With the beach in front of its hotel eroding, the Marriott has begun taking its guests to a stretch of Seven Mile Beach further north, which is owned by the Dart group.
The Marriott’s general manager Hermes Cuello confirmed that the hotel is now renting the area of the beach for its guests to use.
Photos posted on social media in recent days of a section of the white-sand waterfront lined with deck chairs has led to outrage among some residents who lament that this makes another section of the beach inaccessible to them.
One commenter wrote, “As I see it – Caymanians and locals won’t have beaches to go to if the government continues to allow things like this… such a shame!”
Another wrote, “This was such a quiet part of the beach for locals and this now has been taken from us too. Nowhere for us to go anymore.”
Cuello told the Compass the use of the beach by Marriott guests was “a temporary arrangement” until the beach erosion issue in front of the hotel and along the southern end of Seven Mile is addressed.
He added, “Though we have rented the beach, we continue giving access to the local community.”
In response to online commenters who complain that, because the deck chairs have been placed so close to the water, locals don’t feel they have proper access to the beach anymore, Cuello said, “They do, the beach is narrow but extensive.”
When the Compass visited the beach, located north of the Kimpton resort by a cul-de-sac on the old West Bay Road, on Tuesday morning, about 30 chairs had been laid out, with a stack of others available nearby. Guests were being picked up and dropped off by minibuses.
A security guard and other Marriott staff were on site, but were not preventing non-hotel guests from accessing the beach. Other beach users were in the area also, laying on towels in the shade and on their own beach chairs at either side of the line of hotel deckchairs.
Two porta-cabin bathrooms have been set up amid the vegetation lining the beach, and a small mobile bar is available for the Marriott guests.
A statement issued to the Compass from Dart on 4 Jan. noted that Dart’s Crymble Landholdings owns the land adjacent to the beach, and not the beach itself, and that the company had signed a short-term rental agreement with the Marriott for the use of the land.
Dart’s senior communications manager Ben Meade said the company wanted to clarify the misperception that the public is being restricted from accessing the beach.
“In response to concerns about possible restricting of public access to the beach north of Kimpton Seafire Resort + Spa, we would like to assure the public that Dart, as a landowner, has not and is not taking such steps,” Meade said.
“Over the years, this privately-owned land has been made available for public use, in particular camping and related activities. We now have a short-term agreement with the Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort (a non-Dart property) for use of this land, so their guests can fully enjoy Seven Mile Beach, one of Cayman’s premier tourist attractions and enhance the overall visitor experience. Under this arrangement, there have been steps taken to not prohibit or obstruct access to the beach by members of the public.”
Southern Seven Mile blighted by beach erosion
The Marriott has resorted to bussing its guests to a part of the beach several miles from its own hotel because the beach in front of its property, and nearby condo developments, has been steadily eroding for several years. The erosion has impacted a long swathe of beach, from Plantation Village to Coral Beach.
“Cayman Islands is known for Seven Mile Beach, which we know originally was five and a half miles long, not seven, which now has turned into four because we’ve lost a mile and a half of beach,” Cuello told fellow property managers and owners at a meeting he called to discuss the issue in September.
Property owners have been pressing the government to come up with a solution. Government officials have acknowledged the issue and are considering options for replenishing the sand.
In 2021, the government announced it was planning to allocate $21 million over the next two years for a project to restore the lost sand along the southern end of the beach. This included $1 million budgeted in 2022 for a business case and feasibility plan.
Longer term, a policy of “managed retreat” is being considered – where buildings that are slated for demolition would be replaced by ones built further back from the sea.
During a debate in Parliament on a motion to increase building heights in Cayman to 20 storeys, Premier Wayne Panton said higher buildings could be considered as part of the managed-retreat approach to developments and seawalls that over the years had been built too close to the dynamic beach zone along Seven Mile Beach, leading to erosion.
Editor’s note: This story has been amended from the original to include comments from Dart.
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It is time for the government to honor their word and fix the beach. The erosion will not stop at Coral Beach. It will continue north. The southern end is the buffer zone. It needs to be replenished as norwesters are no longer as effective in the past.
So when is the government going to do something. The $21M that they didn’t spend 2 years ago is probably 25 today and it is only getting worse.. A wall like at Sunset Cove across the ocean and filled in with sand would fix the problem
The Marriott and condo stratas at the southern end of the beach have been pressing Government for engagement – any engagement – for months. Not a single call or email is returned. I suspect the problem will have to get much, much worse like the iguanas before something is ultimately done. Maybe we can have a raffle for buckets of sand?
Why should government pay to correct the errors of landowners and developers? Why doesn’t the Marriott pay to fix the beach for the benefit of their own business? I don’t see how this is a government issue. You built too close to the beach, now you should pay the price to decide … Do you move back, and lose your pool deck, or do you keep your pool and lose the beach? If anything, government should mandate them to move back, but there is no point paying for sand that will just wash away at the very first storm. Landowners who built too close need to make their choices – pay or move!
How can anyone rent public shoreline/rights? The chairs are well within the public domain and are consistently limiting access and use of the beach by the public. It’s is the duty of the Planning Authority and government itself to ensure that the open character of scenic shoreline land is preserved, in particular that of the beaches, and also to safeguard the public’s right to use the beaches and to gain access to them through public rights of way. Additionally, Para 4(1)., Prescription Law (2018 Revision) also speaks to this issue. Regardless of why, by whom or duration, how is the exclusive renting of shoreline this close to the water is not illegal?
4. (1) When any beach has been used by the public or any class of the public
for fishing, for purposes incident to fishing or for bathing or recreation, and any
road, track or pathway passing over any land adjoining or adjacent to such beach
has been used by the public or any class of the public as a means of access to
such beach, without interruption for twenty years, the public shall, subject to the
provisos hereinafter contained, have the absolute and indefeasible right to use
such beach, land, road, track or pathway, unless it appears that the same was
enjoyed by some consent or agreement expressly made or given for that purpose
by deed or writing. https://www.hsa.ky/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Prescription-Law-2018.pdf