Brac report

[AggieDiver]

I don't have enough knowledge to know whether the reef damage is related to anything in or coming from the pond or dump. But I do know that all of the things supposedly driving the Alexander to close were there when they decided to open it. So I don't have much sympathy for their issues. If you move in next door to a known nuisance, it is hard to justify later being upset with the nuisance's continued existence. The Alexander always struck me as a hotel without a purpose that was built to create a "problem" that could then be "solved" by dredging the pond and creating a marina. It is hard to imagine what kind of business case the owners could have made to build a hotel on an island primarily visited by divers that did not have direct access to the waterfront and didn't have a dive operation.

 

[bronccat]

I don't have enough knowledge to know whether the reef damage is related to anything in or coming from the pond or dump. But I do know that all of the things supposedly driving the Alexander to close were there when they decided to open it. So I don't have much sympathy for their issues. If you move in next door to a known nuisance, it is hard to justify later being upset with the nuisance's continued existence. The Alexander always struck me as a hotel without a purpose that was built to create a "problem" that could then be "solved" by dredging the pond and creating a marina. It is hard to imagine what kind of business case the owners could have made to build a hotel on an island primarily visited by divers that did not have direct access to the waterfront and didn't have a dive operation.

They should have built at Buccaneer!

 

[keithab]

On a side note I believe most of the reviews on TA for the Alexander are fake.


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Fake good or fake bad? Seems like most of them were good except some did mention the smell.

 

[mikeycanuk]

Fake good. For a small hotel on a quiet island it sure got a lot of reviews. I liked our 2 BBQ dinners there, I do agree on the odd choice of location.


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[caymaniac]

Fake good. For a small hotel on a quiet island it sure got a lot of reviews. I liked our 2 BBQ dinners there, I do agree on the odd choice of location.


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It's not an odd place if you consider he thought he could make a cut to the ocean and then build a marina out front.
I stayed there previously, it was nice enough @ $99. per night, plus music and food but if you couldn't get the marina and the cut through to the ocean then it was an insane place to build. Wind out of the south east made a stink so he was pumping seawater into it, it helped a little but you can't just get rid of that smell

 

[chibracdiver]

Great place, poor location. I would have to make the assumption that when he built it there that he too was under an assumption that government would allow him to build the marina/dredge the pond/alter the road. Funny how government works.

We were in the Brac mid April of this year, but stayed at our condo. Went to dinner at the Alexander because the smell wasn't non-existent that evening. Hung out at the bar with our party of six, the bartender, who we named the "Count", and a country/western star named Kenny Chesney and his party of four. Cool night.

 

[-hh]

Dilbert, the owner of the Alexander, has (Grand Cayman based) political connections and the "fix was in" pretty much from the start. The brackish pond did previously have Govt-protected status as a nature preserve, but this was revoked easily a year ago (maybe two years now?) - in any case, long before the "marina" talk started again in earnest.

The fun part has been to watch the political struggle ... the recent chapters included not one but THREE proposals to build marinas on the Brac ... and the two proposed by the locals (and not Dilbert's) were the ones that were approved to proceed forward. If I understand their location correctly, the one will be north side at Scott Dock and the other will be south side in Dick Sessenger Bay, probably right at Carib Sands.

Overall, this doesn't mean that any of them are a viable business case, but at least the other two locations are environmentally much friendlier.

-hh

 

[bronccat]

Hey All. Shameless Plug

If you don't mind - please give Marty and Liesel at Brac Scuba Shack a vote:

Dive Operators in the Cayman Islands | Scuba Diving

Thanks!

 

[mikeycanuk]

I have to ask my wife if she's already voted.

Marty? That just doesn't fit if you ask me!