We will be returning to Bonaire in mid June. Is the Marine Park dive tag we purchased last July still valid or do we have to purchase a new one for this year?

Seems like these are good for one year. Bottom line is, can we do a late afternoon dive on the 1st day we arrive this year or do we have to wait and go thru the orientation class again the next morning and purchase a new tag????

thanks!
Dennis

Dennis,

The Marine Park Tag is good for one year. As to a diving orientation that's up to your Resort. Shouldn't be a problem.

Bob

The Marine Park Tag is good for one Calendar year.
It’s a wonderful park. I collect the tags like skiers do lift tickets.

Andy

Dennis,

Andrew is correct. The BNMP Tag is valid for the calender Year in which you purchased it. Sorry, but you will have to, by law, attend another orientation and purchase the tag for year 2002 and contrary to Bob (sorry Bob) but it is not up to the Resort. Every dive operation is required, by law, to provide and mandate an orientation for all those without a current tag as a provision of their business license.

If you have further questions, please feel free to e-mail me or the dive operation you will be diving with. As you already know, you're gonna have a great time again on Bonaire.

Jack,
So if you buy a tag on Dec 31, you'll have to buy a new one on Jan 1???

Darryl

Hi Darryl,

Actually, the Marine Park starts selling the next year's tags around the 1st of December each year so that the situation you describe above will not happen.

Now, if you buy one on November 30th, oh well, there has to be a cut off date somewhere. Sorry.;-)

So, if I buy a tag on 1 December, I get a month's free diving!!! And someone said there are no bargains on Bonaire!!!

Jack, nice interview on OLN!
I only snorkel and am not required by law to purchase a tag. I buy one every trip anyway because I want to support the Marine Park. Just my little way of helping out and I do collect them on my camera case as well.

Thanks Darlene, haven't even seen the first episode myself yet. We don't get OLN here and my copies of the episodes have not made it to the island yet.

Also thanks for voluntarily purchasing the tag. Every little bit helps and it is certainly appreciated by all of us here on Bonaire.

I also have my collection (which I paid for of course - ;-)) of every tag since we started selling them in 1992 and proudly display them on my BC as I know many others do as well.

Folks,
Thanks for the info! Just wanting to see if I could get in a later afternoon dive on the day we arrive.

I don't mind buying a new tag at all. I would have reguardless to aid the Marina Park and also to get another tag to hang on my BC.

Dennis

Jack,

When you get your tapes, let me know - we can do the viewing at our house :-)

Darlene - Atta girl! Thank you for supporting the Marine Park!

Jake

Bonaire Looks Great on OLN too, I hope not too Great though. We don't want it to get too crowded.

Joe and I snorkel (proudly), too, and buy the tags every year to support the Marine Park and to collect them in ths same manner Darlene does...they are colorful and serve a purpose. Anything to help out the cause....we all want the waters to remain beauftiful and as "protected" as possible.

I wrote to OLN a few weeks ago about how to obtain copies of the series' tapes but they never bothered to respond. I was hoping they would make them available for purchase/sale to the public as do other productions, but I guess not. Carole

Jack, great job. Walt too. Over all, the shows have really shown off Bonaire. Maybe a few airline execs were watching.

I have to wonder how much the orientation helps, especially people who have beeen visiting the island for years. I think after a certain point the divers are gonna do what they do period.

Maybe you should make up a test, Jack, and if the diver can pass it in short order they get their tag.
After seeing girls in gloves at Oil Slick Leap defend their right to grab "dead" rocks to film the seahorses last year I am dubious about any info sinking in. These people were "bragging" about how many chamber visits they had betwee them


Clap them in irons!

Aw c'mon, let ME be the dive police today.


Fish- they seldom touch when they have sex - why would they want YOU to touch them?

You'll always find folks who believe rules don't apply to them. The briefings, DO help, though. Jack does particularly good briefings, in my opinion. His passion for Bonaire and its marine environment comes across well.

As for gloves, at Oil Slick Leap, it's probably best to HAVE your gloves with you, and use them for the ladder. On the Hilma Hooker, gloves are allowed. The rule isn't there to get people hurt on jagged, man-made metal. You can also use a glove on the mooring lines, since there's a type of fire coral that winds its way into those lines.

What's not appropriate is touching live coral, with or without gloves. If you're not wearing gloves, you'll be more aware of what you put your hands on.

Divers wear gloves for two reasons: protection and warmth. In Bonaire, you don't need gloves for warmth. Wearing them while crawling out of the surf isn't the worst idea in the world, though. They won't hurt the dead rocks, after all.

And, if you look carefully, you can almost always find a dead spot on the coral where a finger or hand can be placed for stabilization without doing damage to living coral.

Any line that has been underwater for a while also has mussels growing on it--nasty cuts that are slow to heal.

Oh don't get me wrong, my gloves are always in my pocket, rules be damned, and in a rough surf and lines and ladders they are indispensible to getting out safe, I understand about dead spots in coral, use 'em all the time. This girl had both hands firmly grasping a dead looking coral head, it seemed a bit much to me, there might be SOMETHING alive on it somewhere.

And I am sure Jack is entertainling as all get out, but if I know what he wants to tell me already and can show it in a written test rather than a lecture I think that would be swell. I think if you go to Bonaire six or seven years in a row you have gotten the jist of the marine park rules or you are uneducatable.