Floating bar at Stingray City?!?

[Deac in the Wake]

If you think the floating bar proposal is ridiculous, have a look at this nonsense - Cayman Islands News

Yup, that pretty much one-ups mine. What is it about the name "Bush" that triggers an immediate thought of "ridiculous?"

An oil refinery in the Caymans. I can only imagine the waters around Haiti as a "what's to come" for the Caymans if this kind of crap continues.

-hh's reference to the Alexander development and proposed channel cut into the salt marsh is something I too heard when I was last on Brac in October. I can stomach a lot of heinous thoughts but that one has honestly kept me up at night. I was shocked at the channel they cut next to the Teignmouth to drain the west end low areas near the runway back after Paloma. If you stand at the intersection near the Alexander and look at the scope of what that proposal would involve, it should send a shudder up the spine of anyone who cares about Brac.

Again, there's the paradox of a country with unbelievably strict environmental laws combined with absurd considerations of altering the ecology for the sake of the almighty dollar. I love Brac very much and as much as it will break my heart to say this, the day they break ground for that project, if it ever comes to that, will mark the day I vow never to again return to Brac.

I wish I hadn't started this. Now I'm depressed.

 

[scubadada]

I've been to Grand Cayman 9 times since 1996 and have 142 dive off the beautiful island. It absolutely breaks my heart to see Grand Cayman going to ****. Use your imagination here, the SB censor is quite good.

My family's 1st visit was in 1996 and we were so thrilled that we bought a timeshare at Indies Suites. The building moratorium was a real plus, but, of course, it was discontinued shortly thereafter with a vengeance. Then there was the hurricane in 2004. Turns out that Ron Foster, who owned Indies Suites, had significantly underinsured the resort and it was a loss and was sold to the medical school for dorms. So much for investing in a civilized county, the Cayman courts supported the owner and the investors were hung out to dry.

Then there was the transformation of the good old Turtle Farm into Boatswain's Beach Adventure Park. My wife and kids visited the Turtle Farm every visit as a family tradition. Now it costs $140/day for a family of 4 to spend the day at the tourist trap. I was absolutely outraged at the builiding of the the dolphinarium, Dolphin Discovery. For only $159 for adults and $119 for children, you too can take advantange of captive dolphins for your enjoyment.

The Ritz Carlton is an eyesore from land and sea. Now there's the floating bar at SRC, somehow I'm not at all surprised. To top it all off is the proposal for an oil refinery on Grand Cayman. I'm glad I visited more than a decade ago, I'm less and less likely to ever return. It' so sad that greedy individuals are doing their best to destroy the nicest places on earth.

They say that you can't stop progress. Progress?

Good diving, Craig

 

[scubajim311]

i think the stingray bar is a great idea, i mean whats better than diving with stingrays? diving with drunk stingrays!!!!

 

[CJ's]

FYI, do bear in mind that this bar will be at the Stingray Sandbar, NOT the original Stingray City which is located approx 4 miles distant.
Scuba diving is illegal at the Sandbar so I hate to break it to some of you guys but you wouldn't be able to drink and dive!
This is not in defence of something that is obviously an idiotic and unsafe concept.

 

[chibracdiver]

Unfortunately, we have seen this type of thing happening over and over on GC. The desire for the green truly outweighs the desire for the blue. These short sighted chuckleheads fail to realize that once the blue is gone, there will be no more green.

I pray the greed being displayed on GC will not permeate the thought process on the Brac. One can pray can't they?

 

[billinwilliamston]

Unfortunately, we have seen this type of thing happening over and over on GC. The desire for the green truly outweighs the desire for the blue. These short sighted chuckleheads fail to realize that once the blue is gone, there will be no more green.

I pray the greed being displayed on GC will not permeate the thought process on the Brac. One can pray can't they?

Next thing you know they'll start allowing divers to wear gloves... nahh.

 

[Shark Bait!]

Unfortunetly the majority of local Caymans do not dive, and could possible careless about what goes on in the tourist/scuba industry. It is mostly left in the hands of the politicians and foreigners who own/run the scuba/tourist shops and activities. It would be very interesting to see how locals take to this news.

 

[nwflyboy]

Anyone know when this travesty is scheduled to begin? We're going in March.

 

[-hh]

If you think the floating bar proposal is ridiculous, have a look at this nonsense - Cayman Islands News

Not surprising, unfortunately.

Funny that - - I recall being told by a local that 3 Fathom Wall on Little Cayman almost became a deepwater oil transfer port back in the early 1970s. Reportedly, the project got killed only because of the 1973 Oil Embargo changed the world market dynamics.

This was apparently prior to Hilton trying to buy out Little Cayman for what would have similarly been a terraforming project...Hilton's gambit was to try to make the project so big that no Caymanian would want to be their partner. What they didn't count on was a particular Caymanian's wife, who was opposed to the development on "her" island, so Hilton not only got a Partner offer, but the Partner wanted an 80% stake (and could afford to do so). Hilton realized that they would thus have to do all the work but would only get 20% of the profits, so they folded. The first hotel was later built on LC in 1993.

What I find strange is that they applied for and got, not just retail liquor license, but a music and dancing license as well.

That's merely an oddity in local Cayman Laws: a business can't play even a radio for background noise/muzak without having a license to do so, and they don't offer a simple "music" license: it is only available as a bundled "music and dancing" license.

All in all, the Grand Cayman "leadership" in particular is doing its damnedness to kill off the Islands' appeal for overnight tourists, being that they're hooked on Cruise Ship revenues. What they try to deny is that a big bag of hurt is coming to Cayman as soon as Cuba opens up and most of those cruise ships leave - - afterall, its not every day that one gets to offer a brand new destination to the USA market.

FWIW, a real fiscal oddity that exists within part of the Cayman business culture is that when business revenue declines because of fewer visitors, instead of cutting rates to get more visitors in, they actually raise rates to restore their revenue stream. Wish I was making this one up...it was a surprise to me too...but we can see evidence of this in the frequent calls for Cayman businesses to try to "Escape" their current problems by marketing Upscale.


-hh

 

[chibracdiver]

Not surprising, unfortunately.

Funny that - - I recall being told by a local that 3 Fathom Wall on Little Cayman almost became a deepwater oil transfer port back in the early 1970s. Reportedly, the project got killed only because of the 1973 Oil Embargo changed the world market dynamics.

This was apparently prior to Hilton trying to buy out Little Cayman for what would have similarly been a terraforming project...Hilton's gambit was to try to make the project so big that no Caymanian would want to be their partner. What they didn't count on was a particular Caymanian's wife, who was opposed to the development on "her" island, so Hilton not only got a Partner offer, but the Partner wanted an 80% stake (and could afford to do so). Hilton realized that they would thus have to do all the work but would only get 20% of the profits, so they folded. The first hotel was later built on LC in 1993.




That's merely an oddity in local Cayman Laws: a business can't play even a radio for background noise/muzak without having a license to do so, and they don't offer a simple "music" license: it is only available as a bundled "music and dancing" license.

All in all, the Grand Cayman "leadership" in particular is doing its damnedness to kill off the Islands' appeal for overnight tourists, being that they're hooked on Cruise Ship revenues. What they try to deny is that a big bag of hurt is coming to Cayman as soon as Cuba opens up and most of those cruise ships leave - - afterall, its not every day that one gets to offer a brand new destination to the USA market.

FWIW, a real fiscal oddity that exists within part of the Cayman business culture is that when business revenue declines because of fewer visitors, instead of cutting rates to get more visitors in, they actually raise rates to restore their revenue stream. Wish I was making this one up...it was a surprise to me too...but we can see evidence of this in the frequent calls for Cayman businesses to try to "Escape" their current problems by marketing Upscale.


-hh

Spot on! Excellent post. Cuba is going to steal Cayman's lunch and happily devour it at a hugely discounted rate. The stay over tourist on GC will become a thing of the past very shortly with the current mindset on GC. The cruisers don't stick around, they are all gone by mid to late afternoon. Those pesky stay over tourists stay ALL NIGHT. We absolutely can't have that. I have yet to talk to one cruiser who enjoyed Cayman and would consider coming back for a stay over holiday. They don't like the drink prices, long tender lines coupled with no easy access to the ship, congestion in G'town, over priced excursions, no topography, etc, etc, etc...

These people then go out and become ambassadors for the island and do you think they recommend GC as a vacation destination? Highly unlikely.

The Caymanian business model is based on hitting home runs every time you step up to the plate. Big profit all the time. I would love to be able to do that with my business but competition and reality seem to constantly get in the way. This same thinking affects real estate pricing. Some rube will come off the boat, fall in love with the place and plunk down $$$ for an overpriced condo is the mentality that has persevered for some time now. I looked at a home on the Brac two years ago and passed due to location. That same home is still on the market with a considerably higher price tag. I asked the realtor "what gives?" She said the home came thru Hurricane Paloma with little damage so the owner decided it was worth more, irregardless of the fact that the home had not sold at the lower price. I'm sure people are beating a path to his front door and offer more now that the house has sat on the market for almost three years. Incredible!!

My hope and prayer has always been that the Brac does not go down the same path as GC. If so, my family and I will be forced to move on and that is a decision we do not want to make.