The new NCA program to regulate and monetize the Guiones tidepools got off to a smooth start yesterday, with nearly 100 tourists accessing the tidepools under the NCA’s new Turtle-Safe Tidepool Experience program.
When we stopped by the Baker entrance yesterday, tidepool visitors were assembling just past the board scanning machine, before being escorted towards the tidepools in groups of twenty on the newly established ‘Turtle-Safe’ path between Baker and the tidepools. Each group was led by two NCA guides using state-of-the-art turtle scanning equipment, ensuring that no turtle was harmed en route. Bathers seemed to enjoy their allotted 45 minutes in the pools before being escorted back. No towels or keys were lost, and no nudity was observed, confirming the success of the program.
As area residents know, the Guiones tidepools have become increasingly unsafe in exactly those ways over the past year, with multiple incidents of towels being blown away by the wind, lost keys, and people swimming naked. “It was time for someone to take control,” said NCA spokesperson Zulay Núñez Carvajal. “As is so often the case, the public wanted us to step in, and that’s what we are doing.”
Off the record, Carvajal acknowledged that the whole program was basically a money grab. “Funding cuts have hit us hard,” she said. “We’ve been thinking about monetizing the tidepools for years now, but the turtle scanning technology is only just now getting advanced enough that we can implement this program without people laughing out loud at us. Also, the scanners detect coins. So there’s that.”
The tourists we spoke to yesterday seemed unfazed. “We did this when we went to see the monkees at Maurice Antonio” said one. “Not sure what the big deal is. And this is cheaper. Only ten dollars.”
The NCA pricing model for tidepool access is drawing fire, however, from local residents. The NCA openly acknowledges that surge pricing – which kicks in one hour before low tide, and ends one hour after – may occasionally push the tidepool access price past 20 dollars. “We knew we would get some pushback,” said Carvajal, “but we studied how the Del Mar Moms app both boosted revenue and distributed visitor load. We knew we had to do it.”
Carvajal went on to say that further monetization of the tidepools is in the plans. “Eventually, we’ll be adding coin lockers, a vendor area, sunchair rentals, and wifi. We’ve gotten a lot of requests for jet ski rentals, so we are looking at that too.”
Inspired by the Del Mar Moms app, surge pricing is spreading quickly here in Nosara. Tuk-tuk drivers washing their Tuk-Tuks at the big puddle near 5 points are self-imposing a surge price during the middle part of the day. Residents trying to pay their water bills before noon at the Asada office have noticed an extra charge on their bills. It is even rumored that Chivos is considering surge pricing on their stupid line that everyone hates, where you stand in line forever just to order food and drinks while all your friends are having fun without you.
“We haven’t decided anything yet,” said Chivos to Nosara Lately. “It would require a lot of explaining to our customers. And frankly, with so many of our customers taking advantage of our new microdosing options, explaining anything to them is getting a bit difficult.”
