Without a Trace

Max and I have become good friends with a few of the US military guys that are currently in the north coast doing civil affairs work. Last week I joined a small group of them for a trip to Cayos Cochinos, where we went on a tour of the islands and then snorkeling. While snorkeling, a few of them found beautiful shells and took them with them as souvenirs. We’ve all done that so many times, take the shell home, toss it in a drawer and forget about it. We never stopped to think about the people that would visit the place after us; and would not get to enjoy it intact. Its not that we don’t care, it’s just that we don’t know, or we don’t remember.
With the Cayos Cochinos Foundation I’ve been working on a campaign of Tourism without trace. Posters, brochures, and other informational material will be provided to tourists as they come into the national park. We’ll be setting up an information center that tourist will visit before going about their activities where the concept will be explained and where they will be given all the information they need to visit the place and take nothing but their memories.