Cruise Ship Pier at the Turtle Farm?

[Testudo]

Can't be good news for the dive site...

Cayman Islands News

Hopefully it will be a case of "soon come".

 

[diversteve]

Bet all the shops/restaurants downtown are thrilled...

 

[Cave Diver]

They have certainly come up with some fantastic ideas lately. Floating bars, oil refineries and now this.

 

[hul kogan]

I was under the impression that GC was going to remain tender access only for cruise ships, apparently that's not the case.

 

[Cave Diver]

I was under the impression that GC was going to remain tender access only for cruise ships, apparently that's not the case.

The plan that I originally heard was that they were going to extend the dock downtown and make it cruise ship accessible. There was also recent talk about moving the fuel storage tanks that are near Sunset House to East End because of population concerns.

 

[hul kogan]

This is bad news for the reefs. Do. Not. Want.

I just read through an earlier thread about how GC has been receiving pressure from the cruise ship industry to construct a pier. Prior to reading that thread (and links), I would have thought it would be laughed at. Unfortunately it looks like they're seriously considering it. Not good.

 

[Cave Diver]

No. It's not good. I've done some diving in the area where the cruise ships currently anchor a few years back and it was a wasteland of dead and broken coral. Turtle reef is a spectacular dive and one of my favorite shore dives. I hate to think of that area being turned into a cruise dock.

With nothing in West Bay but the over priced turtle farm and Hell, I doubt most tourists are going to want to pay the fee to get in there and will end up having to be bussed into town to the shops. That will likely be a boon to taxi drivers, but I'm betting it won't take long of high $$ taxi rides before people start opting out of that and bypassing Cayman as a destination. I can't see how this will be a good move in the long run for anyone.

 

[Drew Sailbum]

The development of a cruise ship dock in George Town is almost a forgone conclusion. If government could finalize a deal then it might happen in time for the 2012-13 cruise high season. There have been preliminary discussions with three different construction outfits and with the first two there was some last minute reason to scrap everything and start anew.

When the local people are presented with an outrageously unacceptable development proposal in the right hand of government , the wise person keeps a sharp eye on the left hand to see what might get slid through as a seemingly more reasonable project. It may be that the left hand project was the intention all along.

 

[Jersey]

When the local people are presented with an outrageously unacceptable development proposal in the right hand of government , the wise person keeps a sharp eye on the left hand to see what might get slid through as a seemingly more reasonable project. It may be that the left hand project was the intention all along.

Isn't that the truth and then they tell us how they were 'protecting' us. I thought I recently read that cruise ships and visitors were down in GC? Is that because of lacking infrastructure, hence the new dock?

 

[Drew Sailbum]

The larger ships no longer call on Cayman due to the lack of dock facilities. As newer ships come online and other ports are developed Cayman runs the risk of losing market share.

Oddly enough, as cruise arrivals went down the stay-over visitor numbers went up. Coincidence?