Grand Caymanians seek sanctuary on Sister Island

Wreckage on the beach from Hurricane Ivan’s brush 
with Cayman Brac
Photo: Linda Stritzinge

by Gretchen Allen

Friday, October 1, 2004

Hundreds of refugees from the Ivan-ravaged island of Grand Cayman have sought sanctuary on the sleepy Sister Island of Cayman Brac, some 90 miles to the northeast of the “big island” or the main population centre of the Islands.

“We received some 1,200 people here in the Brac immediately following the passage of Hurricane Ivan,” Cayman Brac’s Deputy District Commissioner, Ernie Scott, said.

“Cayman Brac has a lot to offer,” Scott pointed out, noting that many Grand Cayman residents who fled that devastated island were visiting the Brac for the first time, and were surprised at the high level of infrastructure in place here. The island has its own international airport, Gerrard Smith International Airport, excellent hospital facilities, good schools, an international seaport, and excellent telecommunication capabilities.

In fact, it was the latter that attracted Grand Cayman-based Dart Management Ltd. to these shores. Having suffered severe damage to their corporate headquarters in the Regatta (formerly SafeHaven) business centre, the company flew some 63 of its employees and their families from Houston last week, where for two weeks they sought shelter from Ivan’s wrath and destruction on the Sister Island. 

The company has already established two offices on the Brac, one at Brac Informatics, and a second in Stake Bay. Brac Informatics is a private-sector initiative started here about two years ago to attract ecommerce to the island in an attempt to bolster a flagging economy.

Scott also points out both the Brac and Little Cayman have a lot to offer as a tourist destination. 

The Brac is noted for its 140-foot-high limestone bluff, pockmarked by caves, where islanders have historically taken refuge from hurricanes. That is still true today. At least a dozen families of “Brackers”, as they are known, sought shelter in the bat caves in the face of Hurricane Ivan several weeks ago. It is ideal for rock-climbing and bird-watching. There is a Cayman Parrot sanctuary on its cliffs.

Nature tourism and scuba diving – the Brac has the three islands’ only sunken Soviet warship, the Capt. Keith Tibbetts – are the Brac’s strong suit. As well as its laid-back and friendly atmosphere.

If people from the U.S. go to Grand Cayman to unwind; people from Grand Cayman go to the Sister Islands to unwind.

Little Cayman has the western hemisphere’s largest nesting colony of Red-Footed Boobies. In the evenings, when the boobies are returning from their day out to sea in search of food, they return to the Booby Pond to roost, but first have to safely navigate their way through a phalange of opportunistic Frigate birds, who dive-bomb them in an attempt to get the boobies to disgorge their day’s catch. The resulting aerial dog-fights are quite a sight which would easily mesmerize birders.

Cayman’s indigenous Blue Iguanas, as big as four- and five-feet-long, are another fascinating species of the islands, and, of course, the underwater attractions of the Caribbean Sea surrounding these shores have made the Cayman Islands among the world’s very top diving destinations.

“The first thing we had to do,” Mr. Scott said, “is to try to counter the report that says tourists are restricted from coming to the Cayman Islands.” He said that the islands’ Chief Immigration Officer, Mr. Franz Anderson, had issued a communiqué to airlines serving Cayman that that was the case only concerning Grand Cayman, and did not apply to Cayman Brac and Little Cayman.

“We’re still trying to get the word out,” Scott reported, that the Brac is alive and well and ready for visitors. He said Cayman officials were working through the Governor’s office to get U.S. officials to clear the Sister Islands of a restriction on travel issued by the Americans. 

And, “in the longer tem,” Mr. Scott said, “there are reports out of Grand Cayman that that island will be up and running by 15 December, in time for the annual “high season”. 

“They’re pushing in that direction,” he said, “and they’ll be bigger and better” than ever, he promised.

In the meantime, Cayman Brac finds itself in the curious position of being somewhat of a “bedroom community” for Grand Cayman residents who have established temporary homes here, while commuting to Grand Cayman to their businesses there.

The airlines which service the Sister Islands – Cayman Airways, the national flag carrier, and Island Air – have scheduled increased flights accordingly.

Mr. Scott assured the Brac was coping comfortably with its newly increased population which “comes and goes”. “We’re doing quite well,” he said.

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