Darker cells mean a higher score for this topic on that metric.
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Quick answers
Which local rescue or training agency should I check first?
Use the local lens: coastguard/federation norms and the shop briefing for that bay — not a blog visibility claim.
What is Hol Chan?
A Belize marine reserve (1987) at a cut (chan) in the reef off Ambergris Caye, often paired with Shark Ray Alley. A textbook managed snorkel park.
Palancar?
A Cozumel reef complex of walls and gardens, drifted on the Yucatan current. Marine-park rules and a 1996 grounding history sit under the fame.
Bloody Bay Wall?
A Little Cayman wall that starts in shallow water and drops into deep blue, a Caribbean wall-teaching site.
Why is Bonaire different?
A 1979 marine park, a shore-tag system, and a no-anchor culture that made the island an etiquette laboratory.
Kittiwake?
A US Navy submarine-rescue ship sunk in 2011 off Grand Cayman as an artificial reef, shallower and more planned than a war grave.
Harm clusters on boat props at cuts, current on walls, hurricane-season logistics, and sun. This is not medical advice.
A cancelled wall day is a safety decision.
Hazards
- Boat traffic at Hol Chan and sandbars — Tenders and props.
- Wall current and depth — Palancar, Bloody Bay.
- Hurricane window — Boats leave; this is not a forecast.
- Sun and dehydration — Pale shallows cook people.
- Lionfish spines — Look, do not handle untrained.
- Habituated-animal scrums — Kicks and bites.
Rules
- Park brief and tag — Always.
- SMB on drifts — The pickup rule.
- No grab, no feed — Rays, sharks, turtles.
- Buddy on shore entries — Bonaire is still a sea.
- Respect closures after storms — The map changes.
Red flags
- A boat handing out bread — Refuse.
- A first-day deep Palancar drop — Turn the plan.
- Someone standing on the cut — The reserve's original sin.
- Chest pain after a wall stack — Emergency path.
First response
- Boat oxygen and island clinic pathways — Not a DCI protocol page.
- Spines and coral cuts — Clinic over folklore.
- Not medical advice — Envenomation and DCI are clinical.
Caribbean safety is a tag, a SMB and a morning. The deep wall can wait.