r/MaritimePictures

Most people take the ferry from Puerto Juárez and spend the crossing looking at their phones. Crossing this channel from the water level — not the ferry deck — is a completely different thing. The color shift between the lagoon and the open Caribbean happens in about 200 meters, you can see the exact line where the bottom changes. The hotel zone skyline is only visible for about a 15-minute window before you round the point toward Isla.

Been working this route since before half those hotels were built.

Anyone been to Isla Mujeres recently — still worth the day trip or has it gotten too crowded?

Photo taken at sea.

Notice the four Flettner rotors first & the bow form.

Interesting to see these efficiency ideas showing up together in one frame.

Wind assistance is the visible part, but hull form, speed, routing, maintenance and actual operation matter just as much.

Taken during STS operations. One of those moments where the deck lights, evening sky, and weather line all sit in the same frame.

I wrote this after looking at recent sanctions enforcement cases involving shadow-fleet tankers.

The usual discussion is about old ships, weak flags, AIS gaps, doubtful insurance and opaque ownership. But once enforcement arrives, the person physically exposed is often the Master onboard.

He controls navigation, records, AIS conduct, VDR preservation and lawful orders. He does not control the oil sale price, banking route, ownership chain, flag history or sanctions screening done ashore.

Full article:
https://thedeepdraft.com/2026/06/22/the-shadow-fleets-human-firewall/

Discussion question:
Where should the line be drawn between a Master’s shipboard accountability and the commercial/legal risk created ashore?

Shelf cloud, lightning, and sunset near Zuid-Beierland, Netherlands.

Photo credit: Wesley Hogervorst.

Longer breakdown here, from the recruitment and seafarer-risk angle:

https://thedeepdraft.com/2026/06/15/settebello-was-not-sacrifice-it-was-a-recruitment-failure/