Cruise Ships return to Cayman

As per Cayman Government reports on caymannetnews.com, the first
commercial cruise ship since Hurricane Ivan is scheduled to arrive
tomorrow, 1 November 2004.

The claimed plan is for a maximum of 2 ships/day for the first week or
so, before looking at increasing the authorized number of arriving boats.


They're also reportedly going to be renting an entire cruise ship to use
as housing for island residents who currently don't have homes.


Meantime, the dive operations on Cayman Brac and Little Cayman are
receiving guests and going out diving. Check with your individual
resort of interest to make sure that they're actually diving off of
boats instead of just offering shore diving, as some places fared better
than others.


-hh

On Sun, 31 Oct 2004 09:04:19 -0500, " H. Huntzinger"
<{NOSPAM-rm_to_reply}rec-scuba@huntzinger.com> wrote:


>Meantime, the dive operations on Cayman Brac and Little Cayman are
>receiving guests and going out diving. Check with your individual
>resort of interest to make sure that they're actually diving off of
>boats instead of just offering shore diving, as some places fared better
>than others.

Hugh - any updates on Divi Tiara? I never got your pictures of the
damage. Are they posted on the web anywhere?

-HW "Skip" Weldon
Columbia, SC

"HW \"Skip\" Weldon" <skip5700removethis@hotmail.com> wrote:


> Hugh - any updates on Divi Tiara?

Short bottom line is that they're doing pretty well.

Divi had three of their four diveboats back in service by Sept 20th.
Island Fever II was the one that got thrown up on the beach between the
dock and timeshares by Ivan. It was refloated on 10/20/04.

Overall, it looks like the resort bounced back pretty well. There was
some damage to the new bar (looked like surf damage on the west side
sitting area), pool (pump/electrical), etc...but nothing too bad.
Probably the worst news is that the ugly-as-all-hell "band stand" next
to the bar survived unscathed.


They've been back in business with diving guests for almost a month now:
their first returning guests were Ken & Linda Jordan from Michigan (who
flew in on their own airplane) back on Oct 8th. See:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TRAVEL/DESTI...ane.impact.ap/


They currently have divers on-site and are running dive operations.

Next store, Brac Reef Beach Resort is claiming to be open, but are not
being very clear of if that includes diveboats or not. It should be
soon, as LCBR did get 3 Reef Diver boats back off the roads of Grand
Cayman and back in service...they just opened up last week (10/23).
LCBR is the more premier resort, so I'm sure that diveboat resources
would have gone there before the Brac, so them opening means that BRBR
shouldn't be too far behind (Bob Soto's on Grand Cayman will be last;
they're current claiming December). I'm aware of one person who's going
to the Brac tomorrow (not to Divi), although I'm not sure if I'll get
their report before I'm on the road and not able to access email or pass
it forward to here.


> I never got your pictures of the damage.

Hmmm. I don't recall seeing it bounce. I might have some time this
afternoon to check. If you get a chance to send a reminder email to my
work account, it will help prompt me to do it...I'm busy from now thru
at least the end of the year.



> Are they posted on the web anywhere?

Yes. Here's a 10/20/04 photo of the dock, still under construction:

http://tinyurl.com/4mmgq

Obviously, more progress has occurred since this photo was taken two
weeks ago. Max has a detailed plan of "first we do this, then we do
that section, then we extend this here, then that there", etc.

Insofar as staff changes, I understand that Instructor Richard Griggs
has left the Caymans, and Gwenda is now working over at Faith Hospital
(ie, got a "Government Job").



-hh

On Thu, 04 Nov 2004 07:54:05 -0500, " H. Huntzinger"
<{NOSPAM-rm_to_reply}rec-scuba@huntzinger.com> wrote:

>Yes. Here's a 10/20/04 photo of the dock, still under construction:
>
>http://tinyurl.com/4mmgq
>

Wow! Good example of "A picture is worth a thousand words."
Ann had commissioned a painting of the dock from that same viewpoint
that hangs in our family room. Glad I have it.


-HW "Skip" Weldon
Columbia, SC