I was just scolded on a Facebook page for suggesting that you CAN swim to the sculpture park in Little Bay.
Apparently, this is a paid tour.
Now, if all the beaches on SXM are public, how does this fly?
I get that someone spent money to put that in.

If a boat sinks in the bay, does that boat's owner get to charge for a tour of it?? Does said boat owner own that little part of the ocean?

I'm not likely to want to go to the sculpture park, it doesn't really interest me. But how does this work?

No idea but I saw that exchange on facebook. You make a good point, if the beaches are public, then what about the water if one can safely swim to an area?

How far is it from shore? And where is this in relation to where the cruise ships come in? The question would be, is it safe to swim there, as JD said. I didn't see your post, obviously, but no one owns the underwater area, as far as I know. I think people claiming that you could only visit there on a paid excursion is BS.

I read on a previous post that it is too far to swim to, from Divi resort, Little Bay.

If it's in the Marine Park area it might require a daily/annual permit same as what you have to pay to scuba dive those waters.

Scuba--so, how does that work? Can those people on their own create a 'marine park'? But I guess in SXM, you just pay someone to create a park?

Not really sure but that could be in the Marine park already. I know the dive sites off of Divi are in it. You would have to check with the Nature Foundation for clarification.

OK

I think even I could swim to it with fins. And I am not a great swimmer

Scuba, so if I brought my own scuba equipment I couldn't just dive out there? Not that I dive.

Don't know and not my call. Check with the Nature Foundation.

According to the Nature Foundation’s website you need a dive tag to dive in *any* Sint Maarten waters. $3/day $15/year. But aren’t visitors to this park only snorkeling? https://naturefoundationsxm.org/diving-in-sint-maarten/register/

I don’t know who gave you the scolding, but of course it’s in Aqua Mania’s interest to have people think they can’t go out there on their own. Not sure how any one would actually enforce that though.

I can answer the question about swimming and snorkeling at the underwater sculpture park. We stay at Divi Little Bay. This February our son came down with us. It was the first year for this park in Little Bay. From our balcony, we can see the cordoned off oval on the water that designates that area. No problem for our son to rent snorkeling equipment at the resort and swim out there. He is 57 and was a competitive swimmer in high school. There were no tour boats out there at the time, and no one stopped him. He did say that scuba would give you a much better view of the statues.

We also stay at Little Bay and having seen the sculpture park ourselves, I answered that yes, it was definitely swimmable from shore. That's when I was scolded that this was a paid site and that I shouldn't be telling people that they could just swim to it.

eightzerobits--Thanks for that bit of research. So I think we have the answer. If people are diving, they need to have the dive tag. Which of course one can get from the Nature Foundation, without paying Aqua Mania. And your boat needs to be registered. But presumably not for snorkelling? And the people who said that you couldn't swim there are incorrect, as shown by KitKat.

You could interpret this in different ways.
"Each user on a vessel (including surface support) must purchase a dive tag to dive or snorkel in St. Maarten’s waters" Aqua Mania just collects it for the Nature Foundation.
Surface support could be any flotation devise.

I really doubt ANYONE pays for that tag for snorkeling. Regardless, the concept that one cannot swim to the site or do it on their own seems to be BS.

I read that as surface support people. Basically meaning anyone on the dive boat, whether they are diving or not, needs to dive tag.