DIVISION of Parks and Recreation Director Mike Cruz invited Variety to the Grotto dive site in Marpi on Wednesday, March 6, to discuss how maintenance of the area is supported by a $5 fee imposed on tourists.
“All the water tanks have been cleaned in and out,” Cruz said. “We did a renovation on the restroom. We changed the toilets and the sinks, everything is new. We got [the surrounding area] water blasted.”
Cruz said these recent projects were completed less than a week prior to the interview and were enabled by the entrance fee.
He said DPR likewise pays for a week’s supply of water to be pumped into the water tanks around the Grotto. He added that the site’s septic tank is emptied every week, which is also funded by the Grotto entrance fee.
“Sometimes [people] say, ‘You’re collecting [a fee], what is the purpose of it?’ It’s just to maintain the area,” Cruz said.
DPR has been collecting a tourist-only entrance fee of $5 since Dec. 4, 2023. The division was given the authority to collect a fee by Public Law 14-27, which was signed by then-Gov. Juan N. Babauta in 2004.
Cruz said anyone with a CNMI identification card does not need to pay an entrance fee.
By Cruz’s estimates, around 100 tourists visit the Grotto each day. Tourists must pay the fee if they intend to swim at the site, he said. Tour agents typically visit the DPR office in advance to pay for and obtain entrance wristbands, which are then handed to their customers when they arrive at the Grotto.
Sightseeing tourists do not need to pay any fee, Cruz said.
DPR is in charge of 49 beach parks, public parks, recreational facilities, and tourist sites.
Aside from the Grotto, DPR must also maintain the Korean Peace Park, the Last Command Post, the Banzai Cliff Lookout, the Bird Island Lookout, and the Suicide Cliff lookout, among other tourist sites.
Cruz said the Grotto entrance fee only supports the site maintenance of the Grotto and does not pay for his staff’s salaries.
At least one staff member is at the Grotto daily to maintain security. Site hours are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week.
Cruz said he is also looking for ways to fund the installation of water pumps and shower heads at the Grotto.
“This place is very close to my heart because when I was a child growing up, this is where I always come over,” he said. “I want this place to be [what it was] 20 years ago…. Parks and Recreation’s goal is to make sure that we continue giving accessibility to all the people that are visiting the site. Doesn’t matter if you’re tourist or local.”
He said residents have also made him aware of the need to improve the other public facilities around the island.
“I hear it every day — fix the restroom, we need public restrooms,” Cruz said, referring to Sugar Dock and the Garapan Fishing Base.
Max Aguon, a staff member of the Division of Parks and Recreation left, with DPR Director Mike Cruz at a recently renovated restroom funded by the Grotto entrance fee collections.
Ed Santos, who works a guide, and Max Aguon of the Division of Parks and Recreation, display Grotto entrance wristbands.
The Division of Parks and Recreation is allowed to impose a fee on tourists by Public Law 14-27, which was signed by then-Gov. Juan N. Babauta in 2004.
At a Grotto dive site pavilion, background, a group of tourists in lifejackets listen to a safety brief prior to entering the waters while another diver, foreground, readies himself.
