Several things with the "Naval Maya" theory would not work at all:
Ah... this is refreshing, at last a person who presents rational thought process. Each of your point deserves a quality answer. And I am delighted you brought up such legitimate points.
Actually there are. In present day Khor Kharfot lie the remains of a strange nomadic group which built a ship in it's harbor and left remains of said construction. Paintings on rocks of a ship. An old ship dock. My theory is that the "Maya" as we call them today had their origins in Ancient Jerusalem around 600 BC. Due to large amounts of political pressure from Babylon and Egypt and the persecution of prophets of the day, see Jeremiah and "other many prophets" mentioned in the Bible, Lehi, a rich Bedouin Arab Jewish trader who made his living in the spice trade camel routes between Egypt and Jerusalem, fled with his family and an a few friends southeast not far from the coast of the Arabian peninsula and through the desert wasteland. This journey led them to a small paradise they called "Bountiful". Which I believe is present day Khor Kharfot. Here there is plentiful honey and fruit to this day. There is also timber to build ships. It is uninhabited today because of the extreme difficult access by land or sea. After a time, they set sail from Khor Kharfot after building a ship.They claimed in 1st Nephi chapter 18:2 Now I, Nephi, did not work the timbers after the manner which was learned by men, neither did I build the ship after the manner of men; but I did build it after the manner which the Lord had shown unto me; wherefore, it was not after the manner of men.
The theory proceeds that they were led from the Oman peninsula to approximately the coastal region of highlands Guatemala in approximately 590 BC. The rest of the account is given in the Book of Mormon and their religious, secular and cultural practices which led to the development of the Mayan nation as discovered by Cortez.
http://farms.byu.edu/publications/jbms/?vol=7&num=1&id=165
Traversing the Atlantic or the pacific is something totally different from reaching Australia from Southeast asia, where one can more or less island hop. Are you aware of the resource and technological sophistaction that is needed to traverse the Atlantic?
I also believe there were Eurasian journeys prior to the Mayan arrivals. An account of an Assyriac/Persian migration is also mentioned around the time of the tower of Babel dispersion. Besides, how would the Maya just dissappear from Europe without any of the high cultures of this time (Egyptians, Babylonians, parthians, Carthagians etc.) mentioning it?
They left in secret and in small numbers as the political ramifications of being caught leaving during this unstable period of Jerusalem's history was a death sentence. Any Eurasian civilisation with the ability to traverse oceans would have had a significant impact on its neighbours
Depending on who they come in contact with, you are right. It also depends on who sees them leaving..
2. Genetically, Mayas(not really Mayas, native inhabitants who did not intermix with Europeans after the Spanish came) have more in common with native Siberians than with any other Eurasian people
I have heard this one before but there is no hard data on the subject as it appears clear there were several pre-columbian migrations to this continent, one of them very possibly being via the Bering Strait. The problem is the idea that ONLY the land bridge theory is possible.. This is a strong argument for the land bridge theory.
3. Again, if the maya would have been Ocean fairing, why would they settle in Yucatan of all places?
Once they landed, they were not much of a ship building people until later. They were originally Jews who were not normally seagoers. The liked living off the land. Later on in the account we read of a ship builder named Hagoth who decided to build large ships and sailed off into the Pacific Ocean, never to be heard of again. I believe he settled at least one group of Islands with the thousands of people he brought with him. Cuba f.e. is/was much more hospitable. And it would have been reached earlier assuming they would come from the east.
I don't know that they didn't reach out to Cuba, but if they didn't it's probably because they didn't feel the need to explore that area.
The boats available at that time where early forms of Triremes, Biremes or simpler rowing crafts.
I covered this in the first answer. the ships were not made after the manner of the day.This boats do not cross Oceans, especially not without a set of logistical bases in places like the Azores or Cape Verde. Even the Spanish, who were much more advanced than the mayas when it came to shipbuilding, heavily relied on the Atlantic bases to faciliate their American explorations.
I reiterate this was a Pacific journey.
So, assuming the Mayas came from Eurasia in biblical times means:
1. A civilisation got advanced enough to develop ocean faring capacities without anybody noticing this civilisation, in fact said civilisation did not intermix with any other civilisation in the area. Apart from the Jews who converted them(although they arent exactly the most proselytising faith iirc), without the Jews mentioning this conversion in any of their sources, and without the civilisation in question mentioning it either.
Again the privacy of their departure was required or it wouldn't have succeeded. This sect of Jews were also Christian before Christ was born. Another unpopular belief in Jerusalem at the time.
2. Said civilisation did not exploit its total technological superiority in naval matters at all. (For ways to cleverly use Naval superiority, consult the history of the British Empire, or the history of Athens/Carthage/Syracuse)
Certainly, they were not much of a maritime people as a whole. Only individuals who I have mentioned previously.
3. Said civilisation than packed up and embarked wholesale on a highly dangerous journey
Truly, except as mentioned before this was not a large movement. The total number of the group was Lehi, his wife, his six sons, and five daughters, Ishmael, his wife, four sons and seven daughters and a man named Zoram. A total of 27 personsto settle in one of the worlds most inhospitable places for large groups of persons.
4. Said civiliation than completely forgot its ocean faring capacity, without ever mentioning it again
See Hagoth the shipbuilder who sailed away never to be heard of again. Also I believe there are myriads of maritime discoveries to be had if the coasts were searched by archaeological dives. A largely untapped resource. and spend the rest of their time with building pyramids and looking at the sky.
This theory does not meet Occams Razor.
