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

August 2007

The team at the Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, have issued an update to their forecast for the 2007 Hurricane season. Their report is available to download at http://typhoon.atmos.colostate.edu/Forecasts/2007/aug2007/aug2007.pdf They now expect this season that there will be 15 names storms (down from their prevous forecast of 17), with eight hurricanes (down from nine) of which four (was five) will be strong. They also predict above-average major hurricane landfall risk in the Caribbean.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have also issued an update for this hurricane season. They predict 13-16 named storms, 7-9 hurricanes of which 3-5 will be major hurricanes. They also believe that this season will see above average storm activity. Their report can be found at http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/outlooks/hurricane.shtml


Cayman was lucky to be spared the worst of Hurricane Dean. The eye of the storm passed about 100 miles south of Grand Cayman, but still lashed the island with winds of up to 65mph. There was some damage along South Sound Road, and flooding at Savannah Gully. Properties at Ocean Club were once more damaged by debris and flood water. Rocks and sand were washed across West Bay Road. There are some photos of the damage on the StormCarib website at http://www.stormcarib.com/reports/current/cayman.shtml and http://help.stormcarib.com/read.php?2,5600,6009,page=8#msg-6009 . Government's preparation showed this time, with plenty of warnings given to residents. Residents had time to shutter their buildings, and many people moved their cars to higher ground (roundabouts, the bridge over the Hyatt canal, etc) to avoid flooding. There was a mandatory evacuation of Little Cayman residents to Cayman Brac. Before the storm hit Cayman, the government brought in a number of measures. Non-residents were not allowed into Cayman (to reduce pressure on scarce resources) and cruise ships were turned away. These restrictions were lifted soon after the storm had passed, with cruise ships arriving on the Thursday. Government also imposed a curfew, to ensure that there was no looting and to keep the highways clear for emergency vehicles. Unfortunately, after the storm, a lot of people went sight-seeing before the curfew had been lifted.

Cayman Airways ran flights almost non-stop and managed to evacuate over 5,300 people running 38 flights over the Friday, Saturday and Sunday. In addition, a number of charter flights flew to bring the total number of people evacuated to over 7,000. By the time evacuation flights stopped, only sixty visitors remained in Cayman, and and the Department of Tourism has made arrangements for them to be accommodated at local hotels.

CUC managed to keep power running as long as they could, and some areas had power throughout the high winds. Only one power pole was damaged, but a number of outages were caused by trees touching the power cables causing them to touch each other. All power was restored within 24 hours.

The best resource when a hurricane is likely to hit is StormCarib.com. Not only does it have expert analysis of the latest advisories, but they have postings from people on Cayman reporting local conditions. Another new tool is http://www.guiweather.com. You can download information about the current and predicted tracks of tropical storms and hurricanes to display superimposed on Google Earth. They also have historical data going back to 1851, so you can compare the tracks of the current storm against previous ones. In the early days of Hurricane Dean, it was interesting to note how close it's path was to that of Hurricane Ivan.


Now in September, Grand Cayman is likely to suffer as Hurricane Felix passes some 250 miles south of Grand Cayman, and is expected to bring high damaging surf to the south and west coasts of the island.

July 2007

The Auditor General's report into Botswain Beach (the new name for the Turtle Farm complex) has been published and is available to download at http://www.gov.ky/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/CIGHOME/FIND/ORGANISATIONS/AZAGENCIES/AUD/SPECIALREPORTS/TURTLEFARMDEBTFINANCINGREPORT.PDF Mr Duguay highlights where fees have been paid to arrange financing saying "based on my review, it is my opinion that as much as $1,650,000 of the $2,800,000 represented little or no value to the residents of the Cayman Islands". Much of the blame for this is down to the Directors of the Turtle Farm: "the Board of Directors of the Turtle Farm failed in its fiduciary duty to the residents of the Cayman Islands". The Chairman of the board of Directors stated that the Board was "not able to offer a consolidated response to your Report on the CTF Bond Financing arrangements as this activity pre-dated the appointments of the majority of existing Board Members in August 2005".


With a "significant donation" from Maples Finance towards the purchase, the National Trust of the Cayman Islands has added 173 acres to the Mastic Reserve, the largest single acquisition of land for the protected site, bringing the total area of the reserve to 776 acres.

Of the acquisition Frank Roulstone, general manager of the National Trust, said "Preserving the Mastic Reserve is not only of significant environmental importance, but of cultural importance as well. The area is home to a wide variety of animals and plants unique to these islands; the habitat serves to protect biodiversity that has almost vanished due to widespread development."

June 2007

Under new regulations recently passed in the Legislative Assembly, all commercial boat operators are now required to have a licence to visit the Sandbar and deep Stingray City, which have been designated as Wildlife Interaction Zones.

Licences are valid for three years and will cost $300 for vessels 50 ft. or shorter in length and $600 for vessels longer than 50 ft. An initial non-refundable application fee will also be charged with vessels 50 ft. or longer in length paying $200 and those shorter in length paying $100. Although valid for three years, licences may be revoked by the Marine Conservation Board at any time if conditions are not met.

Minister of Tourism, Environment, Investment and Commerce, the Hon. Charles Clifford said "These Regulations will help to control the number of passengers that may be carried to any of the designated Zones. They will also regulate the mooring or anchoring of boats, and will require boats to be marked or to display visible evidence that they are licensed to be in the Zone," he said.

One of the conditions for licence approval is that each commercial vessel using the Wildlife Interaction Zone must have a holding tank (if the vessel has a head). Vessels 50 ft. or longer in length have one year to install a holding tank; vessels 50 ft. or shorter in length have 18 months to comply. "Any vessel that has a head but is too small to have a holding tank is required, under the regulations, to install a portable one," said Marine Conservation Board Secretary Phil Bush.


Cayman Airways have started their service between Grand Cayman and New York JFK. The summer schedule has flights leaving Cayman at 4:30pm on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, arriving at 9pm. The return leg leaves New York on Thursday, Sunday and Monday at 9:00am, arriving at 11:45am. At the launch of the service (which has seen bookings 20% higher than expected) Chairman of the Cayman Airways Board Angelyn Hernandez expressed her delight with the new route. Ms Hernandez also announced that from December flights will increase to four times a week up from the thrice weekly summer service and added that if the booking trends continued they would look at a five times a week service.


A new set of definitive stams features endemic birds. The stamps feature the work of photographer Yves–Jacques Rey–Millet. The stamps in the set include:

25c Vitelline Warbler Dendroica vitellina vitellina

A West Indian endemic is listed as near–threatened because of its very restricted range in the Cayman Islands and Swan Islands. It has only about 0.7 sq miles of suitable habitat on the Swan Islands, meaning that 97 per cent of its range is in the Cayman Islands where it is fairly common inland. There are two endemic races, vitellina on Grand Cayman and crawfordi on Cayman Brac and Little Cayman. The warbler is very approachable while gleaning insects from shrubs and trees close to the ground. The nest is a tiny woven cup, often concealed between two bromeliads.

$1.50 West Indian Woodpecker Melenerpes superciliaris caymanensis

Found only in Cuba, Cayman Islands and a few islands in the Bahamas, this West Indian endemic is similar to its North American cousin. The endemic Cayman race caymanensis is confined to Grand Cayman and occurs in all habitats and, like the flicker, provides old nests for parrots. There are no resident woodpeckers on Cayman Brac or Little Cayman.

$4 Red–legged Thrush Turdus plumbeus coryi

The range is the Greater Antilles (except Jamaica), the northern Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Swan Islands and Dominica in the Lesser Antilles. The endemic Cayman race coryi is confined to Cayman Brac. It is conspicuous and territorial in the breeding season, nesting throughout the island, including in the porches of houses. It becomes almost invisible when not breeding, retreating to the forest floor on the Bluff. The only other resident thrush, the Grand Cayman Thrush, Turdus ravidus, is now almost certainly extinct, not having been seen since the 1930s.


Ivan Burgess has published a second edition of the booklet "The History of the Cayman Islands Post Offices". Covering the period 1889 to 2006, the booklet endeavours to trace the development of the Post Office buildings and services in the Cayman Islands. Illustrated with over 50 coloured photographs and peppered with images of frankings and stamps, it gives the history of the Post Offices, Postal Agencies and key staff in all three islands. The second edition of 500 numbered copies is available on Grand Cayman from Hobbies & Books and Pure Art for CI$15. If you are interested in purchasing it, please contact Ivan at ivanburgess@yahoo.co.uk. Orders form overseas, including airmail postage cost US$25 for America, $30 for Canada and £15 for Europe.

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