Cruise Ship Will Make Stops on Cayman Brac

[KathyV]

Some of what is said is true but somewhat askew. Divi was losing money and couldn’t stay open. Saying the government wouldn’t give into their demands is a stretch. Gambling is illegal in our country so the government didn’t have the right to allow it. It was proposed and could not be legally implemented. Even if the casino had opened Divi may never had made enough money to be successful. Dart Industries has been doing plenty with the land they own but at the moment at least it has nothing to do with the tourism sector so anything about that is pure speculation. I have a very dear friend who is a very successful professional from The Brac here in GC. The family had a restaurant in The Brac and threw money at it but in the end had to close because there just wasn’t enough foot traffic on a daily basis to pay work permits, salaries, health insurance, pensions, TBL, and import product that went bad most often. What someone sees as a visitor coming here over the years for a few weeks does not really give insight into the internal workings of the country or the tourism or any other industry. For instance who would like to guess how to go about what it takes in terms of legality and money to get an okay to put in larger mooring pins much less a yacht facility no matter how small. While it is great to see open discussion it is a little sad to have folks making purely unsubstantiated guesses about what this country should and should not be doing. Let Cayman make its own decisions and let them annonce what they have decided when the time is right for them. Its a bit disheartening to read stuff that is conjuncture or half truths about a place that is someone else’s home.

Not conjecture, I have a friend who is a Brakker and worked at Divi Tiara and she says that the failure to get permission for gambling was the reason that they decided to close their doors. Many other Divi resorts, like Bonaire, St. Croix, and Aruba all have casinos on their property and I am sure that they are moneymakers for the company. If they were already losing money on Brac and didn't have a chance to supplement their revenue with gambling, that may well have been the deciding factor.

Of course the Caymanians will make their own decisions, but nothing stops outsiders from discussing and criticizing the decisions made by American leaders - talk about conjecture, hysteria, half-truths, and lies! So why should the Caymanian government have it any easier? Cayman is a first world country. It is one of the world's great financial centers and a major tourist destination and so people care about what happens there. I have a vested interest in the prosperity of Cayman because it is a place that I love and I have spent money and time there, and I plan to continue doing so.

 

[caydiver]

Kathy. Gambling is illegal in The Cayman Islands whether your friend worked there or not. If the company thought they could get around the law they gambled and lost. Any decent solicitor or lawyer could have told them it was illegal and wouldn’t happen anymore than a brothel would. If they thought they could get away with illegal activities to make their business model work they are either fools or criminals. The government is not at fault they are. Anyway no point in discussing what is irrelevant. I prefer to stick with dive related info not second guessing stuff that is outside the realm of public information. What if anything American leaders have to do with this I have no idea and as an outsider will be happy to remain confused an noncommittal about the way things happen in that country. Happy diving.

 

[EastEndDiver]

Here is an interesting article about the ban on gambling in the Caymans as you can see CITA (Cayman Island Tourism Association) seems to be against it I sort of agree with them on this.

CITA: Cayman Should Not Follow On Gambling


As to cruise ships on Brac I wonder how they will accommodate those that want to take part in activities such as diving snorkeling fishing etc.. will they bring additional boats over from GC for the day which doesn't seem practical and what about those at resorts that are partaking in those activities will there be enough boats for all .Seems to me that water sport activities may be at a premium for the days ships are in.


Will they also bring Tenders from GC to Brac…...wonder what the logistics are in all this.

 

[AggieDiver]

Kathy. Gambling is illegal in The Cayman Islands whether your friend worked there or not. If the company thought they could get around the law they gambled and lost. Any decent solicitor or lawyer could have told them it was illegal and wouldn’t happen anymore than a brothel would. If they thought they could get away with illegal activities to make their business model work they are either fools or criminals. The government is not at fault they are. Anyway no point in discussing what is irrelevant. I prefer to stick with dive related info not second guessing stuff that is outside the realm of public information. What if anything American leaders have to do with this I have no idea and as an outsider will be happy to remain confused an noncommittal about the way things happen in that country. Happy diving.

You are making the point I was trying to make very eloquently. The Divi folks would not have built their resort and assumed they would be able to offer gambling if they had not been working with somebody local who assured them they could make it happen. All that had to happen for the business to succeed was for the locals to allow somebody to do something they had previously declared illegal. Same goes for the Alexander. The pond by the hotel was smelly and full of mosquitos long before the hotel was built. The hotel was built there because the developer felt he had an agreement to be allowed dredge a channel and fundamentally change the ecology of the pond and potentially the area around it. When the locals would not agree to let him make that change to the local ecology it failed.

In both cases, developers were hoping locals would give in on an issue that was important to them in the name of economic expansion. That is almost always how it goes when you try to bring higher density development to quiet places off the beaten path. The locals have to make sacrifices of things that may be important to them in order to make it economically feasible. Everybody on the thread believes the locals absolutely have the right to be the ones making those decisions, we just hope that they don’t sacrifice the things that make the island special and unique because somebody is promising them a pipe dream. I just hope they go into the decision making process with their eyes open, fully aware that what they are being asked to give up may never be recovered if they change their mind.

 

[KathyV]

Here is an interesting article about the ban on gambling in the Caymans as you can see CITA (Cayman Island Tourism Association) seems to be against it I sort of agree with them on this.

CITA: Cayman Should Not Follow On Gambling


As to cruise ships on Brac I wonder how they will accommodate those that want to take part in activities such as diving snorkeling fishing etc.. will they bring additional boats over from GC for the day which doesn't seem practical and what about those at resorts that are partaking in those activities will there be enough boats for all .Seems to me that water sport activities may be at a premium for the days ships are in.


Will they also bring Tenders from GC to Brac…...wonder what the logistics are in all this.

I think that it is more likely that they will bring boats from Little Cayman because it is a lot closer and the locals on both sister islands know the waters and reefs, but it may be difficult to accommodate everyone, depending on the season and how busy they are.

 

[caydiver]

I totally appreciate your comments AggieDiver and those of EastEndDiver. Your insights are realistic and respectful and that's a lovely thing. I really have no idea what the comment about the sister islands and knowing the waters and reefs means as we all work together and I cannot think of any op that doesn't ask for or offer information to another. Whether it is a boat captain on a dive boat going south for the first time, or an amateur fishing boat going to 12 mile banks for the 20th time, everyone talks to and helps each other. Couple that with the sharing in the community for helping with equipment, roof over your head for the night, etc., if it was feasible to have boats come for the day, whether they were from LC or or GC, they would be have all the local knowledge they need to complete the task.

 

[KathyV]

I totally appreciate your comments AggieDiver and those of EastEndDiver. Your insights are realistic and respectful and that's a lovely thing. I really have no idea what the comment about the sister islands and knowing the waters and reefs means as we all work together and I cannot think of any op that doesn't ask for or offer information to another. Whether it is a boat captain on a dive boat going south for the first time, or an amateur fishing boat going to 12 mile banks for the 20th time, everyone talks to and helps each other. Couple that with the sharing in the community for helping with equipment, roof over your head for the night, etc., if it was feasible to have boats come for the day, whether they were from LC or or GC, they would be have all the local knowledge they need to complete the task.

And it would also be a distance of around 80 nautical miles which would be expensive in terms of time and fuel and it would also be weather dependent. As @EastEndDiver says, that doesn't seem practical. The trip from LC would be easier and cheaper although still not guaranteed. And of course, the cruise ship Captain might just cancel plans to stop at Brac should they hit rough weather.

But it is common knowledge that the Cayman Aggressor doesn't make the trip over to the sister islands about 25% of the time because of weather, and even the supply barges don't always make their regular stops at Brac and Little because of weather issues. So counting on resources from GC may be risky.

It also seems likely (to me anyway) that Minister Kirkconnell would look first for resources in his own district, because he is clearly working hard to enhance the economy of the sister islands (and that's a good thing!) but of course that doesn't mean that other suppliers and vendors from Grand Cayman wouldn't also be willing to support the effort and make contributions.

And I have said nothing disrespectful about Cayman, or Caymanians, or the Cayman government - and I hope that I have not given that impression. I love the Caymans and want to see the country and the people prosper while hopefully still conserving the charm, beauty, riches that makes it such a special place.

 

[caydiver]

I totally bow down to your superior knowledge of our country, business requirements, CITA updates, dive op affiliatiations etc. Apparently you have more of handle than those who live here and work in the dive and tourism industry. Awesome. I completely bow out of this discussion.

 

[divezonescuba]

This reminds me of the movie Cayman Went, which was supposed to be about Cayman Brac.

 

[KathyV]

Below is an article about the proposal for small cruise ships to visit Brac. The plan is to redevelop the cargo dock to make it suitable for smaller cruise ships.

Of course this issue is something that will have to be decided by the locals, and there are loads of comments posted by Caymanians in response to the article that make interesting reading. Some are strongly "pro" in favor of the proposal and others are completely "con" and totally against the suggestion. Both sides make valid points IMO so it will be interesting to see how it turns out; hopefully they will find a good balance.

I thought that the comments that both Cayman Brac and the East End of Grand Cayman lack an "identity" to attract tourists were interesting because I love the current identities of both those regions!

Cruise pier plan for Cayman Brac - Cayman News Service

Here is the link for the (draft) National Tourism Plan for Cayman:
https://cnslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/Draft-National-Tourism-Plan-August-2018.pdf