Winds of up to 25 knots closed down North Sound and caused several cruise ships to divert or bypass Grand Cayman altogether during the past two days.
Cayman Islands Department of Environment officials said the popular Sandbar destination in the North Sound was closed early Tuesday and both the Sandbar and Stingray City were closed to boat traffic Wednesday as high winds whipped up the surf and made boating far too dangerous.
“Especially with the direction of the wind, it’s bringing them right over the Sandbar and deep Stingray City,” said Mark Orr, the department’s chief enforcement officer. “No one should be out in the North Sound right now.”
Mr. Orr said police were on routine patrols in the sound during the past two days and would continue those checks until the weather eased up. He said some closures may have to remain in effect through Friday in the North Sound.
“All North Sound tours [Wednesday] should be cancelled,” Mr. Orr said.
At the George Town port, operations chief Joseph Woods reported four cruise ships scheduled to arrive in the Cayman Islands on Tuesday and Wednesday had simply skipped their port calls.
On Tuesday, three of the five ships scheduled to arrive in George Town docked at Spotts on the southern side of Grand Cayman and Wednesday another cruise ship docked there. Essentially, the weather cost Cayman half the cruise ships scheduled to be in port during the past two days.
“Last year on 4 January, we had the exact same thing,” Mr. Woods said, indicating that three cruise ships were scheduled to arrive, but only one ended up staying.
The Spotts area can only anchor a total of three ships at a time, so on Tuesday two of the cruise ships would have been turned away in any case.
Today (Thursday), another three ships were due in port and on Friday four ships were due to come in. However, Mr. Woods said he hoped George Town harbour could be used on Thursday because weather reports indicated high winds would be going down.
Weather forecasts for the Cayman Islands on Wednesday had strong winds continuing through the evening and into Thursday at a rate of 15 to 20 knots. Rough seas were expected with wave heights between 4 and 7 feet expected into Thursday.
Weather concerns
Supporters of a proposal to berth cruise ships in the Red Bay area as opposed to George Town have used the possibility of inclement weather – particularly in the early months of the high tourist season – as a reason for taking the ships out of George Town.
Speaking during a public meeting last month, advocates said the Red Bay area better meets the needs of the cruise tourism product in Grand Cayman than would building a new docking facility in the waters near the downtown capital.
“(The Red Bay location) will guarantee ship arrivals and as a result positively affect business in George Town,” said plan presenter Burns Conolly, referring to how the weather often forces ships to cancel calls on Grand Cayman due to its status a tendering port.
Government plans have called for the construction of a large docking facility in George Town, which would eliminate the need to use smaller craft to ferry boat passengers back and forth between cruise ship and harbour.
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