Royal Caribbean Destroys Acres of Pristine Reef

[Wookie]

Perhaps key West and grand Cayman do right with the money.....

Hahahahahahahahaha!!!

 

[Drew Sailbum]

Lets look at the numbers for Key West. Every cruise ship that pulls in pays the government $10 a head for a landing fee. That means Tthe city of Key West makes $120,000 on a day that 2 cruise ships are in town. Additionally, the pier owners (oh, the city of Key West and the Westin) make an additional $10 a head for docking fees. That's a quarter of a million a day for a 3 cruise ship day. Those cruisers spend an average of $50 a day in town. That was from a study done by NOAA a couple of years ago, I'll look it up if you need proof. They don't use any of the town's services, all they do is hammer the reef.

emphasis mine

On a daily basis cruise ship passengers utilize public safety services requiring increased investment in policing and ambulance services by the government in Cayman. The ships themselves utilize the services of the Port Authority of the Cayman Islands as well as Customs and Immigration. Arguably the Port Authority (a statutory authority, essentially a government owned business) would be able to substantially reduce staffing were it not for the cruise ships.

And in the longer term accommodation of cruise ships requires major investment in infrastructure. Cayman is looking at buying up much of a neighborhood to be able to re-route road traffic to accommodate cruise ship piers. Investments in water and waste water processing will be needed. Cruise ships add substantially to the already overburdened solid waste management problem that is very visible as Mount Trashmore.

No two ways about it. Cruise ships most certainly use many of the government's services here in Cayman. Adding cruise piers will likely increase that burden.

 

[Wookie]

emphasis mine

On a daily basis cruise ship passengers utilize public safety services requiring increased investment in policing and ambulance services by the government in Cayman. The ships themselves utilize the services of the Port Authority of the Cayman Islands as well as Customs and Immigration. Arguably the Port Authority (a statutory authority, essentially a government owned business) would be able to substantially reduce staffing were it not for the cruise ships.

And in the longer term accommodation of cruise ships requires major investment in infrastructure. Cayman is looking at buying up much of a neighborhood to be able to re-route road traffic to accommodate cruise ship piers. Investments in water and waste water processing will be needed. Cruise ships add substantially to the already overburdened solid waste management problem that is very visible as Mount Trashmore.

No two ways about it. Cruise ships most certainly use many of the government's services here in Cayman. Adding cruise piers will likely increase that burden.

Perhaps I should have said " Cruise Ships don't utilize the services of the town without re-compensation".

First off, I was describing Key West, not Grand Cayman. Port fees and landing fees in GC are stiff, even for a small liveaboard dive boat. The pilots fees are $.10 a gross ton, so for a 4,000 pax cruise ship at 168,000 deadweight tons pays $16,800 for the pilot to bring it in and not anchor it on a reef. Yup, it was your pilot who told the cruise ship where to drop anchor.

Now, the government of Grand Cayman does not charge a tipping fee for waste disposal, which is why the cruise ships dump garbage there. I'm a bit surprised, because any vessel over 300 GT must have onboard incineration facilities, so if the cruise ships aren't incinerating their own trash, it's because the government of GC lets them dump for free. In Miami, the tipping fee for regular ship trash that I pay is about $750 a bag.

I'd be interested to know how much in bribes the cruise ship lines paid to get the pier built.

 

[Insta-Gator]

Clearly the ship may have been in an approved area... but its anchor chain wasn't where it was supposed to be.

Per Cayman law damaging a reef by "anchor, chains, or any other means ANYWHERE in Cayman waters" is an offence. Period. No exceptions.

"PENALTIESViolation of any of these laws is an offence carrying amaximum penalty of Cl$500,000 fine and one year injail. Upon conviction, forfeiture of the vessel or otherequipment may also be ordered."

Yeah. Fine them and seize their vessel.

Not holding my breath.

Cayman should make an example out of someone so others will pay attention. This cruise line may be small enough to not jeopardize the tourist industry, but validate the law.

 

[oldschoolto]

I'm still looking for the "ACRES of PRISTINE REEF" that got destroyed... I see maybe a 1/4 acre at best that the chain is on and if that is what they call " PRISTINE REEF" in the caymans... I'm glad I dive Bonaire....

Jim...

 

[HalcyonDaze]

I'm still looking for the "ACRES of PRISTINE REEF" that got destroyed... I see maybe a 1/4 acre at best that the chain is on and if that is what they call " PRISTINE REEF" in the caymans... I'm glad I dive Bonaire....

Jim...

The Carnival Magic whoopsie totaled about 11,500 square feet as I recall, which amounted to ~1/4 of an acre. Pretty damn bad, but not "acres" either. I imagine the damage pattern on this one will be similar. As far as the condition of the reef, I dove the top of the wall between the Magic site and the southern edge of the shipping channel last year. The farther north I went, the worse things looked; the last section had pretty much been completely hammered to rubble. If this was inside the designated anchoring area, then it's probably been hit before.