Several Caymanian captains are lobbying for public support to influence the government to build what they say is a much needed berthing facility in South Sound, as opposed to one in George Town or at Spotts Dock.
According to Reginald Choppy Delephena, between the 1960s and 1970s, prominent seaman and member of the Legislative Assembly at the time, Captain Theo Bodden had identified the best place for a berthing facility in the Cayman Islands would be on South Sound.
Then, he and other captains came together as a result of the Fort being rendered useless once a year. It’s a notion, which at least four prominent sea captains in the Islands agree is the best course to take.
“A berthing facility in George Town would also call for dredging and no one really knows how the effect of water flow on the Seven Mile Beach and the impact it could have on currents and things such as sand deposits,” said Mr. Delepenha, speaking of Captains Paul Hurltsone, Arlen McCoy, Bryan Ebanks, Bob Soto and Shelby Hydes and their subscribing to Captain Bodden’s suggestion. He said the benefit of having the berthing facility in South Sound is that it could be used everyday.
“In town, the port is being rendered useless too many days per year, and it costs the Cayman Islands roughly $245,000 in head tax every time a ship has to pass us by, while cargo ships have to stay off and wait for calmer seas, all the while affecting commerce. That area is the most exposed part of the Island, as the rest of Grand Cayman has reefs.”
The number of ships that bypassed Grand Cayman rather than move to Spotts in 2010 was 26. Port Authority Manager of Cruise Operations and Security Joseph Woods said, “In rougher seas we have the option of using Spotts Dock. Though we still can lose ships as a result of having to do so. In 2010, there were 11 days in which we had to move to Spotts, resulting in some of those ships moving on to other ports.”
So far in 2011, ships have only had to move to Spotts on five occasions and no ship’s have bypassed calling as a result, Mr. Woods said.
He said the amount of times the Spotts location is used can vary from year to year, while cautioning that November through January were traditionally when the spectre of weather was a concern.
When asked about his thoughts on having a berthing facility built in South Sound, Premier McKeeva Bush said he would not shun such a proposal, though he did have concerns.
“I am concerned about the cutting of the channel and would have to see the plans; if the right impact studies are done, that said, it would not be a harm to the South Sound Community and so forth. Also, cutting the reef – I have great concerns about whether a dock should be built that way,” the premier said.
A series of public meetings are being scheduled by the captains to help the public understand. Mr. Delepenha said this is an opportunity the Island can ill-afford to miss.
“No one puts a harbour in the most exposed area. A harbour is meant to be safe; that’s what the word means,” he said, adding the cost of building the berthing facility in George Town and the restructuring of downtown would be much too high. “Your only working in six feet of water in South Sound and the country could get up to $200 million dollars worth of aggregate from the site, a great help to our economy since all components for cement, other than water, have to be shipped to this country.”
The berthing facility would lead up to the new development, Emerald Sound and on to Linford Pierson Highway, according to Mr. Delepenha, who revealed the four captains are also in favour of the Emerald Sound development.
“A significant amount of dredging has been done in South Sound already, any aerial vantage will show that,” Mr. Delepenha said.
He said a hurricane would be the only thing that could render that sight useless.
Four prominent sea captains agree that it is the best course
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Finally someone with common sense has stated what many have known for years. Thank you Mr. Delepenha for stating a clear and concise reason why Spotts is the only choice. If Mr. Bush seeks to use other locations, we can only surmise that he has motives other than finding the best location for a berthing facility.
where exactly are these guys talking about? Anything west of Hurleys is completely ridiculous… your going to blow up reef and dredge a marine park?
I think these captains has drank too much salt water and have been on the water to long to realize that will never happen.
Captain Crunch wouldn’t agree to this.
Carpediem – Choppy is not proposing Spotts – he is proposing South Sound!
Read again. Spotts would be a reasonable proposal. South Sound for a cruise ship port is insanity.
So if my math is correct cayman would have received over 6,000,000 more in revenue for last year alone. Over 10 years this is almost 100,000,000 more for the cayman government that would have otherwise sailed by.
THIS is the kind of economic stimulus we need.
I think the captains are spot on with this one, the only question is whether the Government will heed their advice.
As far as location – it may come from left field, but it makes absolute sense, it’s basically the middle of the island, but a quick shot to Town, North Sound, SMB, Eastern Districts.
Either way we need this to go ahead now, everyday the Oasis passes us by is a Mega Loss for this country.
@crisscross
What exactly is there to save in the area the captains propose? No boaters go there and there’s nothing but Sea Urchins there, which put sores in my feet, not food on my table.
Bad idea for tourism and dive industry. There are many very nice dive sites there that would be destroyed. When the weather is rough on the west, where do you think all the dive operators take their customers?
To Caycompass and Readers,
Your comments are being manipulated with the thumbs up and down.
I noticed about two hours ago that the thumbs up on favorable comments on the port (and thumbs down to negative comments) went from about 2 or 3 to 17 or 18 in about 5 minutes (at like 7am) which I thought was suspicious.
I tried myself to see what would happen – and your website allowed me to do thumbs up or down unlimited amounts of times (once I refreshed my browser).
And came back now to see the person who is thumbs up’ing (for pro and the opposite for negative comments) has probably gone back and hit refresh thumbs up/down over and over again – to get for e.g. the post by Carpe Diem to 44 in agreement.
I say this admitting that I (as a test) in a few minutes added about 15 thumbs down to this post.
Please do not let your readers be mislead and please post this so that they know. And to person out there doing this – please stop trying to mislead the public.
Perhaps Compass can only allow one thumbs up or down per ip address per day like other websites do?
Thank you.
Advice UnSound! Spotts maybe an option….maybe. Does anybody remember a South Sound resident who decided to dig a swim hole outside their home? Well all the sand on the beach filled the hole back in and then they had to put down huge boulders to stop more erosion. The beach vanished completely – you had to wade through the water to get around the property. Now dig an even bigger hole and eventually all the sand will end up in the hole…..only to be removed and sold! Government would then have to spend a billion dollars to build a seawall along the entire South Sound coast – would cost less but you know how it works 😉
I thought the head tax was 20 per passenger, so based on a large ship of 2000 that would earn about 40,000 per ship missed. Where have I gone wrong in my calculations?
BTW parts of that area are too shallow to use a kayak in let alone a boat.
SHAME ON you CHOPPY! SHAME ON you RENEE! You are playing devils advocate and trying to purposefully ridicule Cayman seacaptains and muddy the waters for personal gain. I very much look forward to seeing you both stand up in public PERSONALLY to present this FOOLISHNESS- it will be very entertaining. AND let’s see how many of these seacaptains you mention here come out and sit behind you…WHAT UTTER NONSENSE!
@ Greenthought
Spotts is not a better proposal because of one of the main reasons that South Sound is so appealing – with George Town and Spotts you are trying to construct piers in extremely deep water, whereas in South Sound you would be building piers in extremely shallow water (6ft or so) which would reduce the construction costs by over 75% by my guestimates. That is A LOT less money for the tax payers to come up with.
@SubZero
If you had went to one of the public meetings as I have, you would understand all of the dredged area will be abutted and separated from the Sound, so you would not have a problem with sand being lost.
This is a classic case of something being shot down (being proposed by our experienced seamen, which have nothing to gain from the proposal) before it even has a chance to be considered.
Don’t let the backyard mentality cloud your thoughts before it has been discussed properly.
I’m born and bred south sounder and although this will be an adjustment on the horizon the way it is designed (to quickly funnel traffic to Linford Pierson bypass) will not affect our way of life.
I’ll tell you also, I am directly affected when cruise ships do and do not come to Cayman…and the last few years with the downturn in cruise arrivals has really made it hard for me to make ends meet.
Stay tuned, as I will be, for the next public meeting on this.
@ wedge
If this is done in town Beautiful dive sites will also have to be dredged and who knows what will happen to our Seven Mile Beach if the current shift and wash that away. Certainly that will be a bigger detriment to Cayman than a couple dive sites that do not contribute to our economy as much as Cruise and SMB.
At least the reefs in town will now have a chance to rebuild if we take the Cruise Ships out of the equation.
@ southsounda,
So where exactly are they going to construct this berth?
How are they going to handle the added traffic.
If you want to put food on your table go to work and buy it like everyone else, or do you rely on govt handouts?
Finally, some folks with the guts to be logical and not pander to political ambitions.
South Sound is the best place for that port. It can provide a safe sheltered port in all types of weather. It can link to the Lindford Pierson hwy to get the traffic out of GT. North Sound tourist can go straight to Grand Harbour and straight to Sting ray city. The port will actually protect South Sound from big seas if they design it correctly and of course we don’t have to gamble with our seven mile beach by building a dock in GT.
Thank you Captains again. You clearly are using your great experience and knowledge of the seas to make a solid proposal.
@ crisscross
I don’t have all the answers, but they did discuss it at the meeting, that’s why I recommend you go to it, if they have one again. Don’t run it down online and not take the opportunity to learn the facts if they have a meeting again.