Hurricane Ivan

[scubadada]

Twenty years ago, today, Hurricane Ivan hit Grand Cayman for a prolonged period and did just a little less than $3B in damage.

I've only been going to Grand Cayman since 1996. You can argue that they recovered from the hurricane, but it's never been the same.

 

[AggieDiver]

Twenty years ago, today, Hurricane Ivan hit Grand Cayman for a prolonged period and did just a little less than $3B in damage.

I've only been going to Grand Cayman since 1996. You can argue that they recovered from the hurricane, but it's never been the same.

We were supposed to fly in that day on our way to Little Cayman for the first time. We had been to Brac several times in the mid to late 90s. We eventually came through about a month after the storm and what we saw of GC from the airport was wrecked. For such a big and powerful storm, it was amazing how little it affected the sister islands, while doing such extensive damage on GC.

 

[Alucard]

An event like that is always going to have a profound effect on a community.

They realised that their building standards were really lax. They realised that not regulating the insurance industry on island meant that when disaster happens, they could just disappear. A lot of places couldn't be rebuilt due to the owners getting nothing for their property (think Dolphin Point in West Bay - only now something is being built on that site).

 

[scubadada]

An event like that is always going to have a profound effect on a community.

They realised that their building standards were really lax. They realised that not regulating the insurance industry on island meant that when disaster happens, they could just disappear. A lot of places couldn't be rebuilt due to the owners getting nothing for their property (think Dolphin Point in West Bay - only now something is being built on that site).

We had a great timeshare in West Bay, Indies Suites, now dorms for the offshore medical school, next door to Kimpton Seafire. After Ivan, it turned out that the owner, a Cayman rich, was underinsured and rebuild warranty would not be honored. Most disappointing was the government decision to support the owner, completely lost confidence in what we assumed was a civilized country. We got our money's worth out of the investment in our 8 years, many other got fleeced. We ended up settling for the insurance money, I think it was about 20% on the dollar.

So, what has happened on Grand Cayman since? Unbridled construction and expansion. Get your 3 bedroom on Seven Mile Beach for just $8M. I'm very glad I was there in the old days, it was a great place. No plans on going back.

 

[rx7diver]

I began traveling to Grand Cayman in the early 1990's, always staying at and diving with Cayman Diving Lodge in East End, and I was married on the CDL beach in 2000. Such a shame that CDL wasn't rebuilt after Ivan completely destroyed it.

rx7diver