Tag Tiger Sharks at Pinel Island

(Dive Travel Business News -May 11, 2010 ) -- Pinel Island (aka Isle Pinel, or in French Ilet Pinel or Ile de Pinel) is a tiny island on the north east end of St. Martin, 5 minutes off the shores of French Cul de Sac, and a few hundred yards off the northern end of Orient Bay. It is the place where people on the island Saint Martin (the French northern side) / Sint Maarten (the Dutch southern side)go to relax.

At French Cul de Sac visitors will find a wooden dock, parking and a shack that rents out Kayaks. Vendors and small ferry boats are waiting there to take daytrippers on a five minute taxi boat ride ($7 pp) for a relaxing day of exploring, sunbathing, or a picnic on this laid back protected tropical island. There are beautiful sandy beaches on the island and it is also worth to take some hiking shoes and hike to the two deserted beaches on the opposite side. Pinel is known as the St. Tropez of the Caribbean - The deserted beaches are clothing optional while the main beach is not.

The snorkel trail at Pinel Island is known to be the best snorkeling French St. Martin has to offer. Generally protected from swell and waves, the area almost always has good visibility. In addition, a wide range of fish call the area home and turtles and spotted eagle rays are seen on a daily basis. The trail is marked off with a buoy system to protect the reef and keep boats away from snorkelers. General rules for the Pinel Snorkel Trail include: no standing or touching the reef, no fishing or collecting in anyway, and no feeding the fish.

You'll find no cars or hotels (or ATM's) on Pinel Island, but there are 3 restaurants, a gift shop, and Wakawa EcoKlub, a company that offers Eco Snorkel Tours and a Tiger SharkLab Tour Lab.  

Wakawa Eco-Klub takes its "eco" moniker seriously: The company was granted exclusive rights to run it's operation eco-snorkeling operation after several years of negotiation, with The Marine Reserve of St. Martin. Strict rules have been put in place for the operation of the snorkel tours by Wakawa.  Their combined goal is to ensure that snorkelers at Pinel learn and enjoy the underwater eco-system in a low impact way.  Wakawa conducts a ReefCheck twice yearly to monitor the health of the area.  And for each snorkeler, Wakawa makes a donation to the St. Martin Nature Reserve for their conservation efforts all around St. Martin.

To demonstrate it's ecologicial commitment, Wakawa provides underwater fish identification slates and uses an innovative snorkel that delivers a briefing to snorkelers telling them about the corals and fish they are seeing. In addition, all guides are SCUBA instructors with extensive knowledge of the fish and there is an 8:1 guest to guide ratio. To protect the reef Wakawa Eco-Klub provides chemical-free sunscreen free of charge, requires that all guests wear a snorkel vest and makes a per person contribution to the marine park. For each snorkeler we guide, a donation is made to the St. Martin Nature Reserve

Wakawa's Snorkel Tour is US$49 for children (7-12 years of age) and US$79 for adults. The tour includes bus transfers to the dock, and boat transfers to Pinel Island, contribution to the Marine Park, and complimentary biodegradable sunscreen (to help protect the coral reef) and the snorkeling experience itself.

A Snorkel Guide provides a short briefing before fitting guests with state-of-the-art equipment including an Amphicom snorkel which allows you to listen to an interesting narrative about the coral reef and its inhabitants as you snorkel. With an 8:1 Guest to Guide ratio, snorkelers receive a personalized from a fully trained Snorkel Guide who helps with snorkel technique, points out creatures and provides interesting facts about the marine environment.     

The rest of the day is free time to enjoy one of the restaurants (at the Guest's expense), explore the pedestrian trail and beaches.
This snorkeling activity is available as a day trip starting from local hotels on Saint Maarten / Sint Martin or as a St. Maarten shore excursion for cruise-goers on an Eastern Caribbean cruise.

Visitors to Pinel can also try tiger shark tagging. The newest offering from Wakawa Eco-Klub, the Tiger SharkLabtour is a safe, exciting and educational adventure that gets tourists up close and personal while helping conservation efforts by collecting data like length, weight, sex, and age, as well a tagging the shark's dorsal fin with a tracking tag.  The Wakawa Tiger Shark Research Team allows tour guests take pictures and pet the shark while Wakawa staff take a DNA sample for genetic fingerprinting. The price is US$300 per person and a maximum group size of 6 people (ages 6 and up). 

A SharkLab participants starts the day with an early morning typical French breakfast while learning about the mission for the day.  Then the group is taken on a 1/2 hour boat journey to the tiger shark grounds 5 miles off the coast of St. Martin.

Crew check the fishing lines which were set the night before, where typically a tiger shark waiting. The shark is brought right next to the boat where it is measured and its sex is determined. An age estimate is then made using this data and the von Bertalanffy growth curve. The shark is named and a tracking tag attached to the shark’s dorsal fin.  Lastly, a DNA sample is taken from the shark for genetic fingerprinting.

Before the shark is released guests have a chance to take photos and pet the shark. Finally, expedition members celebrate the adventure with a gourmet snack and glass of Champagne while learning interesting facts about sharks and the conservation efforts to preserve them. This activity is available as a day trip starting from guest hotelsl on Saint Maarten / Sint Martin or as a shore trip if your clients are visiting on a cruise.

For more information visit Wakawa Eco-Klub, or contact@wakawa.org

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