A shark, other predator fish and hundreds of tropical, colourful fish are now in their new home and ready to meet visitors at Boatswain’s Beach.
On Saturday, February 24, hundreds of fish were added to the 1.3 million gallon salt water snorkel lagoon and now schools of them can be seen swimming in unison through it.
Cayman Traditional Arts representatives show CITNs Elysia Meen the art of rope-making. Photo: Cliodhna McGowan |
The solo shark in the predator tank is called Freddy and this young male nurse shark is just over four feet in length, with the ability to grow up to eight feet.
Residents get a great deal at Boatswain’s Beach through the Residents Weekend Special, when, for just CI$10 for adults and CI$4 for children (aged 2-12) entry to the entire park is gained on Saturdays and Sundays.
Chief Operating Officer Joey Ebanks explained that the water is being tested on the hour to make sure the quality remains intact so that the marine life in it will survive.
‘What I must say is that we’re going to lose marine life. They’re fish and sharks and they’re going to die just like they die in the wild. Things die. Of course we have taken every single precaution to make sure that we minimise that as far we possibly can.
‘We have scientists employed and have installed automated systems to monitor the water, and the systems allow us to alert people off-site and it also can take preventive action as well, by monitoring the chemical levels.’
Four more sharks were being flown into the island just last Friday as part of a new shipment of fish, and they will now go into the quarantine area. It will be up to the scientists to decide how long until they can go into the predator lagoon, said Mr. Ebanks.
Six sharks that had previously been acquired by Boatswain’s Beach and were in the quarantine facility, died due to a mechanical glitch in July last year.
Mr. Ebanks also outlined the new pricing structure as it is packaged for tourists.
‘What we’re looking to do with Boatswain’s Beach is for it to become a full day tourist attraction for cruise ship passengers, as well as the stay-over visitors.’
As a partnership with the independent tour operators on the island, visitors pay US$30 (adults) for transport and entrance to Boatswain’s Beach for a Turtle Farm Tour, out of which the attraction gets $18 and the tour operator gets $12 per head.
Two other tours, the Boatswain’s Beach with lagoons tour, and the without lagoons tour are sold wholesale to the cruise lines by Boatswain’s Beach.
Boatswain’s Beach with lagoons (a full day) includes the entire park. The price for this is US$75 (adults) and US$35 (children).
The Boatswain’s Beach without lagoons tour includes everything apart from swimming, and the price is US$50 (adults) and US$25 (children).
There is also an agreement with a tour operator whereby tourists can be bussed to Boatswain’s Beach.
A Boatswain’s Beach plus one package is also available to help facilitate tourism within the Eastern districts, Mr. Ebanks said.
This is geared toward stay-over visitors who purchase the full day US$75 package. They can visit either the Botanic Park or Pedro Castle for just $1 extra. Boatswain’s Beach will in fact pay the entry fee for these attractions to the Tourism Attraction Board.
Residents receive a 50 per cent discount on applicable tours.
Mr. Ebanks said the facility is getting the same numbers as it was as the old Turtle Farm, roughly 400,000 a year.
What the park needs to get in is pretty much the same numbers, of 400,000 people a year, but at about $50 a head to cover costs, while also making a little profit.
The cost of Boatswain’s Beach was $US56 million, and this ultimately has to be paid back to the government.
Mr. Ebanks explained that Boatswain’s Beach had needed to make sure the packages would sell on board the ships to get the high volume.
‘I’m very comfortable that it (Boatswain’s Beach) will succeed, because cruise ships are in fact buying the packages. They’re signing contracts,’ Mr. Ebanks said.
‘Boatswain’s Beach cannot become another government operation that is forever subsidised. It needs to pay its own way. It needs to be the anchor for Cayman Islands’ tourism going forward. It needs to be a first class facility that makes a profit and kicks money into the government’s coffers,’ he said.
The cruise ship packages come on line in May, June and July, and the new prices are effective from 15 March.
Residents are flocking to the park at weekends.
‘We’re seeing a huge increase in locals coming out at weekends over the last five weeks. We’ve moved from a handful of people to 800 last weekend,’ said Mr. Ebanks.
Also being looked into is the possibility of extending opening hours into the night, such as having dinner and a show at Schooner’s Restaurant. That will begin with two nights per week and go from there.
Referring to the private swim-with-dolphin enterprise – Dolphin Discovery – which will lease land from Boatswain’s Beach across the road at a site of old turtle tanks, Mr. Ebanks said he believes it will work to complement business at Boatswain’s Beach.
‘I believe that North West Point, this area, is going to become a tourist attraction in itself – that there will be more and more value added businesses popping up on the route around the area and that we’ll all be supporting one another. While we’ll be sharing some of the customer base, each one of us is going to bring new customers as well.’
This is already happening with the Cracked Conch restaurant, he said.
On a tour last week, given by Special Projects Assistant Ambuyah Ebanks, the new star attraction Freddy the shark could be seen darting through the clear waters of the predator tank.
One of the scientists is beginning to feed him from his hand, as shark feedings will eventually be held for visitors to watch.
Other fun activity at the park involves Cayman Traditional Arts, which is giving demonstrations in the art of rope making and old-style Cayman traditions along the beautiful Cayman Street.
Another price change of note is with regard to turtle meat. Boatswain’s Beach sells the meat to small restaurants and up to this point has had to subsidise this end of the business. The wholesale price for turtle steak is moving from US$11.25 to US$12.50.
This price will not results in a profit for Boatswain’s Beach, it will just close a gap with the losses, said Mr. Ebanks, who explained that cost of turtle meat has been kept low in order to serve the local community as a dish of culture and heritage.
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