It's been widely reported that "Territorial Volunteers", Wil Maheia and Orlando De La Fuente, are planning a patriotic trip to Sarstoon Island on Sunday. The Government and military officials do not support it, and – if history is any indicator - it can go wrong because of the aggressive Guatemalan Navy. But the Volunteers are undeterred, and are busy making preparation. Today, that meant doing their own reconnaissance mission of the River, the route, and the island. But, on what can be considered a dress rehearsal for Sunday, Maheia, De La Fuente and their boat captain came face to face with 3 Guatemalan naval vessels in the Sarstoon River.

What happened next? Here's his account of the encounter:

Wil Maheia - Founding Member, Belize Territorial Volunteers

"We want our trip to go perfect. So Orlando De La Fuente and myself along with my boat captain Chukaru decided to make a visit to the Starstoon Island. We wanted to scout out the island, to make sure we could find properly land spots because we expect well over 100 people to be there. So we didn't want to have people there feeling uncomfortable. Plus I wanted to get an idea of the size of the island, so I took my GPS so we could get acreage of the island as well. Upon entering the Sarstoon River, we noticed the Guatemalan gunboat, which appears to be one similar which was stuck on our reef and two other smaller vessels. Proceeding into the river, we were somewhat by the Guatemalan military. And I didn't want to stop but my captain decide; look we better stop."

"When we stopped, he asked us where were we going; and we said we are just going to check out the island and we were going up the river and he was hesitant, he didn't really respond. I told the guy let's move the boat."

"When we stopped, there were several more military personnel on the boat, this was when we were coming back are we did our reconnaissance. Then he said, he said, what did you guys do? I said well we just checked out the island. And he said, where is your papers? Mr. De La Fuente told him this is a Belizean boat we don't need to present papers to you guys. He told Mr. De La Fuente to throw the rope from our boat to their dock and I said no; we're not going to do that. At the same time I instructed my captain to put the boat in reverse, so that we could get out of there; cause I did not want the Guatemalans to hold our boat. We put the boat in reverse, immediately I said now put it now in forward and take off from here. For their boat to have caught up to our boat they would have had to manoeuvre through the shallows. So we did that and we just hit the coast line of Belize."

Daniel Ortiz

"Did they try to follow you when you went along the coast line?"

Wil Maheia - Founding Member, Belize Territorial Volunteers

"Well no, they pushed their boat off. If they followed me they would have been way into Belize territory. Because we have a relatively fast boat, so they pushed their boat off but by the time they could get their boat going, we were clearly into Belizean territory. They would have to shot us if they wanted to catch us."

Daniel Ortiz

"Based on that encounter, do you think that they wanted to detain you all?"

Wil Maheia - Founding Member, Belize Territorial Volunteers

"Yes. I believed that they wanted to detain us and what they wanted to detain us for? I don't know because clearly we were in Belizean territory. At no time were we in Guatemalan territory, except when they demanded and asked us to come to their dock. We refused or I refused to give them the rope from our boat because we did not want to be tied up to their dock because that would have been a different story."

So, this incident is itself tends to lend credibility to stern warnings that the Government is giving Maheia and the leaders of the BTV to call off the trip. We put it to Maheia that this little encounter, is proof that Sunday's mission is a misadventure foretold - here's how he responded:

Daniel Ortiz

"Do you think that these people knew you're intentions? Do you think they know who you are?"

Wil Maheia - Founding Member, Belize Territorial Volunteers

"I don't know if they know who I am, but I think they knew people from the Territorial Volunteers were heading towards the island today because it's very unusual to see all the military vessels at the mouth of the Sarstoon at the same time. There were 3 military vessels there, along with more than usual military personnel."

Daniel Ortiz

"What do you make of it? Is there anything to be read into it? Do you expect that they will be out there, come Sunday?"

Wil Maheia - Founding Member, Belize Territorial Volunteers

"Well the fact that they have their big gun boat out there, I think that they will be there. I know the OAS tracks all these things so they know who will be there. I know the route, I've been going there, all the boat captain has been going there know the route. It's not like the last time that was the first time for that boat captain. We will be briefing them. We know that we will never be in Guatemalan waters, so I want to assure the people it's going to be safe and if anything should happen, it has to happen inside Belizean territorial waters or inside Belize territory. So again it's only a 10 minute boat ride from Barranco, its close, its shallow waters, its safe; I say nobody should cancel their intention to come to the Sarstoon Island."

Daniel Ortiz

"Why you say that sir? You could have easily been detained by these individuals. It's a simple thing; just throw me your rope."

Wil Maheia - Founding Member, Belize Territorial Volunteers

"Yes, easily and I think that we as Belizeans have to be stern. We know when we are in Belize territory. We need to tell the Guatemalans they have no right to question us inside our territory. I understand all the big picture about drug trafficking, and they want to monitor it yes. They saw our boat coming from Belize side, clearly there was nothing on our boat but four individuals."

Daniel Ortiz

"Is it a fair assumption or a fair conclusion to make that; something could happen and it could be an international incident?"

Wil Maheia - Founding Member, Belize Territorial Volunteers

"It fair, it's real, it's realistic. At the same time we have to take care of our country, at the same time we have to send a strong message to Guatemala. We cannot continue to cede any territory to Guatemala."

"Belizeans who are coming out I want to commend them. Again, I assure them that nothing will happen. If it happens, it will happen inside Belize territory. If I walk on Albert Street right now and a gunman approach me, the government needs to protect me. If I walk to Sarstoon, if we go to Sarstoon Island, the government needs to protect us once we're there."