I'd like to offer another interpretation: the Mayans may not have been using oceangoing canoes at all by the 19th century. Smaller dugouts for inland waterways did continue to exist.

Larger vessels are more stable in the ocean, and the historical record of the contact period repeatedly mentions substantial Mayan coasting vessels. However, Norman Hammond found no later evidence at all of large Mayan canoes. Specifically, according to Erik Vance,

... of the thousands of boats that once littered the coasts, all that has survived is a single canoe preserved in peat soil that dissolved almost as soon as it touched the air and a couple of paddles discovered in Belize.

Also note that the maritime port at Vista Alegre was abandoned 500 years ago.

I'd like to offer another interpretation: the Mayans may not have been using oceangoing canoes at all by the 19th century. Smaller dugouts for inland waterways did continue to exist.

Larger vessels are more stable in the ocean, and the historical record of the contact period repeatedly mentions substantial Mayan coasting vessels; see J. Eric S. Thompson for the stories and details. However, Norman Hammond found no later evidence at all of large Mayan canoes. Specifically, according to Erik Vance,

... of the thousands of boats that once littered the coasts, all that has survived is a single canoe preserved in peat soil that dissolved almost as soon as it touched the air and a couple of paddles discovered in Belize.

Also note that the maritime port at Vista Alegre was abandoned 500 years ago.