His Royal Highness Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex, arrived in the Cayman Islands on Saturday, 3 February, for a four-day visit focusing on Hurricane Ivan recovery, children and youth, and the environment.

Prince Edward, the patron of the Central Caribbean Marine Institute (CCMI), toured its field station in Little Cayman on Sunday, 4 February, before travelling on to Cayman Brac for a church service at the Aston Rutty Centre and the groundbreaking ceremony of UpTown, the Caribbean’s first resilient community.

In May 2003, Prince Edward dedicated the site of the CCMI field research centre, “to sustain biodiversity so that the children of the world may forever discover the treasures of the sea,” as the plaque at the site declares.

Located on 1,400 feet of beachfront property with access to the open ocean, the Little Cayman Research Centre - which officially opened in August 2005 - serves as a research base for visiting undergraduates and scientists. It provides a permanent site for CCMI’s ongoing academic and field programmes for the benefit of students of all ages.

Following that morning’s tour of the eastern districts on Grand Cayman, HRH arrived at Little Cayman on Sunday afternoon and was met at the airport by Sister Islands’ Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), Moses Kirkconnell and Ministry of District Administration, Planning, Agriculture and Housing Chief Officer Kearny Gomez.

At the Little Cayman Research Centre, an enthusiastic group of residents and visitors greeted the Earl. Afterwards, CCMI President, Carrie Manfrino, and Director Peter Hillenbrand escorted him on a brief tour of the facilities. While there, HRH, along with Dr. Manfrino, unveiled “Coral Reef,” an artwork by annual Little Cayman visitor Scott Goldy.  MLA Kirkconnell presented the piece to Mr Hillenbrand in thanks for his generous contributions to the institute’s research programmes.

The Central Caribbean Marine Institute (CCMI) is a non-profit educational and research organization that has operated in the Cayman Islands for more than a decade.

From Little Cayman, HRH Prince Edward departed for Cayman Brac where he was met by District Commissioner Ernie Scott and Ministry of District Administration, Planning, Agriculture and Housing Administrative Officer, Leyda Nicholson-Coe.

The Earl spent the evening with residents at the Aston Rutty Civic Centre where he was treated to the hymns “How Great Thou Art” and “Blessed be the name of the Lord” by the adult and junior choirs, respectively. Prior to departing for the Brac Reef Hotel, he spent a few moments with the children and other guests.

As part of his official tour, HRH also broke ground for the new Cayman Brac Power & Light plant. This indicates the first step in the relocation of Cayman Brac Power and Light Company (CBPL) to the new development and the launch of its Wind Generation Project.

The historic groundbreaking ceremony took place on Monday, 5 February at 10.30 am and marked the first phase of UpTown, the Caribbean region’s first resilient community.

UpTown will be a business and residential community on the Bluff, designed to withstand natural disasters such as hurricanes or flooding. Within UpTown, all utilities required to operate a home or office, such as power, water, voice and data connectivity will be made highly available and securely connected.

The incorporation of Brac Informatics Centre (BIC) was made key to the concept of UpTown, which is a full-service, licensed and regulated disaster recovery centre. Normally in the event of service outages, businesses are disabled without their data and recovery is virtually impossible, unless that information is securely stored off-site. BIC offers a range of vitally important backup and recovery services to mitigate this risk. With BIC’s services, an organization can continue computer and network operations in the event their primary office is inoperable for any reason. 

As the most resilient business and residential location in the Caribbean region, the establishment of UpTown conveys to the business community that the Cayman Islands is serious about always being ‘open for business.’ Further, it provides the residents of the Cayman Islands with a safe haven without having to leave home.

When complete, UpTown will encompass single-family homes, villas, town houses, retail and commercial office space and industrial sites.