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Revision as of 08:18, 22 October 2007

GoToCayman.com - News from Cayman (ISSN: 1744-7690)

October 2007

Minister for Education Alden McLaughlin announced that an extra year will be added to the public-school system, to be used for technical and vocational training. At a Chamber of Commerce luncheon he said "No one should leave the high-school system and go straight into work. We are going to add another year to high school so no one leaves without a skill. Some sort of post-secondary training will enable everyone to leave the system with some skill. "We have never had difficulty attracting students to things like law, accounting and business; the difficulty we are having is with 70% of students acquiring the skills, qualifications and interest to allow them to take up some kind of technical and vocational educational training."

He added that the new national curriculum would become mandatory in the Cayman Islands' 19 public schools and among their 4,600 students in September 2008. It aims to shift traditional teaching patterns away from rote blackboard learning to a more dynamic, interactive and flexible style, improving learning and producing better graduates.

September 2007

Just before Hurricane Felix swept past Cayman, Durty Reids at Red Bay was demolished. It has now been announced that 'Durty' Reid Dennis has signed a two-year lease with the Tourism Attraction Board to operate the café at the historic Pedro St. James and is now open for business.

A new census at Grand Cayman’s stingray interactive sites, Stingray City and the Sandbar in the North Sound, is to be undertaken by the Guy Harvey Research Institute (GHRI) next year. When the last study was undertaken in 2002, they tagged 165 animals in the sandbar, 22 from the stingray city site and 45 wild animals from around Grand Cayman that don’t interact with humans, as a control. The Department of Environment’s Assistant Director – Research and Assessment Tim Austin said that information from the last study was useful and some aspects of it were incorporated into new regulations, now being enforced, which designate both the Sandbar and Stingray City as Wildlife Interaction Zones (WIZ). He added that the study "helped to determine the required size of the various WIZs and allowed the DoE to compromise its stated position of no more additional stingray feeding sites and allow potential sites within the boundaries of the WIZ as these would be the same rays and no new population of rays would be impacted." After the previous study, the GHRI made recommendations that footwear should not be allowed in the shallow sandbar as their studies confirmed an abundance of human induced injuries to rays from footwear. This suggestion has been incorporated into the WIZ regulations.

Boatswain's Beach, the new home of the Cayman Turtle Farm, have announced discounted pricing up the end of 2007.

"We have decided to offer these discounted rates until the end of the year to allow both Residents and Visitors the opportunity to enjoy the park extensively," their representative said. Guests can now enjoy the entire Park for only US$55 for Adults and US$25 for children ages 4-12. Residents (with local identification) can enter the entire park for only CI$10 for adults and CI$4 for children ages 4-12.