Report from Down South

Way down south, in the Tropic of Cancer.

So for many years it was my custom to visit Grand Cayman (or, occasionally, other destinations like Turks & Caicos or Cozumel) at least once every year for a dive trip. I generally went with my friend and dive buddy Doug, with whom I go back all the way to fifth grade. Between Covid and some health problems that Doug experienced, that was pretty badly interrupted, and we only went once since 2019, though I did work in a weekend trip with my son-in-law, who wanted to try scuba diving himself. (He liked it enough that he went ahead and got certified.) I’ve been going to Cayman since 1986, and got certified to dive there in 2000.

The blogger was a mighty sailor man.

But we made it back this year. We dove, as usual, mostly with my buddy Nat Robb, who has a very cool boutique dive operation on Cayman and who we’ve known for 20 years or so.

The diving was nice. Nat mostly dives on the North End and the reefs there looked good. We saw a lot of interesting fish — eagle rays, tarpon, free-swimming Moray Eels, and even the rare-for-Cayman hammerhead sharks. Overall, though, there seemed to be fewer fish than usual. This may be because it was quite windy for the first few days; I seem to recall from fishing trips that fish don’t like windy conditions for some reason.

We dove the West Bay a couple of days, and that was nice too. People say that the West Bay is over-dived, but it’s had a respite since Covid, and since so many people started diving up North. I had wanted to dive the wreck of the Kittiwake, which I’ve done before, but there just wasn’t time this trip. Next time, I’ll go for two weeks!

Cayman in general seems to be doing better. The frankly crazy decision to keep the islands closed for going on two years in response to Covid did major damage to the tourist industry and to many restaurants and small shops on Grand Cayman. Major development on the island took less of a beating, though, and high-rise condos and hotels continue to grow, with construction everywhere along the beach.

After the utter devastation brought by Hurricane Ivan in 2005, I don’t blame them for wanting to get money on the islands anyway they could, but I think they’ve reached the point of overdevelopment. Many Caymanians agree, having just a few weeks ago soundly defeated a measure to create a huge dedicated dock for cruise ships. It shows in reduced traffic: Before Covid there were often three or four ships (sometimes five or six) anchored in the harbor. Now there were only three or four ships there the whole week. Absent a dock, passengers have to go ashore and return in lighters. I suspect the cruise lines may be avoiding Cayman as punishment, too.

Georgetown Harbor, empty of cruise ships.

As a local Caymanian dive guide told me, people didn’t have a chance to vote against development in the form of high-rise buildings, so when they had a chance to vote against it in the form of cruise ships, they took it. As in many places, the populace is not as willing to give banks, developers, and politicians free rein as they used to be.

Life is still fun on Cayman, though, and we were there for the Batabano festival, which featured music, food, and Carnival style costumes. (The celebration, not the cruise line). This was by and largely for Caymanians, and while hospitable as always, they clearly like it that way.

Outside the Batabano Festival.

My big question is, with all the development, when will there be pressure to provide more things for visitors to do? Right now, I advise people thinking about Cayman not to go if they aren’t interested in doing things on the beach or in the water. Other Caribbean islands have casinos, lots of shopping, and in some cases even legal or semi-legal prostitution. Cayman has none of that — the development at Camana Bay features some nice restaurants and some high-end shopping, but not enough to qualify as a destination — and Caymanians have traditionally not wanted it. But there’s money to be made entertaining visitors, and at least until recently, the money-makers have mostly had their way. Maybe not so much in the future, though.

Perhaps next year I’ll stay for two weeks and do an in-depth report!