Progreso, Yucatán —A group of 10 environmentally minded crew members from the cruise ship Vision of the Seas undertook the task of cleaning part of the beach, around the viaduct area and fishing pier.
The volunteers gathered a total of 30 bags with 20 kilos of garbage.
The crew, made up of Croats, Greeks, South Africans and Filipinos, plan on another trip to this port to clean the beach of the malecón, and plan to bring more colleagues.
In addition to the cleaning of the beach, part of the crew helped with mooring of a boat that by maritime law must be anchored when the cruise ship is docked.
The 2,140 passengers of the Royal Caribbean boat, which is based in Galveston, did not participate in the exercise, as they disembarked to visit the port and other tourist destinations.
Stella Vela, environmental coordinator of the cruise, was in charge of directing the cleanup, which they planned for a week and a half, according to Abraham Villanueva Montes de Oca, technical coordinator of cruise ships for the state Ministry of Tourism.
For two hours, the 10 crew members and two municipal tourism employees collected plastic bags and bottles. The trash was stacked on one side of the wooden pier that joins the two embankments, and municipal personnel took it from there to the local dump.
At the end of the environmental day, passengers gathered at the malecón where Vela commented that the altruistic work they did was “because we love Mexico.”
She commented that the beaches of Progreso are beautiful and attractive, as opposed those in her Mediterranean homeland of Croatia, where there are rocks and little sand.
Source: Diario de Yucatán
