San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s deputies and State Park rangers discovered an abandoned panga boat Sunday morning near the Piedras Blancas Lighthouse outside of San Simeon.
The deputies and rangers discovered the abandoned boat in a remote cove north of the lighthouse around 9:30 a.m.
Evidence at the scene indicated that people had carried cargo from the boat away from the beach.
In the past two years, several panga boats have beached along the Central Coast, including three in 2012 that landed near the lighthouse. Some of the pangas that have arrived on the Central Coast carried more than $1 million worth of marijuana.
Sheriff’s detectives are currently investigating Sunday’s incident with help from the State Park Rangers and the U.S. Coast Guard.
