Will Florida Still Draw Tourists If It Permits Oil Drilling?

A Decade After the BP Spill, a Visit to Mexico’s Side of the Gulf Shows That Florida’s ‘Pristine’ Beaches Are a Myth

For five pesos, I could hold the crocodilo. The handler stood in the shadows of Veracruz’s boardwalk. When I asked why he had an alligator, he told me that he worked for a conservation group, though I did not see any hat or the requisite shirt, no flyers or posters—just a young guy, hustling nature on a Sunday night.

I gave the handler some change and he gave me the juvenile crocodilo. Of course, I wanted a picture.

The transfer was awkward. “Hold your phone in your left hand,” the handler …