A photo on the front page of the 17 May 1973 Cayman Compass, ‘Unexpected Bath’, depicted the unfortunate owner of a pick-up truck standing in George Town Harbour next to his waterlogged vehicle. While showing his friends a new light on his truck, it started to roll towards the sea. They were unable to stop it, but owner Charles Yates, who had made his last payment on the truck just two days before, dove in to rescue a tape deck and tools.
The article, ‘U.S. Experts Alarmed At Cayman Growth’, told of two men from the US National Wildlife Federation visiting Grand Cayman to look at the flora and fauna for articles for the National Wildlife and International Wildlife magazines. They told the Compass they found “plant and animal life quite fabulously unique”, but saw “litter in the reefs; and heavily sedimented turtle grass due to development”. The two men said the dilemma was “how to accommodate all the people who want to come and enjoy the unspoiled natural beauty without allowing them to spoil the place”.
In an editorial, the Compass took issue with speeding drivers. Headlined ‘Cayman “Drag Strip” Must Be Shut Down’, it called speeding on the road east of Bodden Town “endemic”, with the main concern the safety of “both the speeders and the law-abiding [motorists]”. Guessing at least a dozen cars on most evenings, “exceed the speed limit by a significant amount on the road to East End”, it said something needed to be done “before a nasty tragedy occurs”.
The Cayman Islands Conservation Association directed its column, ‘Something of Value’, to tourists. The group pointed to a sign it had placed in the Customs area of the Owen Roberts International Airport that said, “Help us preserve what you came here to see,” asking visitors not to remove living sponges and corals, and “to shoot with a camera… not with a spear”.
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