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The tour guides were there to clamour for safer conditions on the water and to demand the release of their fellow tour guide Jessie Smith - who was charged and remanded a few days ago for causing death by careless conduct. So what sparked the protest? And did they succeed? Jomarie Lanza followed this story today.

This afternoon in San Pedro tour guides held a demonstration starting at the Central Park, it's not a politically aligned event. nor is it from a group known for complaining, but the tour guides say their livelihoods are being put in peril by lack of adequate signage from the Belize Ports authority.

Roberto Canul, Chairman of San Pedro Tour operators Association
"With The Belize Port Authority, we believe that when we look at the markings of no wake zones we have zero no wake zones signs. we have zero markings for boat for speeding area or none speeding area zero markings for safety signs for our tourists and for our guests to know that they are not supposed to be swimming beyond the docks, different stuff like that that. For example about a decade ago we had buoys all along the coast of the core of San Pedro town where we had these markers, these markers were buoys that we as boaters used to respect and we know that we have to slow downs we cannot run or be navigating fast within this area and so on but this was put there by the community by the different associations and so on we never saw anything from Port Authority. The only time we see port authority here on our island is in November when it's time for us to do annual renewals of vessels and licenses and stuff we all go there and pay thousands of dollars to the Belize Port Authority for us to have our boats legit and stuff like that to be able to operate or navigate but then we don't see them again. So that is a concern to us and we believe that they need to do their part and come in and come here to a tourist destination like this is we want to be the number one tourist country in the Caribbean we need to act like that we need to have these waters marked we need our channels marked we need lights for navigation at night we need signs to educate our people those are the things that we demand from the port authority they are the governing body and they need to do it."

And what crystalized that for them is the incident involving their fellow tour guide Jessie Smith who was charged and remanded in February after he allegedly ran over and killed 17 year old American tourist Logan Pratt with his boat while the teen and her mother were snorkelling in an unmarked area of Matachica beach. Police say that Smith was at fault because he did not see Pratt in the water. The boating community argues that the teenager and mother were swimming in an active boating area with no marker or flag.

Roberto Canul, Chairman of San Pedro Tour operators Association
"What we do as boaters is that we have a visual understanding of where we can navigate safely. but it's not an official boat way or corridor where we know that we are navigating in an area that we are allowed to be navigating in. We just for many years have been respecting and knowing with our knowledge and where to navigate and where not to."

"We do believe that the charges are not supposed to be implemented on him because it was an accident but I guess that it will clarify itself no."

But as these videos show, the lines are increasingly blurred and with frightening regularity there are close encounters like these ones where tourists are snorkelling in areas used for boat navigation:

Boat Captain
"We have the fault look at that we can crash you you know last week they killed somebody like that. You have to be like 50 feet by the dock yeah look at these ******* guys, boy go back to your dock man."

Roberto Canul, Chairman of San Pedro Tour operators Association
"I cannot really speak too much on what exactly transpired but what I can speak on is that this situation is a situation that constantly occurs here. I would say on a weekly basis we always get these same types of situations and I do believe that it does need to be addressed because it will continue happening. In the case of Jesse Smith like I said we don't really know exactly what happened transpired in specific details but I do believe that the way it is being handled is not being handled properly no."

The community believes that by uniting forces to demonstrate their concerns must be addressed.

Roberto Canul, Chairman of San Pedro Tour operators Association
"We will call it a protest on the part where we believe that Jesse Smith is being charged for something that we believe other people have also responsibility in that case no. but for us as an association its more of a demonstration. A demonstration to address issues that have been affecting us for many years now in particularly with our governing bodies like the Belize port authority no."