We’re told that the air and water temperatures aren’t the only things that have been heating up at cruiser favorite Puerto Escondido on Baja. Apparently there has been a lot of friction over the last few months between American cruisers and American boat service providers; between American boat service providers and other American boat service providers; between American boat service providers and some Mexicans workers who were allegedly told they couldn’t work in the Mexican boatyard; and even between one American service provider and the staff of the Fonatur/Singlar facility. While we’re told no blows have been thrown yet, we’re also told there have been several angry confrontations and there’s a tension in Puerto Escondido that never existed before.

For instance, we received several reports that one American service provider sent a letter to Fonatur headquarters in Mexico City criticizing some of the staff at the Fonatur/Singlar office in Puerto Escondido — who we’ve generally heard very good things about. We’re not sure if there was a cause-and-effect relationship, but we’re told that a short time later, the provider was banned from the Singlar property — including the fuel dock! He nonetheless reportedly returned during Loreto Fest to try to get people to sign a petition asking that he be allowed to return. At this point we’re unclear on his status.

The one thing we do know for sure is that Puerto Escondido’s once-excellent reputation among cruisers is taking a drubbing. For example, we’ve seen a letter from one long-time cruiser in Mexico who always loved Puerto Escondido, but who now vows not to return until it becomes a more friendly and less hostile place. He wrote that he was very unhappy with what he percevied to be price-gouging and "predatory", "bullying" and "extortion"-like business practices by some American service providers at what many describe as an otherwise very nice Singlar facility. And with what he felt was very poor quality of work. According to this individual’s letter, increasing cruiser discontent with the situation in Puerto Escondido is being broadcast from one end of Mexico to the other on the various cruiser nets. This doesn’t bode well for Puerto Escondido or the Singlar facility, as it’s generally thought to take 100 good reports to counteract just one bad one.

And it’s not as if it’s just problems between American service providers and American boatowners, but apparently also between various American service providers. For example, we’re told that one morning a 13-knot noose — the famous Hangman’s Knot — was hung at the door of one provider’s office. While nobody has any proof who put it there, people have told us it’s widely believed to have been a ‘back off’ warning by one American service provider who is under the impression that another American service provider threatened to report him or his friends to Mexican Immigration for some real or imagined violation. In a somewhat similar vein, it was reported to us that a cruiser whose boat was hauled out was told by an American provider that it was illegal for one of his relatives to help him do simple jobs on his boat!

"With that kind of ugly vibe in Puerto Escondido," one veteran Sea of Cortez cruiser told us, "I couldn’t wait to leave the minute Loreto Fest was over. I sure hope those people don’t come down to La Paz."

As a lot of people are thinking about spending the summer in Puerto Escondido, it might be helpful if people share their experiences of what’s going on at that beautiful spot, and whether or not they would recommend visiting or spending the summer there, and why. If you just want to provide background on the situation there — or fear retaliation — we can withhold your name. But what we’re looking for are facts, not rumors or second-hand information. We’re also looking for suggestions on what might be done to bring the good old vibe back.

On May 4, Washington governor Chris Gregoire sounded the death knell for copper-based bottom paint in her state by signing into law a ban on the use of the product on recreational boats under 65 feet — the first state to do so. The law prohibits the sale of new boats with copper paint after January 1, 2018, and no paint with more than a half a percent of copper can be used starting in 2020.

California is close on our northern neighbor’s heels with Senate Bill 623, which would put into place a similar ban. On May 2, the Senate Committee on Environmental Quality approved the ban and sent it to the Senate Appropriations Committee for further consideration. If made into law, the legislation would ban the sale of new boats with copper paint as of January 1, 2015, and ban the paint outright starting in 2019.

For what it’s worth, paint companies have made huge strides in developing alternatives to copper — we’ve been very satisfied with the Econea-based test paints that have been on our boat’s bottom for the last few years — but Boat U.S. has expressed concern that, since the ban applies only to rec boats and not commercial or military vessels, it "may not provide a large enough market to stimulate research and development on alternative coatings."