Caribbean reefs were fished, pearled and sailed long before sport diving. The destination era is 1960s-70s club boats, a 1979 Bonaire park, 1980s Belize reserves, and a later fashion for sinking clean ships as reefs.
The history is a tag and a wall.
Timeline
- Fish and sail
A working sea.
- Cozumel and Cayman clubs
The first storefront maps.
- Bonaire Marine Park
A shore-tag template.
- Hol Chan
Belize writes a cut into law.
- Cozumel grounding era
Park politics after ship damage.
- Cruise-snorkel mass
Pontoons and stingray sandbars.
- Kittiwake sunk
A planned artificial reef.
- Lionfish and bleaching
New brief sentences.
Eras
- Work — Sail and fish — A sea, not a logo.
- 1960-1987 — Club islands — Cayman, Cozumel, Bonaire.
- 1987-2011 — Park paper — Hol Chan, tags, wrecks.
- 2011-now — Heat and ethics — Lionfish, rays, bleaching.
Milestones
- Bonaire 1979 — Shore diving as a park.
- Hol Chan 1987 — A cut as a reserve.
- Kittiwake 2011 — A clean sinking as policy.
- Lionfish hunts — A new, argued ritual.
The Caribbean as a destination is a 1979 tag wearing a cruise lanyard. The wall is older than both.