clinton was an accomplished naturalist who had researched the canal route’s geology, birds and fish. He even predicted that the waterway would “bring the western fishes into the eastern waters.” Biologists today would consider the “Wedding of the Waters” event a biosecurity risk. The Erie Canal and its adjacent feeder rivers and reservoirs likely enabled two voracious nonnative species, the Atlantic sea lamprey and alewife, to enter the Great Lakes ecosystem. By preying on lake trout and other highly valued native fish, these invaders devastated the lakes’ commercial fisheries. The harvest dropped by a stunning 98 percent from the previous average by the early 1960s.
Tracing their origins is tricky, but historical, ecological and genetic data suggest that sea lampreys and alewives entered Lake Ontario via the Erie Canal during the 1860s. Later improvements to the Welland Canal in Canada enabled them to reach the upper Great Lakes by the 1930s. Protecting the $5 billion Great Lakes fishery from these invasive organisms requires constant work and consistent funding. In particular, applying pesticides and other techniques to control lamprey populations costs around $20 million per year. The invasive species that has inflicted the most environmental and economic harm on the Great Lakes is the zebra mussel. Zebra mussels traveled from Eurasia via the ballast water of transoceanic ships using the St. Lawrence Seaway during the 1980s. The Erie Canal then became a “mussel expressway” to the Hudson River. The hungry invading mussels caused a nearly tenfold reduction of phytoplankton, the primary food of many species of the Hudson River ecosystem. This competition for food, along with pollution and habitat degradation, led to the disappearance of two common species of the Hudson’s native pearly mussels.
Today, the Erie Canal remains vulnerable to invasive plants, such as water chestnut and hydrilla, and invasive animals such as round goby. Boaters, kayakers and anglers can help reduce bioinvasions by cleaning, draining and drying their equipment after each use to avoid carrying invasive species to new locations. Recreational TreasureDuring the Gilded Age in the late 1800s, the Erie Canal sparked a utilitarian sense of environmental concern. Timber cutting in the Adirondack Mountains was causing so much erosion that the eastern canal’s feeder rivers were filling up with silt. To protect these waterways, New York created Adirondack Park in 1892. Covering 6 million acres, the park balances forest preservation, recreation and commercial use on a unique mix of public and private lands. Erie Canal shipping declined during the 20th century with the opening of the deeper and wider St. Lawrence Seaway and competition from rail and highways. The canal still supports commerce, but the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor now provides an additional economic engine.
In 2024, 3.84 million people used the Erie Canalway Trail for cycling, hiking, kayaking, sightseeing and other adventures. The tourists and day-trippers who enjoy the historic landscape generate over $300 million annually. Over the past 200 years, the Erie Canal has both shaped, and been shaped by, ecological forces and changing socioeconomic priorities. As New York reimagines the canal for its third century, the artificial river’s environmental history provides important insights for designing technological systems that respect human communities and work with nature rather than against it. LOOSE CANNON covers hard news, technical issues and nautical history. Every so often he tries to be funny. Subscribe for free to support the work. If you’ve been reading for a while—and you like it—consider upgrading to paid.
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