News

Ecotourism

A new word has entered our vocabulary, especially those of us who are involved in the travel industry either as travel agents, vacationers or resort operators. The word is ecotourism. We see it in articles and advertisements. There are even international conferences on ecotourism. So, what is it or what should it be?

Ecotourism

Ecotourism is not the opening of vast new virgin areas under the guise of keeping it clean. My first view of this was that a few tour operators who were running out of places to send people decided they needed to open new unspoiled lands but could not figure out how to do it, so they came up with a word called ecotourism and a lot of people fell for it. Many more jumped on the bandwagon calling themselves green hotels, claiming they were environmentally aware because they put a water reducing shower head in one room. That isn’t true for all but there will always be unscrupulous people who take advantage of anything, anywhere.

So, what should ecotourism be? It must be an educational process in areas that tourism is already established. Education for both the citizens and for the visitors, participation in the preservation of our earth and more specific our own lands and homes. To simply say here is a whole new world you can all visit now but be careful, will not work. Everyone must realize that our world is a natural resource that in some cases is being abused and in our children’s children lifetime it might not return to its natural state.

Unfortunately, the word greed comes up too often where money far outweighs any concern for ecology. Once we have disturbed this very well-balanced nature it is a difficult road to revive it. Nature has always had methods of checks and balances and preservation. Without sounding too demeaning, it has not been until the introduction of modern man that these balances have been disturbed and, in some cases, sadly enough destroyed. If man does destroy himself through this neglect, only ourselves will have suffered because the plants, the other animals, and the minerals will all continue without us.

Ecotourism As A Teaching Tool

The importance of using ecotourism as a teaching tool cannot be emphasized enough. Here exists a great opportunity to show people how important our earth is and how they can help while having fun and enjoying a vacation. Ecotourism is not a license to drive our four wheeled vehicles where no man has gone before and make sure we take our beer cans back with us. No! Far from it. Ecotourism is saying don’t drive your car there at all. Leave it alone. Leave it to nature. Ecotourism is saying drive where you used to drive but look at it from a different view. Help erase where man has ravaged. Help clean up. Help preserve. This is so not only so we and our future generations can enjoy it but also so every living thing can go on undisturbed.

Perhaps ecotourism is not even the right word. Maybe words like respect; concern; care; are what we should use. Maybe even fear – fear of what could happen to our fragile earth. Let all of us anticipate that not only will tourism continue for all of us involved but it will continue down a new path where everyone in this industry will not only take steps to go beyond keeping our environment clean and undisturbed but start to clean up where we have gone wrong.

Bruce Bowker

Eco-Lake

Exploit Completely Our Total Outdoor and Underwater Resources in a Systematic Manner

or ECOTOURISM

This article was inspired by many things – having seen islands change, knowing what they were like, what they are like now and what they might become. Also inspiring were photographs in a dive magazine of a “new” area, totally unexplored. The reef was so beautiful and solid, not one dead coral anywhere, that I wondered how long it would take to ruin it because of promotion. Everyone has to see this perfect reef – and trash it. Not intentionally but now boats go over it, an occasional drop of oil, a tin can, a dragged fin…

From breathtaking to polluted ecosystem

Two hikers trek through a previously unexplored region of a vast forest only to stumble upon a lake so beautiful that they both are lost for words. It is surrounded by mountains that take their breath away. A waterfall built by an angel cascades down into the lake. The animals, never having seen or smelled man, are not petrified of his presence. So impressed are the hikers that they tell their friends, who tell other friends. Soon the area has a steady stream of hikers. New paths are trampled into the forest and lake shore. Charcoal is left behind by some campers along with an unintentional piece of litter.

The area becomes famous within a small group but not easy to get too. Always out to make a profit, a travel agency starts helicopter trips making it available to everyone, not just the physically fit hikers. The noise and sight of this huge machine causes many animals to permanently leave the area. Other animals are fed by campers which causes an unnatural relationship. The lake, whose abundance of fish never saw a fishing line, has monofilament “growing” around underwater branches. A few more pieces of litter appear. No one liking litter, the helicopter brings in a few 55 gallons drums so the litter can be piled in one area only. One camper, seeing that the drums are too full, burns them. Another seeing that burning seems to be acceptable burns them again, weakening the drums. After a time, they rust and collapse spreading garbage everywhere.

Soon other agencies are promoting the area and more people arrive. Articles appear in the travel section of major newspapers. Larger campsites are cleared to handle the ever-growing numbers. Sections of land are sold off with a promise of “limited development”. It does not take too long before the first small lodge is built. Still difficult to get to, a small road is cut through the forest and another log cabin lodge goes up. These become very profitable, so another larger lodge is built which is more like a hotel. Limited development is allowed to increase- to a new limited level.

A few people begin to comment that nature is being disturbed and the area is changing. Toilets are flushing every day, the smell from the lodges’ restaurants fills the air and off-road vehicles can be heard all day long. Not wanting to lose their investment and with others knocking at the door to get in, a confrontation begins between conservationists, the lodge owners and those who specialize in vacation travel. Most travel agents and hotel owners never paid much attention to the radical conservationists, so they were at a loss as how to fight. A clever person came up with some ammunition and called it “Ecotourism”. There, that would keep everyone quiet. We have developed this lake under the name of eco-tourism. Has it helped the lake? Not at all. Has it returned it to its natural state before those two original hikers discovered it? No, and it never will.

Effects of Eco Tourism

With ecotourism, new hotels open calling themselves “green hotels”. The pollution in the area has grown out of hand. Boats are now motoring on the lake and there is talk of the largest hotel yet to be built by a huge chain. It has only been 20 years since man first set his eyes on the lake but now it is totally dominated by him. The animals have all left and much of the lake shore is covered in homes, condominiums, and hotels. The lake is now chemically polluted and most of the fish are gone. What have we done?

Were jobs desperately needed in this area? Were new jobs created for local people who were starving? There were no local people, so no jobs were needed. It was a simple case of developers and profit seekers who came and have long gone. They don’t have to see the lake anymore. They are looking for new lakes.

Caribbean islands are the same. They have suffered heavily from over development. One island, which was world famous for its pristine reefs and excellent diving, attracted so many divers, that the reefs suffered and now, the very thing that attracted everyone in the first place has been nearly ruined by those people who came to see it. The destruction was not caused by direct contact as much as the need for more hotels, which in turn means more sewage and garbage. Unable or even unwilling to pay for a sewage treatment plant, more and more pollutants found their way to the reefs.

As the popularity grew for the island, its limited local population was unable to fill the jobs being created. Foreign workers arrived. Housing was needed. More foreign workers came to help build houses for the foreign workers. The schools were filling too quickly with this influx, and soon more were needed. Who would build these schools? More foreign construction workers. Population nearly doubled in a very short time. Little things like traffic, which were never even thought about, suddenly became a problem. Crime increased. With all the different backgrounds, clashes in social norms and customs cropped up. The local population began to lose its identity, and many did not like it. This dislike was expressed openly both through words and in many cases physical actions.

As the population of the world grows and travel becomes routine, the old favorite places have become so overdeveloped and overcrowded that many people won’t go there anymore. The travel industry, in order not to lose any money, must open up new areas for people to exploit. And the same thing happens again. It’s a domino effect. So, unless we can vacation on Mars soon, there will be little left of the earth as nature intended it.

All of this development was done in the name of progress. Are progress and growth synonymous? Progress does not always equate with development and development cannot be done ecologically. No matter how careful one proposes to be, a bit of nature is always lost. Expansion, development and growth do not guarantee success. A pond can function perfectly for centuries without ever getting larger. It does not stagnate because of lack of growth. If man comes along and unnaturally dredges the pond, removes tons of earth from its boundaries and makes it 4 times as large, it may be the end to that entire ecosystem.

Ecotourism As A Teaching Tool

Ecotourism is not the opening of vast new areas under the guise of keeping them clean or educating the public. If we are to even use the word Eco Tourism, it must be defined as an educational process and applied only to areas where tourism is already established. Education for both the citizens and for the visitors. It is participation in the preservation of our earth and more specifically our own lands and homes. To simply say “here is a whole new region you can all visit now but be careful”, will not work. Everyone must realize that our world is a natural resource that in some cases is being abused and even in our children’s children lifetime might not return to its natural state.

Unfortunately, greed causes money too far outweigh any concern for ecology. Once we have disturbed this very well-balanced nature it is a long process to revive it. Nature always has had methods of checks and balances. It has not been until modern man that these balances have been disturbed and, in some cases, sadly enough, destroyed. If man does destroy himself through neglect, the plants, the other animals and the minerals will all continue without us.

The importance of using eco-tourism as a teaching tool cannot be emphasized enough. Here exists a great opportunity to show people how important our earth is and how they can help while having fun and enjoying a vacation. Ecotourism is not a licensee to drive our four wheeled vehicles where no man has gone before and make sure we take our beer cans back with us. Far from it. Ecotourism is saying don’t drive your car there at all. Leave these areas alone. Leave them for nature. Eco tourism is saying drive where you used to drive but look at it from a different point of view. Help erase what man has done. Help clean up. Help preserves. This is not only so we and our future generations can enjoy it but so every living thing can go undisturbed.

Perhaps ecotourism is not even the right word. Maybe words like respect, concern and care are what we should use. Maybe even fear, fear of what could happen to our fragile earth. It is not only keeping our environment clean and undisturbed but to start to clean up where we have gone wrong.

After all the development and increase in population, will it all be worth it? Perhaps the current generation, who went to that lake for the first time, could argue they enjoyed seeing nature at its finest, for a short time. One could also argue that some people made lots of money by risking their investments, so they deserve a profit. But what about generations to come? Nature will return itself to its original condition and begin again with whatever it takes. Will man still be around to see it?

When a drug addict overdoses, unless he gets proper treatment, death is the result. Once in the hospital the treatment is usually swift and positive. When nature is overdosed, there is no hospital, and the recovery can be hundreds if not thousands of years. In the case of the drug addict, the symptoms are obvious. Nature’s problems can go unnoticed or worse, left to fester due to apathy until it is too late.

Bruce Bowker

Major Innovations in Snorkeling

Perhaps one of the greatest things to come along for snorkelers is the new Nitrox Underwater Technical Snorkel or abbreviated as NUTS. Users have found they can snorkel many more hours and not feel nearly as tired. Snorkelers say it is like a breath of fresh air or actually not really air but man-made air.

Except for the additional weight of the tank on the side of the snorkel and subsequent neck pains which in only a few cases have become chronic, a few people really think it is great idea. Other side effects include but are not limited to – bruising to head and shoulders from the tank, inability to keep one’s head above water, dependency on Nitrox and being laughed at.

And if you really like using split fins, the new Split Snorkel – Nature’s Lungs -gives you twice the air. Some snorkelers who could only stay down half as long as others who stayed down twice as long as they did, now can stay down twice as long as someone who could only stay down half of what they were staying down.

Bonaire’s Mystery Rocks

The secret of Bonaire’s giant underwater boulders has finally been broken by long time Bonaire dive instructor/guide and very short time archaeologist Bruce Bowker. For centuries these rocks have perplexed modern divers as to their origin and placement underwater.

The Mystery Rocks

One day while diving the area known as the Rocks and more currently called Mushrooms, Bruce noticed that the three main boulders all seemed to have a definite orientation as if to mark something. With this in mind, he began a long series of exact measurements and precise calculations as to depths, distances apart from each other and compass readings. Some very interesting results came from all this tedious work.

First it was discovered that when the depth to the top of each rock was taken at mean low tide and the three figures added up, then averaged and about 4.5 feet deducted, the number was exactly 13 feet. The same exact number is arrived at by taking the distance between the rocks which totals about 41 feet. If you average 41 feet it too is 13, almost. Bruce started to see a pattern here with the number 13.

As if that is not enough, when the circumference of each rock is taken, 13 can be arrived at again by dividing the circumference by a number that has 13 as the answer! This applies to all three rocks. It even works when all three circumferences are added together. It soon became obvious that since there are three boulders and if one adds the metric base number of 10, you arrive at 13 once again. In a strong current it takes 13 kicks to swim past the three rocks. In a lesser current you simply have to wait a bit longer, but it still can take 13 kicks.

Conspiracy Theory

Perhaps the most compelling aspect of the rocks is the compass readings. This applies to all three rocks in exactly the same manner. By using a very sophisticated electronic digital underwater compass, Bruce discovered that each corner of each rock pointed to somewhere on the compass. Bruce was quoted as saying,“I really feel that was the most important discovery of all. That was the one thing that really got me thinking.” By returning to land and using these compass readings, or ones almost the same, Bruce was able to nearly pinpoint exactly where each rock was pointing. Once again, even on land, all three pointed to some place.

Critics have said that the rocks simply fell from the cliff sides right next to the area. Bruce does admit that this is true all up and down the coast but how can one explain the other aspects of these particular rocks. Others have suggested the boulders were carefully strewn in the water by space travelers. Bruce does not think this the case but also does not simply put that theory aside. “Anything is possible when it comes to these rocks. The information that I gathered has proven to me and at least a couple other people that these rocks simply did not fall from the cliffs like all the other rocks.”

Bruce has also done some sampling of the composition of the rocks, but no conclusive evidence was obtained other than they are made of exactly the same thing all the other rocks and cliff sides are made from. Bruce did not feel that this was a very important part in the origins though.

Then why were these rocks placed where they are? Bruce thinks that it is possible that an ancient society did this knowing, in the future, people would spend a lot of time pondering this question. After all proof of this exists all over the world with such things as the pyramids, the Mayan ruins, the World Trade Center etc. If one considers how much time people waste trying to answer Trivial Pursuit questions, then the rocks were probably part of an old joke.

Bruce Bowker

Mad Fax

I absolutely love my fax machine. How I could have lived without one for so many years is incomprehensible. It has got to be one of the greatest little items to come along in a while. But it absolutely infuriates me when people who have one, have no idea what it is or how to use it.

My biggest hate is someone who lists a dedicated fax number and when you call that number someone says, “Hello!”. This is usually followed by “What?” and then by “Oh, ok just a minute!”

Another great one that is beyond me is someone who has a dedicated fax line and it rings 10 times before the fax answers. What’s going on here? Is the fax using the bathroom and can’t answer immediately?

How about this one. The fax rings, and you get a taped message saying, “The number you have reached is a fax number. If you wish to send a fax, please do so now. Otherwise please check the number and dial again.” Why would I want to send a fax to a number that wasn’t a fax number? So why do I need to be told it is a fax number when I know it is because it says so in the information, I have from the person who faxed me.

My Own Experiences

I received a fax once from a doctor with a question so I replied immediately to the fax number listed. A receptionist answered and was rather flustered at someone saying they were trying to send a fax. After a moment of thought she replied that there was a fax machine in the basement and if I could hold, she would turn it on. Ah yes, the things that make us slam phones down!

The answer/fax/telephone machines are nice but how much more can a dedicated fax line cost, especially if you are in business? I called one of these things once and got a recorded message, which after 2 minutes of advertising, told me I could send a fax now, so I tried to send the fax. The machine at the other end must have been in its microwave oven mode and refused to accept the fax. I called back and left a not so pleasant, recorded message. Not long after I got a call from that business that said they were sorry and send the fax now. So, I did. It still didn’t work. I called back and got someone live this time who said call back again and they would switch the machine to auto/fax only. So, I called again and now got the recorded message only. After far too many calls I finally got my fax through. And this was a high-tech computer company! No dedicated fax line? Come on!

Perhaps this is one of the best ones to date. I received a fax asking a short question so I replied. The phone rang about 4 times and a female answered. The conversation went like this:

She – Hello?
Me – I am trying to send a fax.
She – Sorry, what?
Me – I am trying to send a fax.
She- Oh uh – pause – can you wait a minute?
Me- I would rather not. I am trying to send a fax. She – Just one minute. Wait. (Now I hear some muffled conversation in the background and a male answers continuing the conversation by starting with “Hello.”)
Me – I am trying to send a fax.
He -Uh, oh. Ok, uh can you wait a minute?
Me – No. I am trying to send a fax.
He – Uh ok. What is it about?
Me- You sent me a fax and now I am trying to answer it.
He – Uh, oh yeah. I wanted to ask you about…

That about did it for me and I simply gave my short answer verbally and hung up.

Sending Faxes From A Computer

I also send faxes from my computer. This makes for some interesting one-sided conversations when someone answers the fax number with that all too familiar and very irritating “Hello?” All I can do is stare at the computer screen hoping the beeping noises will jog the memory of the person at the other end into hitting the start/copy button on their fax.

There are those who have only a fax card in their computer. I have sent many faxes to these only to be told later that they didn’t receive my fax. In telling them that I had tried for 2 days, I hear the reason is that they have to turn their computer on to receive so can I send between 7pm and 8 pm only when they usally have their machine on? Considering they live in a time zone 4 hours different than mine, NO!!!! If your going to use a fax and want to answer then have one working all the time.

Nothing, though, beats the time I got a fax with a dedicated fax number listed in bold letters right on top and I immediately sent back the reply. Someone answered with “Hello?” again. I said I am trying to send a fax. She said call right back. I did and she answered the phone. I said I am trying to send a fax. She said OK, call right back. (This is all true!) I did and she answered the phone. I said, “could you please push you ‘start/copy’ button”? She said, “No”, because she was not trying to send a fax. I said again that I was and please push the button. She said she couldn’t because she was not trying to send a fax. I said, “listen, you sent me fax and now I am trying to reply, please just push the start/copy button”. She said she was not trying to send a fax so why should she. I was in my back office with the door closed and my employees could hear me scream down the receiver, “push the freaking start/copy button now”!!!!! She did and the fax went through.

If you have had some experiences with faxes and would like to tell me, just call on my fax. Please allow time for me to unplug my telephone line, plug it into the fax machine, plug the fax machine into the wall and then turn it on. One other thing, let me put some paper in it first. Make sure you use my dedicated fax line number!!!!

Bruce Bowker