Dolphin Facility Delayed, Eight Dolphins Waiting

Gene Thompson	Dale Crighton

by Brian Buckley

Thursday, July 15, 2004

The captive dolphin facility project planned to open near the Turtle Farm in West Bay did not break ground on 1 July as originally scheduled, according to two of its developers.

Gene Thompson and Dale Crighton, two of the local businessmen behind the project confirmed that the project is running behind schedule, but predicted that work would begin within the next few months.

“The conceptual plans for the facility have been completed,” said Mr Thompson, “Both Dale and I are pretty involved in other ventures, but we are now fairly aggressive toward getting this work underway.”

Mr Crighton admitted that development projects in Cayman have to go through a lot of red tape. “Any project you try to do in the Cayman Islands today will have people trying to get you off track. I waited seven years for permission for a cemetery to be built. I would wait thirty years if I had to for this project.”

It has been within the last five to seven years, in Mr Crighton’s opinion, that business projects here have faced even greater resistance. “Look at Michael Ryan at the Ritz-Carlton. That project kept this whole Island going. Without it, everyone here would have been chewing on bones,” he said.

The dolphins for the facility are now in Mexico at a Dolphin Discovery facility. Dolphin Discovery has six such facilities, three in Mexico and one each in Tortola, Anguilla, and Antigua.

“There seems to be a dark cloud on the project,” said Mr Crighton, “People think we’re going out to catch wild dolphins with nets. It’s not true. All of these dolphins are already in captivity and three have been captive bred,” Mr Crighton said. The Cayman Islands facility will have eight dolphins in total.

The two businessmen are hoping that when the facility opens they will be able to host 30,000 visitors a year, with the long-term goal being 50,000 visitors per year. “Dolphins only work when they want to and the most they will do is maybe two hours a day,” said Mr Crighton.

Mr Crighton stated the facility was committed to looking after the animals’ welfare, and would pay particular attention to the proper feeding of the dolphins in order to keep them healthy.

He added that many people thought the number of visitors to see the dolphins would be enormous, with more than two million tourists visiting Grand Cayman every year.

The dolphin facility will have a large lagoon with four bays where visitors can interact with the dolphins, and a larger area where guests can swim with the dolphins. The large area will also have a buffer that allows dolphins to swim by themselves, if they so desire.

Once the project does break ground, construction should take six months, the developers said.

In looking back at the questions raised by the community and forward to their work at hand, Mr Crighton said: “I still believe this is good for the Island and will be good for the education of school children.”

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