SOME CAYMAN OBSERVATIONS: So, by request, I featured a bunch of non-diving photos this time. But the diving was good. Weather was iffy the first couple of days, and the only place we could dive was South Side, which is usually too rough. That was nice: Laura’s Reef, Ned’s Tunnels, etc. provided excellent diving. Water temps were coolish for this time of year — 77-78 degrees — probably because of Paloma. I dove with a hood most of the time, and had a fleece-lined spray jacket for the boat as it was windy during the surface intervals. These made the difference between being uncomfortable and being happy. My philosophy for diving: Make sure you stay warm. Even in the tropics with an air temperature above 80 you can be miserably cold if you don’t take proper steps.
The reefs seem to be doing well. Doug Weinstein and I have argued for years on how the marine environment is doing. Both of us think that, overall, we’re seeing fewer fish than we saw back in, say, 2000. We dove a few places — La Mesa, for example — where the fish were in huge thick schools, but overall there don’t seem to be as many. The reefs, on the other hand, seem better, and there seems to be a lot of new soft coral.
What’s more, I dove a couple of sites very close to the busy Georgetown Harbor (which often has five or more cruise ships) and found that things looked not only good, but better than the last time. So that’s a good sign.
The Cayman economy still seems to be humming. There was no visible shortage of tourists, and various waitresses and bartenders that I interviewed reported that business hadn’t fallen off, and that bookings for the winter high season, just beginning, were still good. Not sure how the banking and finance sectors are doing (much of that’s kind of quiet) but as one local told me “0% tax still beats 35% tax” whatever the global economy is doing. I wonder how long that can last, but while we were there there was a big conference of captive insurance company folks, so apparently it’s still working. There’s still a lot of condo construction, and I wonder how much new building Grand Cayman can take.
One sign that things may not be quite as rosy as they seem: I noticed that service staff seemed far more eager to please, and far more grateful for tips, than a couple of years ago. I don’t know if that’s psychology, or reflective of an actual reality, though.
As always, I had a nice time. I’ve been going there since ’86 and, despite all the changes, it feels like a home away from home.