Cayman Brac input

[scubadada]

@howswedeofme

Look forward to hearing about your visit

 

[AggieDiver]

@KathyV

I heard the same story regarding a casino at Divi Tiara.

I heard a similar story about the Alexander Hotel, not sure if it was a casino, a marina, or both.

Personally, I give Brac credit for not selling out, that does not happen often.

Look at Bonaire and read their proposed 10 year development plan, I truly hope it remains a place I want to visit

The Alexander was built on the edge of a brackish pond with the expectation that they were going to be able to build a channel to the sea, drain the pond, and build a marina. They apparently didn't have any agreements or permits in place to do those things, but that was apparently their plan. When they were not granted permission to destroy the pond that was home to a wide array of bird species in order to build a marina, they started raising a fuss about the "nuisance" odor and mosquitos from the pond and eventually shut down when they weren't allowed to do anything about the "nuisance". Nevermind that the nuisance of the pond had been there for decades before they built their hotel...

I guess I am a bit perplexed about why people who live in such idyllic places get so interested in additional development. I know the economic issues any growing community faces, but I very rarely hear people talk badly about how a place was in the past...but I frequently hear a lot of nostalgia for the past. The solitude and lack of hustle and bustle are near the top of my list of what I love about LC. I can go out for a 2 hour bike ride and see maybe 2 cars and a moped.

 

[KathyV]

The Alexander was built on the edge of a brackish pond with the expectation that they were going to be able to build a channel to the sea, drain the pond, and build a marina. They apparently didn't have any agreements or permits in place to do those things, but that was apparently their plan. When they were not granted permission to destroy the pond that was home to a wide array of bird species in order to build a marina, they started raising a fuss about the "nuisance" odor and mosquitos from the pond and eventually shut down when they weren't allowed to do anything about the "nuisance". Nevermind that the nuisance of the pond had been there for decades before they built their hotel...

I guess I am a bit perplexed about why people who live in such idyllic places get so interested in additional development. I know the economic issues any growing community faces, but I very rarely hear people talk badly about how a place was in the past...but I frequently hear a lot of nostalgia for the past. The solitude and lack of hustle and bustle are near the top of my list of what I love about LC. I can go out for a 2 hour bike ride and see maybe 2 cars and a moped.

I love Brac and Little Cayman just the way they are right now and am not interested in changes. I was unhappy to read that Dart Developers had purchased extensive properties on LC but so far they haven't messed things up, so fingers crossed.

I do worry a little about Brac, because the economy seems sluggish and people need to make a living; but I am glad that the government held their ground and didn't allow the building of a casino or permit environmental damage to the pond. But the locals on Brac and Little Cayman generally seem pretty happy with their situations - and I don't blame them!

I hope that Brac and Little stay much the same for years to come, although the addition of lights at the LC airport might be a good thing so that they could land at night. Sometimes it is hard to find flights to LC even when lodgings are available - and some of the missing bags might show up on the later flights!

 

[scubadada]

...I guess I am a bit perplexed about why people who live in such idyllic places get so interested in additional development. I know the economic issues any growing community faces, but I very rarely hear people talk badly about how a place was in the past...but I frequently hear a lot of nostalgia for the past...

Greed?

 

[howswedeofme]

If you like caves, bats, birds and driving, you'll have a blast topside @Brac. Otherwise, take a good book - you can see everything there is to see in ½ day there.

We will be good to go, then. We like driving around, checking out nature, hiking, and relaxing at our rental house. We also have kayaks at our rental house, which I am very much looking forward to using. I also usually get through 2-4 books during our vacation week.

 

[vincent54]

The pond is a stinking mess. The birds don’t like it and a marina would work well. The warm, nutrient water flows to the west of the little bar/restaurant and that area of the reef is now a dead zone. Might as well dredge a channel, dig out the pond and make a nice deep water marina. There is already a road around the north of the pond so south side traffic would be uninterrupted. The only thing the pond does now is to collect the contaminated water run off from the dump.

The biggest problem on Brac, besides the dump, is the monopoly of Cayman Air and the inability to get fights to Brac,from the USA. The Saturday Miami and Tampa flights doesn’t allow an easy travel day unless you are already in Miami and Tampa . Divi complained years ago.

 

[mcohen1021]

Anyone ever seen a cayman or a gator in the pond?

 

[KathyV]

Anyone ever seen a cayman or a gator in the pond?

Crocs are found around the Caymans on occasion although they are rare; sometimes they are salt-water crocs that swim over from Cuba:
Crocodile found at Barkers | Cayman Compass

 

[scubadada]

Hi @vincent54

Thanks, appreciate an insiders view. Sounds like the pond was wrecked by earlier development, including the dump.

The only way to get to Little Cayman is on Cayman Airways, with no direct flights from anywhere, they seem to be doing relatively OK. My wife and I took the direct flight to Brac in 2014 from Miami, but were on our way to Little Cayman, and still had to take another flight. It was nice to skip the stop in Grand Cayman, too bad you can't do it again on the return flight. On my trip to Brac in 2017 I arrived and departed on Monday, it made all the difference in the world. Grand Cayman airport was nearly deserted and extremely easy to deal with. The flights to and from Brac were perfect.

It's interesting, Bonaire has been making the same complaint about lack of air service for many years, it's all relative, and at least they have multiple carriers. My wife and I recently visited Bonaire. From Philadelphia, we fly to Aruba on AA and then have to fly from Aruba to Curacao to Bonaire on Insel Air. We had an absolutely terrible time with Insel this year and had to reschedule our flight from Aruba back to the US. Appears AA will be starting a direct flight to Bonaire from Miami this summer, this should help us out quite a bit. Of course, the airport in Bonaire is larger and already has several large plane direct flights from the Netherlands as well as from the US. The proposed 10 year plan for Bonaire calls for a 5% increase in visitors each year for the next 10, I can't imagine what that would do to the island. Sometimes, you have to be careful in what you ask for.

 

[KathyV]

@KathyV I heard the same story regarding a casino at Divi Tiara. I heard a similar story about the Alexander Hotel, not sure if it was a casino, a marina, or both. Personally, I give Brac credit for not selling out, that does not happen often. Look at Bonaire and read their proposed 10 year development plan, I truly hope it remains a place I want to visit

If you like caves, bats, birds and driving, you'll have a blast topside @Brac. Otherwise, take a good book - you can see everything there is to see in ½ day there.

The Alexander was built on the edge of a brackish pond with the expectation that they were going to be able to build a channel to the sea, drain the pond, and build a marina. They apparently didn't have any agreements or permits in place to do those things, but that was apparently their plan. When they were not granted permission to destroy the pond that was home to a wide array of bird species in order to build a marina, they started raising a fuss about the "nuisance" odor and mosquitos from the pond and eventually shut down when they weren't allowed to do anything about the "nuisance". Nevermind that the nuisance of the pond had been there for decades before they built their hotel...I guess I am a bit perplexed about why people who live in such idyllic places get so interested in additional development. I know the economic issues any growing community faces, but I very rarely hear people talk badly about how a place was in the past...but I frequently hear a lot of nostalgia for the past. The solitude and lack of hustle and bustle are near the top of my list of what I love about LC. I can go out for a 2 hour bike ride and see maybe 2 cars and a moped.

We will be good to go, then. We like driving around, checking out nature, hiking, and relaxing at our rental house. We also have kayaks at our rental house, which I am very much looking forward to using. I also usually get through 2-4 books during our vacation week.

The pond is a stinking mess. The birds don’t like it and a marina would work well. The warm, nutrient water flows to the west of the little bar/restaurant and that area of the reef is now a dead zone. Might as well dredge a channel, dig out the pond and make a nice deep water marina. There is already a road around the north of the pond so south side traffic would be uninterrupted. The only thing the pond does now is to collect the contaminated water run off from the dump. The biggest problem on Brac, besides the dump, is the monopoly of Cayman Air and the inability to get fights to Brac,from the USA. The Saturday Miami and Tampa flights doesn’t allow an easy travel day unless you are already in Miami and Tampa . Divi complained years ago.

Anyone ever seen a cayman or a gator in the pond?

There is a beautiful wetland or pond across the road from the Cayman Brac Beach Resort that is home to many birds and other creatures - I sure hope that no one plans to drain it!