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Scuba Diving Assholes of Surly


CHIEF

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1 hour ago, rage-a-holic said:

Did you do the training? It's a $285 course, required for independent dives. 

Had that discussion in Cozumel during a dive boat ride with a guy from Austin who thought because he got checked out there, he could dive there any time he wanted. Not true.

https://www.meadowscenter.txst.edu/Stewardship/Diving/AquaCorps/DiveAuthorizationCourse.html

Well ok, is it free (as you said before) or $285?  

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2 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

Well ok, is it free (as you said before) or $285?  

All your dives there are free after your take the $285 course.

Maybe you qualify for a discount?

Course Fee

  • Standard: $285
  • 25% Discount for Dive Instructors and Veterans:  $213
  • 50% Discount for Current Texas State students, faculty, and staff: $142
Edited by rage-a-holic
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Just now, Biff Tannen said:

It was for me.

I mean literally.  Every OW cert needs weight management, breath control for subtle up and down ability, in the pool obstacle course etc. taught to all students across all orgs.  But if they did that then they couldn't charge people to take a buoyancy class.  

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back when Ralph The Swimming Pig was still in charge you technically could get in the springs if you went over the dam.....they would try and toss you out, and the cops would generally agree with them, but you could not be charged with anything legally......we went at night though and were not caught

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1 hour ago, PRONG HORN said:

 

This should be a requirement for every cert.  

 

This course isn't technically a cert. BUT....If you're Surly 1% and collect PADI cards, you can get the Spring Lake card by paying an extra $150 or something stupid like that, but Spring Lake doesn't require it or care that you have it. It is completely worthless, yet PADI will let you have one for $150.

image.png.1e5c5605054cde73073310bdf63ab792.png

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  • 7 months later...
5 hours ago, nolongerU2horn said:

Anyone recommend a dive shop out of Ambergris Caye, Belize? We are staying about 6 miles north of San Pedro. It’ll be our first dive after getting certified and a guy at our resort claimed that Half Moon Caye would be too technical for an inexperienced diver.

 

I don't have recs but that inexperienced diver statement is BS.  It depends on you and your comfort in the water.  Some people can do any recreational dive right after their OW cert.  I don't think Half Moon is known for difficulty but I could be wrong.  

 

 

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On 4/1/2023 at 12:08 PM, nolongerU2horn said:

Anyone recommend a dive shop out of Ambergris Caye, Belize? We are staying about 6 miles north of San Pedro. It’ll be our first dive after getting certified and a guy at our resort claimed that Half Moon Caye would be too technical for an inexperienced diver.

Here is a link to the scuba board forums. Great place to ask questions, and probably some good reads before you go:

https://scubaboard.com/community/forums/belize.439/

CHIEF

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
Anyone recommend a dive shop out of Ambergris Caye, Belize? We are staying about 6 miles north of San Pedro. It’ll be our first dive after getting certified and a guy at our resort claimed that Half Moon Caye would be too technical for an inexperienced diver.

Did you go on your trip already? We dove Ambergris the first week of April with Ambergris Divers and they were great. Hit Shark Ray Alley and Hol Chan Marine Reserve. Belize is a great place to go for new divers since everything is so shallow and you can stay down a long time. We didn’t do Blue Hole, saved it for next time.

Ambergris Divers Belize
+501 226-2634
https://maps.app.goo.gl/SEHbtx7eg1GG98459?g_st=ic

ETA: we stayed north of San Pedro as well and they picked us up from the dock at our resort. It’s a pretty ride down to their shop.
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On 4/30/2023 at 8:51 AM, Buzzrock said:


Did you go on your trip already? We dove Ambergris the first week of April with Ambergris Divers and they were great. Hit Shark Ray Alley and Hol Chan Marine Reserve. Belize is a great place to go for new divers since everything is so shallow and you can stay down a long time. We didn’t do Blue Hole, saved it for next time.

Ambergris Divers Belize
+501 226-2634
https://maps.app.goo.gl/SEHbtx7eg1GG98459?g_st=ic

ETA: we stayed north of San Pedro as well and they picked us up from the dock at our resort. It’s a pretty ride down to their shop.

We did go. We snorkled shark ray alley and hol chan and ended up diving at mexico rocks. Went out with White Sands dive shop and it ended up being just us and the divemaster, which was pretty great. They also picked us up right at our resort's dock

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Headed down the week of May 21st to the 28th. CHIEF Jr.'s graduation present. Getting his GF certified right now. Both of her parents are certified and absolutely stoked she is doing it. Diving with our buddies from Gatos Reef. Mrs. CHIEF is gifting the GF her Mexican boyfriend, Dario. Great dude for first time divers on Cozumel.

CHIEF 

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On 5/2/2023 at 10:54 AM, CHIEF said:

Headed down the week of May 21st to the 28th. CHIEF Jr.'s graduation present. Getting his GF certified right now. Both of her parents are certified and absolutely stoked she is doing it. Diving with our buddies from Gatos Reef. Mrs. CHIEF is gifting the GF her Mexican boyfriend, Dario. Great dude for first time divers on Cozumel.

CHIEF 

Let us know how it goes. I was planning on diving with Aldora in June, but I may give them a shot if they can get steel 120s from AICO.

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On 5/3/2023 at 5:00 PM, rage-a-holic said:

Let us know how it goes. I was planning on diving with Aldora in June, but I may give them a shot if they can get steel 120s from AICO.

They are calling that far north reef Tiburon (with a tilde). Lotsa shit there...

https://www.facebook.com/reel/540963201537123/?s=single_unit&__cft__[0]=AZWSV4IPNX1HAIY6VtipHSxg2_cNK_0gOs8I0KhEiYEfuM-F4jApQsBZGjVVdRzWO28X-miCUX5p2pDt4pueZTWQA9ew30nI86jUaVD0gMpoljnOskzgSxzb-hTTuOw6sSuxHaBjvZW45cead9mSxGqNx9kt_-C61-wPCelszLdO9fx5v_j0McfKQsOB7pOBNaE&__tn__=H-R

CHIEF

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  • 1 month later...

Several years back in Cozumel I was on the beach early one morning waiting for dive kiosk to open, there was another guy waiting there too.  We kept running into him and his wife and he was like a fat cousin eddie.  Anyway, before the kiosk opened two locals approached us asking if we were looking for a dive, this was a Mexican Gilligan and the Skipper.   $50 each for 2 dives and lunch.

next morning we head to the marina, Mrs Fiddy and I walked around and laughed at this one old wreck of a boat, old wooden sailboat maybe 20’ long, old truck diesel engine thrown down below.   Until we read the name, that’s our boat….  We head out with cousin eddie and his wife, I told the skipper I didn’t pack gear for the trip and needed BC and reg, he called out to a passing tour boat and they threw some shit in the water.  Gilligan swam out and grabbed it, that’s my gear.   
 

so we head out to San Francisco reef, Gilligan sole job was bailing water from below with a couple paint cans.   Skipper gears up.  Fins, 1950’s oval flat glass mask, about 100 lb weight belt and a tank.  The tank has a piece of hemp rope that makes a cross body sling.  Tank has a gauge screwed on top and a single regulator.   No spare, no computer, no gauges Luther than the one behind his head.   No BC.  he also has about a 5’ rod with barbed hook.  He jumps in and goes straight down along the wall about 200-250 feet and poaches lobster, straight back up and dumps it in the boat.  He does this about a half a dozen times.  
 

cousin eddie and his wife had just gotten certified in a pool somewhere, this is their first trip in any water outside the pool.  They get in and start going down.   Mrs Fiddy snorkels by the boat, I go down and try to keep an eye on the tweedle couple.  They keep going deeper and deeper, I’m following and trying to catch them, and at around 150 the bladder in my regulator starts leaking.  I finally catch them at 210 and grab his fin and yank hard, tell them we need to start going up.   I skipped my first two stops because of the regulator but went slow the rest of the way up..

we all lived and the lunch was phenomenal.   We pulled up on some beach where an old guy had a boiling pot going over open fire and they threw in the poached lobsters and some fish Gilligan caught while we were diving.   It was an experience I will never forget, but holy shit.  
 

For the record, I’ve been diving my entire life, lakes, oceans, rivers, anywhere there water really.  My dad was a NAUI instructor and I used to help with classes though I have never held a c-card.   Before the surly safety patrol drops in understand that I am all about safety and redundancy.  I don’t take unnecessary risks and probably would have backed out of that Cozumel trip upon just seeing the boat.  But I knew cousin eddie and his wife were in way over their heads and someone would need to keep an eye on them.   As for the why I haven’t gotten a card, at first I was too young, then I knew too much, and now I’m just old and stubborn.   All 3 of my usual dive partners are dive masters, one is an ex navy diver, another spent 15 years welding way the fuck down where we should never dive, and the other has probably triple the number of dives I’ve done.   For the record, the welder is fucking crazy, I stick with the navy diver when I’m not comfortable.   

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7 hours ago, Treefidy said:

Several years back in Cozumel I was on the beach early one morning waiting for dive kiosk to open, there was another guy waiting there too.  We kept running into him and his wife and he was like a fat cousin eddie.  Anyway, before the kiosk opened two locals approached us asking if we were looking for a dive, this was a Mexican Gilligan and the Skipper.   $50 each for 2 dives and lunch.

cousin eddie and his wife had just gotten certified in a pool somewhere, this is their first trip in any water outside the pool.  They get in and start going down.   Mrs Fiddy snorkels by the boat, I go down and try to keep an eye on the tweedle couple.  They keep going deeper and deeper, I’m following and trying to catch them, and at around 150 the bladder in my regulator starts leaking.  I finally catch them at 210 and grab his fin and yank hard, tell them we need to start going up.   I skipped my first two stops because of the regulator but went slow the rest of the way up..

 

wut

a beach dive kiosk? So 1975?

210 huh? Ok.

 

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1 hour ago, rage-a-holic said:

wut

a beach dive kiosk? So 1975?

210 huh? Ok.

 

 

Totally possible but completely fucked up story.  Any decent computer will guide you back up from there with necessary stops.  The question is, how long ago was this.  Did he even have a computer?    

 

 

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8 minutes ago, PRONG HORN said:

 

Totally possible but completely fucked up story.  Any decent computer will guide you back up from there with necessary stops.  The question is, how long ago was this.  Did he even have a computer?    

 

 

It's a ridiculous, laughable story. 

and 3 people went to 210' on AL80s...no nitrox, no trimix. No one was hurt. Sure.

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  • 1 month later...
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  • 4 months later...

 

From Undercurrent

 

Quote

In the late fall of 2023, the Belize Aggressor IV ran aground and its hull was severely damaged, and the Indo Siren was destroyed by fire. Nobody was hurt, but in both cases, passengers lost possessions, and, in some cases, passports.

In the last five years, Undercurrent has reported that several liveaboards were destroyed by dramatic fires, running aground, or capsizing. In a few cases, tragically, lives were lost.

That list of disasters includes destruction by fire of the Hurricane (Egypt), the Scuba Scene (Egypt), and the Red Sea Aggressor I (Egypt). The Carlton Queen (Egypt) and the Dream Keeper (Philippines) capsized and sank. The New Dream (Egypt), the Seawolf Felo (Egypt), the Emperor Echo (Egypt), and the Vortex (Mexico) ran aground. And one can never forget the Labor Day 2019 fire that destroyed the Conception (USA) and killed 34 people - the worst liveaboard disaster of all.

In the previous 10 years, Undercurrent reported the loss of 11, including the WAOW (Indonesia), the Overseas (Egypt ), the Truk Siren (Chuuk), the Oriental Siren (Indonesia), and the Mandarin Siren (Indonesia) by fire.

The Wind Dancer (Costa Rica), the Palau Siren (Palau), the Galapagos Aggressor (Ecuador), the Emperor Fraser (Egypt), and the Turks & Caicos Aggressor II ran aground. The Siren (Thailand) was in a collision.

(And though not part of this time scale, we should not forget the tragic 2001 sinking of the Wave Dancer (Belize) and the 20 lives lost.)

 

What has been going on with liveaboards?

That's an important question. Around the same number were lost during the last five years as in the previous 10 years, and during a couple of years of COVID most weren't working.

The owner of an extensive fleet of liveaboards in the Red Sea and Indo-Pacific told Undercurrent, "It's a numbers game. There are more and more boats. Statistically, there are fewer boats in operation being lost than ever before. There are just too many boats there."

And that may be true. When I wrote in UK's Diver Magazine in the 1980s about the loss of Colona III to fire, it was one of just a handful of liveaboards operating in the Red Sea. Now, about 175 operate there, more than anywhere else.

But that doesn't adequately explain why so many high-end boats, catering to people willing to spend $4000 or more for a week aboard, have such serious safety issues. It may be more in line with what one owner, scathing about the safety issues of others, told us: "At every dive show, I make a PowerPoint presentation to charter companies. One section of my presentation is on IACS class and safety, redundancy, etc. Not a single person has ever asked me a follow-up question. All questions are only related to prices and commissions."

Liveaboard Safety

Evidently, safety is something far from travel agencies' and wholesalers' minds when selling a trip. And divers don't ask many safety questions before booking, presumably because they assume that the ship's owners and booking agents are confident the liveaboard is safe.

Liveaboard safety is about both the crew and the craft. Is the captain competent? Experienced seamen making passage avoid shallow reefs and wreck sites, sure signs of potential dangers. But that's where divers want to visit. Liveaboards habitually visit hazardous marine areas. Is the crew trained in all safety matters? Have the passengers been versed in their duties? And is the ship safe? That's a complex matter, ranging from having wired fire alarms in the cabins to properly storing fuel and having complete regular inspections to satisfy the specific vessel licensing authority.

Back in the Day

I crewed on the MY Lady Jenny V liveaboard for six months during a 1992 hiatus from my regular work. I recently spent a week with my old Red Sea skipper, now retired, discussing liveaboard safety against the background of the trip we did together, traveling the Red Sea from Egypt through the waters of Sudan, Eritrea, and Yemen, to Djibouti. The diving was out-of-this-world, but the Red Sea has many famous diveable wrecks, indicative of the dangers of navigation.

During our journey, we rarely saw another liveaboard. No rescue services were available anywhere, and we were far from the main shipping lanes. We weren't always welcome either; we were shot at three times and arrested once.

I was in charge of the diving, and the skipper was overall boss. Our vessel occasionally touched the reef in the night when the wind changed direction, and our mooring was no longer in the lee of the reef, but our sturdy German-built steel hull, built in 1936, stood the test. We had frequent mechanical troubles, exacerbated by occasional friction between crew members. But never were the passengers endangered or even aware of the problems. We were determined that nothing untoward would happen to our guests and took steps to ensure that. I'm amazed we got away with it.

Despite having an autopilot, the helm was always manned whenever we were underway. Crew patrolled the boat 24/7, so any problem would be immediately spotted and addressed. Some reefs were actually several miles from where they were shown on the charts, meaning we always risked running into one, so sharp eyes were maintained, watching for breaking waves or light-colored sea - the tell-tale signs of shallow water.

In short, the boat was professionally run and subject to international shipping regulations for a vessel that went beyond the immediate coastline.

Scuba diving safety, however, was not ideal. We had no therapeutic oxygen for any decompression emergency. Nitrox had yet to prove its value, so we filled the scuba tanks with plain air. No crew member had any medical training, though we operated far from civilization.

The intense heat meant water coming in to cool the engines was a heady 90°F. The engine room was so hot my rubber-soled shoes even melted on the ladder down to it. The crew couldn't afford to stand around there.

Mechanical breakdowns were frequent, and it was up to the crew's ingenuity to solve them. I remember driving the vessel from Sudan to Hodeida in Yemen, steering by means of two electrical plugs on trailing cables plugged into a trailing socket, one for left and one for right because the relays in the autopilot had failed. We had drifted for three days among Sudan's reefs before our Scottish engineer dreamed up this temporary, if inelegant, solution.

We had functioning life rafts and lifejackets but only one dive tender with a single temperamental outboard motor. Though more than half a century old, the vessel had been built to European standards. Alas, much of the heavier equipment fitted for her later role was installed on the vessel's starboard side. That included the crane for lifting the pick-up boat, the compressor, the generators, and even the heavy oak salon table. This meant we had to move the fuel oil strategically between tanks, port, and starboard as it got used, or the vessel would list at a quirky angle.

We were shot at one night in Egyptian waters because a patrol had mistaken our vessel for a fishing boat illegally operating in a marine park. We were shot at as we hurriedly departed Port Sudan after it was discovered the ship's papers had gone back to the UK with the owner by mistake. We were shot at by an Eritrean People's Liberation Front vessel when we approached Massawa (the vessel, passengers, and crew had been arrested there the year before), and we were temporarily arrested in Hodeida, Yemen, before the owner flew in with the ship's papers. We were also fined for not flying the correct flag for the recently reunited North and South Yemen.

 

A group of passengers meant to join us in Hodeida were detained in Sana'a for a week because they carried an insufficient number of entry visas. Their booking agent had failed to realize that departing port to go diving equated to departing the country and the boat return was a new entry. The incoming passengers were not happy.

A year later, a military helicopter sent a burst of machine-gun fire alongside the hull when it was at the Seven Brothers (Bab el Mendab), the gateway between the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf. (It was 30 years before the Houthis started causing trouble there.) The captain retreated hurriedly into international waters. Dr. Eugenie Clark was on board then. You can read the full story in my book, Amazing Diving Stories.

No lives were lost during the decade the vessel operated in the Red Sea, but it went out of business when the Egyptians discovered the diving business could be lucrative and began to charge half what the Lady Jenny V charged. It all comes down to price, and soon the British-run boat and the few others like it were gone.

Today's Liveaboards

Though we are more savvy now about smoke detectors and emergency exits, many liveaboard dive boats today are not licensed to go more than a few miles from their home coast, yet some do. To be licensed, they must meet international safety regulations, which increases the cost to the end user.

Maybe the surge in popularity of liveaboard diving has attracted a different type of passenger, one who would never put up with the deprivations of true expedition diving 30 or more years ago. Many passengers now expect hotel-level comfort.

Regardless, liveaboards are still a case of "buyer-beware." Passengers need to be savvy in providing for their own safety, asking the right questions, and establishing safety procedures before the vessel leaves the dock. Even then, the safest-run boat will be at the mercy of wind and tide, so don't complain if you are not provided with the exact itinerary you were expecting.

A sailor's proverb: "Worse things can happen at sea." The captain's first duty is to ensure the safety of the vessel and its passengers.

 

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also this

 

100 Percent PADI or Not At All. PADI now requires all dive centers working under the PADI banner to train divers exclusively with PADI. It will not permit them to offer certifications by other organizations, such as SSI, SDI, CMAS, or the British Sub Aqua Club alongside its own. Many dive centers operators are outraged, and some, such as Werner Lau Diving Centers, have protested on social media. The fish don't care what diving certification you carry.

Three Divers Hit by Maldives' Sharks. Divers on the MY Myna II were hit by spinner sharks at the same place where in January a 63-year-old American woman lost her leg to the propeller of a dive boat (Undercurrent February). A video made during a staged shark-feed with bait in a basket shows a shark becoming entangled in the weighted downline and going into flight or fight mode. Other sharks were spooked. Several divers were in the water, three were hit and one sustained non-life-threatening injuries when fleeing sharks collided with him. The dive site is hazardous because it's right outside Hulhumale harbor, a stretch of water busy with dhonis taking passengers between the airport, Male, and resort islands. Strong currents, boat traffic, and aggressive sharks make this the most hazardous dive spot in the Maldives. There are moves afoot to ban shark baiting.

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5 hours ago, PRONG HORN said:

100 Percent PADI or Not At All. PADI now requires all dive centers working under the PADI banner to train divers exclusively with PADI. It will not permit them to offer certifications by other organizations, such as SSI, SDI, CMAS, or the British Sub Aqua Club alongside its own. Many dive centers operators are outraged, and some, such as Werner Lau Diving Centers, have protested on social media. The fish don't care what diving certification you carry.

So is this just a monopoly thing?  I’m SSI now and was PADI when I was a kid. They both seem the exact same. 

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On 2/23/2024 at 7:09 AM, Biff Tannen said:

So is this just a monopoly thing?  I’m SSI now and was PADI when I was a kid. They both seem the exact same. 

PADI is the 500 lb gorilla bully in the Scuba cert world. They charge ridiculous fees for everything (Put Another Dollar In) using the absolute shittiest web design/training/teaching tools out there. 5 employees can run their entire org.

This is just another in a long line of PADI money grabs, the end game being to monopolize the diving cert industry and triple their ridiculous fees.

They raised fees during COVID for "reasons" which were later exposed as "because every other market sector was doing it and we didn't think people were paying attention"

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  • 3 months later...

This is a good article for anyone that cares about diving cenotes in the Yucatan, or just thinks maybe we shouldn't destroy aquifers for a fucking train.

https://apnews.com/projects/mexico-tren-maya-climate-yucatan/

Quote

In a violation of Mexican law, the government didn’t carry out a comprehensive study to assess the potential environmental impacts before starting construction. That’s led to blindly plowing into caverns with no clue what’s being damaged, scientists and independent lawyers say.

“Our president has little respect for the law. He’s in a sort of tug of war for power and he does what he wants,” said Claudia Aguilar, a lawyer at Mexico’s Free School of Law.

When a judge ordered construction of the line be suspended until an adequate report of how the train would affect the caves was carried out, López Obrador ignored the ruling, and the work continued.

At the same time, much of the project has been cloaked in secrecy as López Obrador has charged Mexico’s military with construction and blocked the release of information in the name of “national security”.

While Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled that unconstitutional, López Obrador disregarded that ruling, too, saying it was to protect his project from “corrupt” critics.

When the AP requested an interview with leadership of the Maya Train project, spokesperson Mariana Galicia said they were “ordered that we cannot give interviews” but could respond to questions sent over email to “better control” the information shared. They did not respond to questions sent by email.

 

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1 hour ago, rage-a-holic said:

This is a good article for anyone that cares about diving cenotes in the Yucatan, or just thinks maybe we shouldn't destroy aquifers for a fucking train.

https://apnews.com/projects/mexico-tren-maya-climate-yucatan/

 

Good thing he ain’t in charge no more. Not that it can salvage any of the damage done. 

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1 hour ago, Biff Tannen said:

Good thing he ain’t in charge no more. Not that it can salvage any of the damage done. 

the new president is "eco-friendly" like aggy are "champions"

Quote

Sheinbaum, an environmental scientist who leads the race by a comfortable margin, has portrayed herself as a champion for the environment, but has supported López Obrador’s fossil-fuel agenda and made few remarks about the environmental damage the train has wrought.

Little more than a week before the presidential election, Sheinbaum said she was meeting with leaders of neighboring Guatemala and Belize in talks to extend the Maya Train to Central America.

 

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