Well, if you all will do your part, and send emails EN MASSE to the major resorts, and the tourism board, maybe we can make a difference and get these people to wake up and save the webcams.

Here are a few email address to get you started.

Divi: comments@diviresorts.com

Buddy Dive: reservations@buddydive.com

Capt. Dons: Jack@habitatbonaire.com

Tourism Board: info@tourismbonaire.com



I have two suggestions. First, post here what you send so others can see it and get ideas; and second, feel free to send this thread, or the one Jake posted about the Future of the Webcams to them.... make em think about the impact this could have on their bottom line. I know before I went to Bonaire, this was invaluable to me, and keeping in touch with pictures has been something I have shared with many, many people.

Good luck and get started !!

Here is what I just sent out...

Dear Sir,

As you may or may not be aware, the future of the Bonaire Web Cams is in jeopardy. Jake and Linda Richter are moving next month, and are in the process of trying to find a new home for the webcams. It has become a financial impossibility for Jake and Dan Senie to continue to absorb the cost of the webcams.

That being said, I know that Jake has been diligently trying to get one or more financial backers on this project. It would involve money, certainly, as well as housing the webcam on your property, and possibly allowing the set up of an underwater "reef cam" as well. This is currently located at Small Wall dive site, but will no longer be there when they move. I don't think I need to tell you how excited people would be to have their friends and family at home watch them diving or doing a giant stride off your dock. This would of course increase your business, as divers would be more willing to stay at your resort, as well as just coming there to dive, which would increase bar and restaurant business, as well as business for the dive shop.

I am writing in hopes that you will give serious consideration to providing financial assistance to this worthwhile project. I didn't even know Bonaire existed until I found the webcam site, and have been to Bonaire 5 times now! I am sure you will hear that over and over, so many people found the website before they "found" Bonaire. I have stayed at Divi every time I have stayed at a resort. Word of mouth on the webcam site is priceless. Do a survey of your current customers, see who has heard of the webcams... I'm sure you will be pleasantly surprised. In fact, I challenge you to keep statistics as to before and after if you decide to help with financial backing of this project. I am certain you will find a marked increase in your profits. Check out the website, and see for yourself how dedicated these people are. WWW.BONAIREWEBCAMS.COM.

Feel free to contact me via email should you have any questions, or wish to discuss this in more detail.

Respectfully,

Kelly Lott
Newark, Ohio

I just sent a lengthy one off to the Divi. I will also drop notes to the other resorts, as well. Let's do it!!! Let's Roll!!! Carole

Good Idea Kelly. I will join you in writing e-mails.
Mine will be different, because I know the island since 1997 and made my first dive in 1978 :-)
I always stayed in love with Bonaire and just returned from a 2 week holliday.

Moderator:
Could you keep the addresses of the resorts etc on a central place. For instance at the beginning of this thread.

It would make it easier for all participants in an e-mail action.

bob

Here are a few more email addresses.
Please keep sending emails!!! They will at least have to sit up and take notice.

Harbour Village info@harbourvillage.com
Plaza reservations@plazaresortbonaire.com or info@plazavillas.com
Sand Dollar info@sanddollarbonaire.com
Bongos info@bongosbeach.com
Eden Beach info@edenbeach.com

Of course I meant that I know the island since 1977 :-)

Here's my letter! I hope we can all make a difference and save the cams!!!!

Dear Sir or Madam,

As you may or may not be aware, the future of the Bonaire Web Cams is in jeopardy because no resorts on Bonaire have stepped up to the plate to house them.

The web cams are what drew me to Bonaire and have kept me connected to my paradise until I can get there the next time. They have brought smiles to my face in times of sadness. I feel these cams would pay for themselves in a very short time with increased customers at your resorts just because the cams are located there.

Everyone who has viewed the cams makes a point of making an appearance on them during their stay in Bonaire so the folks at home and all their Bonaire Talk friends can see them in paradise! They are viewed daily from people all around the world.There are people who are dedicated to capturing pictures on the cams to put on Bonaire Talk for all to see and share. Because of that, a community has developed with friendships and people that support Bonaire and share their knowledge and excitement with the new comers.

I feel it's impact on tourism is huge and the resort that houses the cams would benefit greatly!!! I am sure if the cams no longer exist, there will be a significant loss in new tourism to Bonaire.

Personally, I would love to see the cams located at the Divi where there is an abundance of fish life all around the cement pier only because that has been my resort of choice.

In closing,I hope that you will give serious consideration to this worthwhile project that is sure to bring increased profits to your resort. Please keep in mind that I didn't even know Bonaire existed until I found the Bonaire webcams site, and now I have been to Bonaire 8 times in four years!

I am attaching the web cams link and the link to Bonaire Talk's discussion so you can see for yourself how dedicated people are to this site.

WWW.BONAIREWEBCAMS.COM.

http://www.bonairetalk.com/newsgroup/messages/626/165771.html

Sincerely,
Darlene Ellis

I forgot. I sent it to all the major resorts. Also, divibon@bonairelive.com goes directly to the Divi in Bonaire.

Good Job, Darlene! I resent my email to that address also. I love Divi, and would LOVE to have the cams there. That would be so cool.!!!

Kelly, Thanks, you know I will do what ever I can to help save the cams.
Some of my emails bounced back. Did you have any trouble when you sent yours to the addresses that you posted? I need to resend them.

Kelly ... thanks for posting the addresses and thanks to both you and Darlene for such well written letters. Will get mine off today or tonight. Susan

Mine went through okay, and we have been having server issues... if you get better email addresses though, feel free to post them, and I'll send to the new addresses as well.

I got them all to go through except the Divi one that I posted. I do have it right, don't I????

The one I sent to Divi at comments@diviresorts.com
apparently went through.

Kelly - I sent off email to all of them and got the divibon one returned!!

I have heard back from the Sand$ and they are seeing about talking to BONHATA info@bonhata.org and STINAPA - to see if the members will spread the cost among themselves to keep the cams up and running. We may also want to email them too. I could not find STINAPA's email address.

Here is the STINAPA address - info@stinapa.org

Hey, wonder if it is possible for several resorts to kick in together to save the web cams and have them relocated to a common site? Is this a stupid idea?

I did receive a response from Divi today....here is a copy of the email I received:

"Good Morning,

Thank you for your interest in the success of our resort. I will forward your idea to our Development Manager. She will be in contact with you.

Thank you,
Valencia White"

Her return email address was: valencia.white@diviresorts.com
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The email addresses that "worked" that I sent it to for the Divi are: Comments@diviresorts.com,
GM@Divibonaire.com, Divi_Resorts@lb.bcentral.com,
FO@divibonaire.com. I believe the FO and GM are the Front Office and General Manager emails. The address of "Divi_Resorts-feedback-7@lb.bce" was returned undeliverable.

The response I did receive might be an "auto" response, but it's a start. I guess I can resend the same email a few times until I do receive a "human" response, etc.

Keep on pounding the resorts! Carole

In addition to the email I sent the Divi earlier today I just sent emails to 14 locations listed under accomondations on infobonaire.com :-)

the more pledges the better on the pledge page, I linked to it as well as the BT site of course and Jake's letter as printed here on the save the cam page...
Denise

AND now I just emailed stinapa and bonhata as well, thanks Mary

Denise

I believe the Divi Address that works goes to the Headquarters and the one I posted use to go directly to The Divi Flamingo in Bonaire where I would email Frits, the manager directly.
Jake or anyone, do you know the email that goes directly to Divi Flamingo in Bonaire.

You could try fo@divibonaire.com Selimah Agostien Front Office Manager as a start ???? She could pass it on to the right level of management maybe.

I sent mine to the diviresorts address because I figure they control the purse strings for their resorts - but management at Bonaire can maybe appeal to the higher ups if that's their way of doing business... Denise

I sent to the HQ but I also wanted Frits to get a copy because he has done so much to improve the Divi.

Darlene,

Frits' e-mail is gm@divibonaire.com (I'm sure I'll get into trouble now - good thing I'm off island :-) )

Jake

I emailed Eden Beach/Wanna Dive/ Bongoes with the idea of sharing the cost. Wanna Dive is kicking the numbers around. Wonder if we could get Bongoes a live reef cam monitor above the bar?

Technically that would certainly be feasible. Heck - I think you've seen the live video feed I had (and still have for a few weeks) in my office, right?

Jake

A plasma screen reef cam at bongoes would be cool.
We could go snorkle about at night with the lights and light up some fish for the patrons.

I'm at Divi now...I'll chat with Serge about the cams (seems he's at Swiss Chalet every evening )

Hi Ken!

Linda told me you stopped in at the Gallery - sorry to be missing you :-(

Say hi to Serge for me. If you're still on-island at the end of the week maybe we can hook up.

Jake

Lisa had to go home...I'm here til the 7th... Would be good to see you again.

cya
Ken

I went on scubaboard.com and went under hubbys name and posted a link to this thread ( I forgot my password and they still havent emailed it to me ) . I encouraged everyone to start an email campaign to the resorts and to visit this site I went under every states and countrys and posted please save the webcam. Plus they had a forum for travel and put it under there.

If any of your resort operators are reading this thread I wanted to give you a heads up on some threads I got from another scubaBoard. Its not very flattering can you imagine how much your tourism dollars are going to be hurt when on other msgboards who dont care about bonaire post these threads and you have no webcams or anything to promote Bonaire in a positive light.
Some friends just got back from Bonaire. I already knew about the problems with unattended rented cars while people were diving but they really surprised me that their hotel rooms were burgled while they were sleeping during the night. Woke up to find rooms ransacked & missing money, better quality dive lamps & charger (thief was very selective), digital cameras, 1G memory sticks, notebook etc.
They registered the robbery with the police who managed to recover the notebook. This was returned on the 20th April, eve of their return, but they were very surprised to see that the police had used it all week (14th to 20th) before returning it!!!! (proved by various log files etc). They even had the cheek to register the owner of the laptop in MSN as a friend.

Hotel was SUN OCEANFRONT. They complained that few of the room safes were functional to store valuables.

Total final loss was about US$3.300 between them.
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Imagine how much deeper the ocean would be without sponges.

here is a reply from another scubaboard showing the value of bonaire talk
Welcome to the board Vic.
Can't help with Coz but I have a pretty good handle on Bonaire. Air Jamacia flies out of Huston so you might can get some reasonable air from there. The cost in Bonaire varies widely, like any where else. The least expensive place I know of goes for $250pp for a week- a small motel type room (AC,TV, mini frig) and unlimited air for shore diving. It's clean and safe but not on the water or fancy. The owner (and dive shop operator) is about the nicest guy you will ever meet. Food on island is reasonable, about like here in Raleigh NC. You can eat fairly cheap or run up a huge bill with steak and lobster washed down with lots of beer. On our last trip, we ate a large breakfast $7 to $9, PBJ for lunch and supper ran in the $10-15 range. You can do Bonaire for $750pp plus air (room/food/diving/rental car) fairly easily if you don't have to have fancy accomidations or be on the water. The Bonaire board is a great place to have most any question on Bonaire answered. www.bonairetalk.com
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here is anotherpost that I found on scubaboard
heres a link to the Bonaire webcams
http://www.bonairewebcams.com/

they have some nice 360degree panoramas of the beach entries too. If you want to hear more gushing about how greta Bonaire is, check out Bonairetalk.com.
Nice friendly people and tons of info.
I'm there from 27th april thru 5th of May, so we might just cross paths!

With a group from our board hiding out in Bonaire I decided to "keep an eye out" to see if I could see them.

I missed yesterday due to work but this morning there was a large group of divers paying a visit to the reef cam. This happened around 10AM EDT and lasted for about 10 minutes or so.

Looked as though they were having fun, the jerks!! :out:
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Stay Safe, Stay Wet,
Socaldiver

Dave (and Jerri),
Current water temp is 80.6 F (27 C).

Check out http://www.bonairewebcams.com/BonaireReefCam.php

I prefer a 3mm shorty but get a bit cold below 78 F (Yeah say it, I'm a wimp).

Denton

PS. In your pic, it looks like a 22 cal, was it loaded? I can imagine a shotgun (duck hunting from a boat) but a rifle?!
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"Maybe, just once, someone will call me 'Sir' without adding, 'you're making a scene'." - H. J. Simpson
I plan on emailing each individual and telling them the plight of the webcams and tell them to flood your offices till the webcams are saved

Try asking around on the Bonaire board. We (the wife and I ) met and dove with 2 really nice people back in March. I had posted looking for someone to night dive with and I had offers from 4 or 5 people. There are a couple of threads on "who is on island in June" going now.

www.bonairetalk.com
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herman

I encourage everyone to go on every scuba board that is on the web and look for threads that talk about bonaire and the webcams and reply and tell them about the future of the webcams and give them the email address and have them email the more people we have emailing it will show to the resort owners that Jake is not just making up numbers that thier is viable proof that the webcams are known throughout the world and bring in real tourism dollars .