Tangled in seaweed at the high watermark was an overwhelming amount of plastic debris. Within a few short hours I had a small car load of plastic: a broken chair, a plastic crate, confetti like bits of broken bottles, a crumpled soccer ball, chunks of styrofoam cups, a brilliant blue rope, a yellow pail, a gazillion bottle caps, a purple clothes pin and a pink dinosaur. All washed up at high tide and stranded on the beach amidst seaweed and seashells.
This problem is not unique to Cozumel. All over the world, visitors arrive on lovely islands, greeted by the groomed beaches of a vacation paradise. Most travelers assume that the wild beaches are equally pristine and beautiful.
However it’s a full time job to keep this ocean detritus from fouling the beaches destined for tourists.
On the truly wild beaches, where there are no industrious workers toiling away at dawn to clear the flotsam and jetsam that has arrived overnight on the tides, you will find this heartbreaking vista.
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