Oops! I thought that tourists were welcome in The Keys, as the primary money source. That's like me saying I'm tired of Farmers & Cattlemen, but then - they get on my nerves at times, too.
:grad: The info he gave was very helpful, though, even if he doesn't like us toursits on his rock and in his ocean; the same for Rob's.
:boings: Happy Bubbles... :wavey: [/B]
Let me clear up a few things: The only reason the Florida Keys exist, is to cater to the tourists dollars. The Keys could not survive without the tourists money.
These are the same tourists that drive on US1 like they drive on their highways at home and cause more than one fatal accident on US1 a month. That blocks the road for 6 to 10 hours every time. I wonder how many near misses there are? Because the tourists should be able to drive the same 75MPH on US1, that they were driving on the turnpike to get into the Keys. We should put up new speed signs, residents 55MPH, tourists 75MPH. Just because they bring their tourist money with them. What about just plan traffic on the road. You ever go by the stoplight in Big Pine on a holiday weekend? Dont!
These are the same tourists that cause the sewage problem down here. If the Keys didnt have a million plus tourists a year we would not have the water quality problem down here that we have. I believe there are only about 70,000 residents in the keys. The estimates are it will cost every resident about $10,000 to put in central sewers. Just for the tourists dollars.
Without the tourists we would not have the big corporations in KW and Key Largo. Key West has many big 70/80 ft cats that run out of the harbor. These cats hold up to 125 people per trip. You get 3 or 4 of these cats on one reef and you can dump 500 people on that reef at one time, and then again on the afternoon trip, again another 500. All because the corporations think they should have the tourist dollars. When the big corps. and the tourists finish destroying the reefs here they will move on, maybe to Cuba this time and do the same to that island, because of the tourist dollars.
I sit and read many of the post on this and other sites, and hear the tourists complain about the crews didnt do this, or did do that. There was one just a short time ago, from a travel agent that thought they should be catered too more, they thought that the crew should get into the water to take off their fins for them. I think its time the crews step up and tell some of the crap that they put up with about the tourists. If you can get them to talk about these special tourists and their tourist dollars.
I have not keep a count, but my guess is I have done 180-200 full rescues in the 10 years on the boats down here. Less then 1% ever said a Thank You for saving them. But I do it for the tourist dollars. Dont ask about the smaller things, like moving them out of the way so the dive platform does not come down on top of there heads, this was in the dive briefing, that they did not listen to. Ask the crews how many times the tourists swam the wrong way, got stuck in the current and the DM had to go get them. Ask the crews how many times the tourist did not listen to the briefing and got into problems that the crew had to intervene to keep them from getting hurt. Ask the crews how many times the tourist made a mistake and wanted to sue them for their own mistake. I can not tell you how many times I have to tell the tourist to put that shell back in the water, you are not aloud to take stuff from the reef. but we all do it for the tourists dollars.
I could make a list three pages long.
We have a saying: There must be a both with a sign on it at the Jewfish Creek Bridge that says CHECK YOUR COMMON SENSE HERE BEFORE ENTERING THE KEYS:banging:
I am making some broad general statements, there are many tourists that are and have been very good tourists, but the percentage is small of all that come down here. We dont all do it for the tourists dollars
Oops! I thought that tourists were welcome in The Keys, as the primary money source. That's like me saying I'm tired of Farmers & Cattlemen, but then - they get on my nerves at times, too.
