The emergence of a small islet was discovered not far from Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo.
Meteorologist Antonio Morales Ocaña, reported the sighting of a small islet, which is located behind Isla Mujeres. The Mexican Navy was notified and they are checking on this small piece of land with trees and branches.
This small landmass, branches, and trees that float in the sea were spotted about 600 meters away from the shore of Costa Mujeres, and it was speculated to be part of the land detached by erosion due to the effects of the tropical storm Cristobal.
However, this piece of land that is literally floating and moving in the sea, transporting biodiversity, turned out to be a floating island made with plastic bottles years ago by British citizen Richard Sowa.
Richard Sowa, creator, and owner of the islet that was spotted floating off the mainland of Isla Mujeres assured, through a video broadcast on his Facebook profile, that it was not garbage, as was told by the Secretary of the Navy and Civil Protection of the City Council of Isla Mujeres.
He explained that he was forced to leave the lagoon by people who wanted the space his island occupied to park their boats, a fact that was supported by the local authorities.
He stated that the Isla Mujeres authorities only gave him one day to put up some posts to protect the islet, something simply impossible to do in one day.
Sad, he narrated that later a group of people arrived and cut everything that fixed the islet with machetes, so the bad weather caused by the tropical storm Cristóbal, caused his islet to drift away in the ocean.
Richard Sowa had to travel, and in the face of the COVID 19 pandemic, he cannot return at the moment. So, this fantastic habitat that he started creating since 1998 using thousands of empty plastic bottles that the sea washed up the shore.
His vision led him to abandon his native life in the United Kingdom and go to Isla Mujeres, where he began to build his artificial islet.
The islet was built on a large wooden platform, which floated on bags with thousands of empty plastic bottles inside.
Apart from being his home, Richard Sowa’s islet, which he considered “the transformation of garbage into a true paradise”, became a tourist attraction.
However, his creation was not valued by the local authorities and that’s how it ended up on top of a dune in the mainland area of Costa Mujeres.
San Miguel Times Newsroom
