The vigilance of the California Border Patrol and other immigration officials paid off in the wee hours of April 16 as authorities waited in the shadows at Dog Beach in Ocean Beach for a panga boat loaded with about a dozen or so undocumented immigrants to hit the shore under cover of darkness. As the boat named “Tatiana” beached around 2 a.m., Border Patrol and federal agents — backed by a circling helicopter and officers from the San Diego Police Department — moved in, rounded up and handcuffed several of the Mexican nationals, holding them on the sand for identification, according to authorities. Within two hours, the undocumented immigrants were removed by Border Patrol and transported to holding facilities — including what witnesses said appeared to be two older Hispanic women and two male juveniles. As of press time, an exact count had not been formally released by federal agents. But witness estimates ranged from 12 to 15 people. According to witnesses, the previously quiet night turned into a spectacle within seconds. Stephanie Billings of Mission Valley said she was about to get in her car when she noticed a big group of people “coming out of the water.” “It was quiet, and before I could really wonder about the people, lights went on, a helicopter with searchlights appeared, divers emerged from the water and uniformed people came from everywhere,” said Billings. “And police cars. It appeared like they were expecting that group of people. “At first, I thought they were filming some kind of action movie,” she said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It was unreal. People were yelling and screaming, police had their weapons drawn … and then I noticed that little nutshell of a white wooden boat floating in the water. My first thought was, ‘How can so many people fit in that little thing?’” Panga boats — or open-style fishing vessels — are commonly used for human smuggling and drug transfers from Mexico to the United States. The “Tatiana” was a two-engine panga boat measuring about 20 feet in length. Ocean Beach lifeguards struggled to pull the “Tatiana” onto the sand with their utility vehicle, but it was finally removed on a trailer from the lifeguard parking lot in the early-morning hours. Such boats have been washing ashore from the Sunset Cliffs and the Ocean Beach Pier area up to Mission Bay, Pacific Beach, La Jolla and shorefront points to the north with more frequency over the last few months. Tight surveillance of the waters and the area, especially near the Ocean Beach Pier is not unusual between the hours of midnight and 5 a.m., said authorities. With the cliffs and Mission Bay cradling Ocean Beach and a heavy south swell coming from Mexico, the pier and beach stretching from the lifeguard tower at Abbott Street north to Dog Beach and the Mission Bay/Ocean Beach channel offers a lure for illegal waterway activities originating from Mexico, said Border Patrol and immigration officials.