Waves from the nor’wester that arrived in the Cayman Islands over the weekend continued to impact the west and the northern coastlines of Grand Cayman on Monday, 2 Feb., but so far most of the vulnerable areas appear to have made it through without damage.
The newly repaired government dock at Lobster Pot was holding up well. The condos closest to the water at the Windsor Village apartments were secure and unaffected, with the waves remaining behind the seawall. At Rackam’s restaurant on North Church Street, parts of the property were still boarded up on Monday, but there were no signs of damage.
Learning from experience
“We removed the planks from our outdoor deck before the storm approached,” explained Luciano De Riso, head of operations at Grand Old House restaurant. “It takes about three hours to remove the planks and the same length of time to put them back in [when the storm passes]. We have learned from experience what we need to do to protect the property and minimise the possibility of damage.”
Several other businesses have also adapted to the wave threat. Divers Down on Seafarers Way and Living the Dream Divers on North Church Street both removed planks from their docks before the cold front arrived, and, so far, they are reporting no damage at their locations.
“It has been almost exactly two years since the last big nor’wester struck and with the weather forecast indicating waves in excess of 13 feet, we were concerned,” said Gary Frost, owner of Living the Dream Divers.
Frost explained, “In addition to our operation in George Town, we also operate the Ocean Cabanas dive shop on the North West Point Road, but we now have a storm protocol in place; we remove the planks from the Soto dock and batten down the hatches at both locations.”
He added, “With the waves starting to subside, we expect to make it through without any impacts and we will be operating again as normal in a few days.”
Nat Robb, owner at Indepth Watersports located at Macabuca on North West Point Road, said that since the storm in February 2024, they had made several changes. “We reinforced the storm shutters and added protection for the doors,” he said. “We also now place a board over where the exhaust fan to prevent saltwater coming into the building and that was one of the vulnerabilities we identified in the last big storm in 2024.
“I am pleased to report that the Macabuca property has made it through the most recent inclement weather without any issues.”
The Cayman Cabana restaurant on the waterfront in George Town was open for business on Monday. “We had some waves up on the deck on Sunday, but we moved all the tables and chairs and placed everything up and away from the sea, before the nor’wester came in,” said restaurant owner, Luigi Moxam.
“We are grateful that we have had no damage at our property, but it has been a little frustrating that the weather has been quite rough for the past month. This is normally one of our busiest times of year and there have been several cruise ship cancellations because of the bad weather,” Moxam added.
Boat casualty
While the waterfront businesses contacted by the Cayman Compass reported no damage, the nor’wester did affect a support vessel owned by Yellow Submarine Cayman, after it got loose from its anchorage or mooring in South Sound and ended up stuck on the reef.
Giles Charlton-Smith of Wall to Wall Divers, who previously owned the vessel and sold it in April last year, said, “I am not sure how badly damaged it is, and whether they can pull it off and repair it, but I operated that vessel as the Chelonia (dive boat) for 24 years, since I started in the dive business in the Cayman Islands. It holds so many memories for me, so it feels very sad to see it on the reef.”
The windy conditions in the Cayman Islands are forecast to start subsiding by early Tuesday morning, 3 Feb., but seas are expected to remain rough with 6-to-8-feet waves. A small craft alert is in effect for Tuesday.
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Not the yellow submarine business again lol!