"We wanted to take our time and do it right, to resist the urge for short-term gains," said Mark Bastis, general manager of the Hyatt Regency and president of the island's tourism association. "Cayman's always been an upscale destination. We want it to remain that way, and reopen that way."
Initially, only 529 rooms of about 3,000 will be available to visitors, a figure that should grow substantially by Christmas. Resorts must pass government inspections before they can reopen, and from what I could see, those slated to open soon are truly ready. Along Seven Mile Beach, those hotels not yet open are basically dealing with mold, mildew and missing roof tiles, not devastation.
Post-Ivan, the Hyatt Regency on Grand Cayman undergoes dehumidification.
(Sheree Ebanks)
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Most restaurants have reopened -- 75 of them to date. You can also be confident of finding beautiful beaches. Deep-sea reefs used by divers are said to be better than before because they were cleaned and polished by the churning of the ocean. The soft corals on close-in reefs took a beating, but the colorful fish swimming among hard corals seem not to care.
To my mind, the stingrays that gather at a sandbar visited by tour boats are the most extraordinary attraction on the island, and I'm thrilled to report that the rays remain, ready to sway and cavort with swimmers, eager to check your fist to see if it might be holding a squid snack.
The rays began gathering at the so-called Stingray City years ago, when fishermen routinely cleaned their catch at the sandbar before heading home. Today, dozens at a time cluster because of the tourists who feed and play with them. The people who conduct the tours took no chances and fed the rays even in the midst of personal disaster.
The two other islands of the Caymans, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, were lightly touched and never closed to guests.
The recovery of Grand Cayman, although not complete, is coming along at an amazing rate. Reconstruction of damaged homes is slow because materials can be hard to come by -- everything has to be shipped from Florida, which has its own extraordinary demands on drywall and roofing supplies. Some homeowners also must wait for insurance money to rebuild. But numerous islanders volunteered praise for the water and power companies. They also speak well of government efforts to clean the roads quickly.
Business owners and their employees, meanwhile, have been working double time for months. First they had to prepare for the hurricane -- not just boarding up but also doing such things as knocking down all the coconuts from trees to prevent them from becoming projectiles. Then they had to respond to the mess. Most showed up for work even though their own lives were in ruin. Half of the staff at the Hyatt Regency, for example, lost everything, said Bastis. Another 40 percent lost "almost everything."
Suzi Soto, owner of the Cracked Conch restaurant, said her workers showed up and slept on tables when they weren't helping her clean up. Since she has business interruption insurance, she could have sat back and collected checks equal to normal earnings. Instead, she and her employees pushed themselves to exhaustion to reopen, in part because they knew a restaurant would be a welcome relief to those islanders living in a disaster zone.
Ten days after the hurricane, despite having no running water, the Cracked Conch began providing free lunch to all comers -- an offer good for three days. The food was paid for by a local law firm, and Soto and her staff cooked and served meals to more than 2,000 people.
