Sea swells prevent rare cruise visit to Cayman Brac

A cruise ship scheduled to stop at Cayman Brac on Friday rerouted for Grand Cayman in the face of high sea swells.

Marketing and Promotions Manager with the District Administration Office in Cayman Brac, Chevala Burke, told the Compass Friday morning that after the MSC Explora II ship called to the Brac, one tender carried crew from the vessel to the dock, “but they decided they were uncomfortable with the swells”.

“They decided to continue to Grand Cayman,” she added.

While cruise ships do stop at the Brac, it’s an infrequent occurrence.

In anticipation of the arrival of cruise passengers, a craft market had been set up by Scott’s Dock, and taxi and tour operators were standing by to take them on excursions throughout the island.

Burke said while the swells were high earlier in the morning, they were forecast to calm down during the day.

Despite the disappointment among the local businesses and vendors, Burke said, “Everyone understood the situation. They understand that it’s safety first.”

The Explora II, with a capacity for 922 passengers, was scheduled to arrive in Grand Cayman at 2pm Friday.

Its sister ship, Explora I, with similar passenger capacity, has Cayman Brac on its itinerary for next month, and is expected to stop in Cayman Brac on 12 March, Burke said.

She says these are not the biggest ships to have made stops at the Brac over the years.

‘The Other Cayman Island’

On the Explora Journeys website, its itineraries that include Cayman Brac describe it as “The Other Cayman Island”.

It notes, “Seabirds, marine life and buccaneers have long admired Cayman Brac, a sliver of limestone that rises from the Caribbean at the far-flung edge of the Cayman Islands. The cliffs of Brac – Gaelic for bluff – are studded with deep caves pummelled by time and tides, home to lost treasure and colonies of Jamaican fruit bats.

“Shoals of rainbow-coloured fish inhabit the surrounding waters and dive sites, furrowed with coral walls and deep canyons, where reefs and wrecks remain undisturbed. Look out for Cayman parrots and red-legged thrush as you hike coastal forests and wetlands, tap into history at Heritage House or gear up for rock climbing and kayaking adventures.”

Burke says larger ships than the Exploras have visited Cayman Brac in the past on “one-off calls”, though not very regularly.

The concept of turning the Brac into a more-often-visited destination for cruise ships was raised last year, following a trip to the sister island by the heads of several major cruise brands.

Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan, at the time, confirmed that government has held discussions with cruise industry leaders over the possible development of a new pier that could cater to smaller cruise vessels – with capacity for 500 to 1,000 passengers – but potentially going as high as 2,500 in some cases.