Cayman Brac

[-hh]

The point remains that they do kill turtles. Regardless of whether you or anyone thinks that this is insignificant, it still remains a fact that they are killing an endangered species.

Green Sea Turtles aren't an endangered species.

Hawksbills and Kemp Ridley's are endangered species, but they're not on the dinner plate in the Caymans.

...The service was marginal, the place needed a fairly major face lift and the dive op would probably rank at the bottom of the list for me in regards to the ops that I have used in the Carib...

Parrotman needs to say just what Year it was that he visited, because the Tiara goes through cycles where it gets fairly run down, and then gets fixed up. The Timeshares there are currently closed (still! argh) for major rennovations, but the hotel is in its "fix up" cycle with recent rennovations, so Parrotman's info is probably quite out of date.


-hh

 

[-hh]

I am thinking of returning to Cayman Brac in the spring of 2005.

Be aware of the "Thimble Jellyfish" season in the Caribbean in the spring.

I will be with my wife, who does not dive, but enjoys sunbathing. I was there in 1988 with my son and stayed at the Brac Reef Resort.

What is the status of Brac Reef...

Since you were there, Hurricane Gilbert came through in 1989, which took out docks and other stuff that you might remember (such as theTurtle Bar that was on a pier out over the water to the east of BRBR). There are still some dive sites out front on the Southside that have never been re-moored, such as the Hobbit.

The biggest single obvious change for you will probably be that Winston McDermit's "Brac Aquatics" is long gone, having been replaced by Reef Divers. Not that you would miss "Reef Runner" Reef Divers has fine boats and good staff, although you'll probably notice that the diving rules are probably stricter than what you remember from 1988.

... and are there other good lodging places there that might be as good or better to use. Quality food service is important.

Brac Reef and the Divi Tiara both serve buffet style and they usually each have a dish or two that win in the local island cooking contest. For buffet-served food, its pretty good, but neither is the apex of culinary cooking as some people have claimed...I guess they've never eaten at anyplace finer than a Denny's ;-)

Brac Reef and the Divi Tiara are pragmatically "flip a coin" operations to see which one to go to in a lot of ways. Price them both out to see which one is offering a better price this month.

Also important are dive operators, what can you tell me about them?

The only other major diveboat operation is Dive Tiara at the Divi Tiara. They're the first dive operation that Peter Hughes set up after Bonaire, and a lot of the "valet diving" protocols that Peter "invented" (popularized) have been institutionalized here for years. They run a fine shop.

If your wife is thinking about taking dive training, there's one independent dive instructor on the island, Dee MacKensey of the Village Scuba School. She's lived on-island for over a decade now and knows her stuff...definitely contact her well in advance to make arrangements and respect your appointments...she's lived on "Island Time", but that doesn't mean that she has to run her business that way.


-hh

 

[scubajoe]

I did a little more searching and 5000 to 50,000 loggerhead turtles are killed annually by shrimp trawlers. This info is from the NOAA site. From their site it looks like Green and Logger head turtles are threatened, the rest are endangered. What kind of turtles do they raise at the turtle farm? I thought they were hawksbills.

Joe

 

[moxie]

Brac Reef is alive and well. The dive op is outstanding too. Go there without delay!

 

[deepdiver5014]

Might want to see my comments posted today about my trip. If you have questiions, just post and I will try to answer.

 

[Drew Sailbum]

Green Sea Turtles aren't an endangered species.

Hawksbills and Kemp Ridley's are endangered species, but they're not on the dinner plate in the Caymans.

The Cayman Islands still issues turtling permits to locals with a historical tie to the turtling trade. They can, and do, regularly catch Hawksbill turtles and also Greens. They probably would catch Kemp Ridley's but that species is just not seen here. Hawksbills are far and away the most seen turtle species on the dives I have done here in GC accounting for probably 95% of all of my turtle sightings.

According to the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), all marine turtles of the familay [font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=-1]CHELONIIDAE [/size][/font]are Appendix I listed species, endangered or critically endangered.

What kind of turtles do they raise at the turtle farm? I thought they were hawksbills.

The Cayman Turtle Farm raises Green Sea Turtles for consumption. They do have a very few individuals of the other sea turtle species which are purely for display.