June 28, 2011
Dear Friends of the Bonaire WebCams,
It was about eleven years ago when we – Jake Richter and Daniel Senie – launched the Bonaire WebCams project on Bonaire. We started with four cameras, including an underwater camera, which the world could view 24 hours a day (although, of course, at night some of the images were dark).
Since then the numbers of active cameras have varied significantly, with a peak of fourteen cameras running in 2010. We are now down to about a half dozen active WebCams on the Bonaire WebCams site now, with a number of cameras out of commission due to our inability to properly maintain them while Jake is off-island for the foreseeable future for cancer treatment.
The Bonaire WebCams were never a money maker for us, but were a passion to share with the world, garnering a number of awards over the years, as well as a huge fan base.
For all that Bonaire’s tourism benefitted from having the highest public WebCam-to-resident ratio in the Caribbean (if not the world), Bonaire’s tourism industry never really provided any support for our project.
Support was left to a few special entities on Bonaire, including Eden Beach Resort, Dive Friends Bonaire, Bonaire Windsurf Place, and REMAX Bonaire Homes. And, of course, our loyal fans, members, and individual supporters – especially Martin De Weger, who has pitched in to try and keep the WebCams operational both when Jake has been on-island, and when he has been off- island as well. Thank you all for your support.
However, the actual cost of running the Bonaire WebCams web site as well as having to invest regularly in replacement hardware due to age and vandalism, has gotten to the point where we are no longer able to keep spending money out of our own pockets. Advertising sales and membership fees have helped carry the site part of the way, but not enough to cover all costs. Furthermore, with Jake’s return date to Bonaire being rather uncertain, and his cancer care being understandably more important to him than working on the WebCams, we have reached the decision to try and sell or close down the Bonaire WebCams.
As such, unless a buyer can be found for the Bonaire WebCams before the end of August, 2011, we will be shuttering the web site and the systems at that time. As part of this we are closing down new paid memberships and renewals effective immediately.
Should any of you know of someone who is interested in purchasing the Bonaire WebCams brand and its various assets, please send them to us – we can be reached at info@caribbeanwebcams.com.
It should be noted that the Bonaire WebCams web site presently generates about 10,200 unique visitors a month along with about 125,000 page views, with the average time spent on-site being about 15 minutes. This still makes the Bonaire WebCams site one of the top Bonaire-related web sites on the Internet.
Among the assets for sale are domain names, the server hardware located in a co-location facility in the U.S., over a terabyte of archival images dating back to December 2000, and various bits and pieces of WebCam hardware located on Bonaire.
The domains that we own, and which are available for sale, are:
arubawebcam.com arubawebcams.com bonairecams.com bonairecams.net bonairecams.org bonairereefcam.com bonairereefcams.com bonairewebcam.com bonairewebcams.com caribbeanreefcam.com caribbeanreefcam.net caribbeanreefcam.org caribbeanreefcams.com caribbeanreefcams.net
caribbeanreefcams.org caribbeanwebcam.com caribbeanwebcam.net caribbeanwebcam.org caribbeanwebcams.com caribbeanwebcams.info caribbeanwebcams.net caribbeanwebcams.org caribcams.com caymanwebcam.com caymanwebcams.com cozumelwebcam.com cozumelwebcams.com curacaowebcam.com
curacaowebcams.com donkeycam.com reefcam.biz reefcam.info reefcam.net reefcam.org reefcams.com reefcams.info reefcams.net reefcams.org reefcams.tv reefcam.tv sabawebcam.com sabawebcams.com
We are willing to evaluate offers to purchase parts of our assets as well, and our company, Caribbean WebCams, LLC, which is a limited liability corporation established in Virginia in the United States is available for purchase as well.
Again, anyone who has an interest in some or all of the Bonaire WebCam assets can contact us at info@caribbeanwebcams.com.
Thank you again for your interest and support over the years. Your friends,
Jake Richter & Daniel Senie Caribbean WebCams, LLC