Living in Grand Cayman

Just last week, we had elections here.  No, I am not going to debate candidates or political views.

I thought I would speak about how proud I am of this little nation with its democratic process.  All too often, we hear of countries (big and small) and how the elections are rigged, unfair, etc.  Well I have to say that the Cayman Islands seem to have this process figured out.  There was even an independent group of observers who came to the island from the UK and who gave Cayman 9/10 as an overall rating for the elections.  In the news media, the opposition and the defeated ; not one mention of funny business.  Impressive.

Here is something I found interesting.  On the day of the elections, there is to be no advertising by parties and candidates.  That also means no elections signs.  So to comply, the candidates need to either take their signs down or cover them up the night before the election.  Here are are few samples.

Even the small signs needed to be covered up!

Even candidate Web sites were taken down for election day.

The neat thing is that 2-3 days after the elections all the road side signs were gone.   I know in Canada, election signs linger around forever after the big day and quickly become an eyesore.

Here is the headquarters of the party that just won the election.    This is when you realize you are in a really small place.

Some other interesting things I noted.

– Alcohol sales were banned for the whole day.  I guess they don’t want anyone impaired to vote or having their views distorted 🙂

– We got a public holiday! YAY.   Even those who cannot vote (expats) got the day off.  No complaints here.

On a final note, I will mention that my former boss, Roy McTaggart (he retired a few months ago) was elected as a member of parliament. I find it awesome that business people with integrity and who have a proven track record in the business world want to run for office and make a difference.  Go Roy!

This week I had the privilege of visiting the lovely island of Bermuda.

The first thing I would say is that its a really nice place ; in part I have to say its a lot like Cayman.  The buildings are very “British Colonial” and the overall feel of the place is safe, clean and and overall nice place.  Where it differs is that it is somewhat “hilly” although there are no mountains.

One other big difference is the number of scooters that are around.  In Bermuda the law states that there can only be one car per residence.  So most people have a scooter to get around town.  Its funny to see ladies with high heels and executives in suits on their little Honda scooter zipping around town.

Here is a scooter parking lot in downtown Hamilton.  Everywhere you look there are scooters parked in the street.

Right in Hamilton, the world headquarters of Bacardi ; who knew!  This sure was lovely ; note the dual waterfalls.  Also, the lawn was one of the most perfectly manicured I have ever seen.

View from “Blu” restaurant of Pitts Bay.  Very nice.

I saw quite a few of these when going for a run one morning. (note : running in Bermuda with the hills is soooo much more difficult than Cayman).    Cutting though this rock to make the roads must have been quite a job.

Ok … the finale.   As the title of my post says “When in Rome … ” so I dressed like the Bermudians 🙂  This is acceptable business attire here. It definitely felt funny to wear shorts like that with a tie, and of course the socks!

My trip to Bermuda was very quick but I really hope to get to go back at one point.

As in many western countries, the cost of power (electricity) always comes up as an issue for many people.   Cayman is not exception where the cost is very expensive, since we have no waterfalls or large wind farms.

That however should change soon with the coming “online” of our newly minted plant.  Those of you who have visited Cayman in say the last 12-18 months probably noticed a lot of activity on the southern edge of the island, around east end.

Well, its almost done … Cayman will now have its own nuclear power plant.  Cost efficient electricity for everyone and for generations to come (assuming no nuclear disaster of course)  Sweet!!!

Here it is ; I took this picture this Easter week-end.   Lots of people checking it out along the south’s rugged coast.  Too bad we lost the “blow holes” though.  The dogs don’t seem to mind it.

Here is a better view from an aerial shot that was also published in one of our local papers.  As you can see, the coastal road we used to have has simply been moved a bit inshore ; no big deal.   We will have tons of lovely shoreline.

Apparently, due to the inflow (to the ocean) of all that hot water used to cool the reactors, there are numerous new types of fish swimming around.  The CI government is also considering starting up a “hot springs” project sort of like they have in Norway in order to leverage all of that hot & steamy water.  Good idea for tourists.

If all goes well, we will soon be using this state of the art facility … by next April fools day!

Earlier this week, there was a special visitor in the Cayman Islands.   In fact, we had the privilege to have Cal Ripken Jr. come and visit us in the context of a new book he wrote.

If you are not a baseball fan, you probably have no clue who he is! Well, he is a baseball icon (now retired) and hall of fame inductee especially because of one particular record he set.  He played over 2,600 consecutive games, over more than 17 seasons!  17!!!   So he is a model of perseverance and determination ; something is admire in a person.   This being Cayman, I knew that we could probably get to see him up close.

Se here he is (guy on right) giving his talk.  He also took some questions from the people who showed up, probably around 200 people by my estimate.  I of course snagged a front row seat for the event.

After his talk, he signed copies of his new book and took pictures with his fans. It was a really nice event. So here I am with him.  Definitely nice that they had setup a whole “backdrop” instead of leaning over similar to what happens a most book signings.

So a lovely evening at Camana Bay and Books & Books ; pretty awesome that they were able to get someone so high profile to visit this little island.

Here is also an article about the event in the local newspaper.

http://www.compasscayman.com/caycompass/2013/03/13/Regular-guy,-sports-hero/

I have seen this helicopter flying around for the longest time and figured it would be fun to go for a ride sometime.  Well, today was the day.  Any what a day it was … skies perfectly clear and plenty of sunshine.

Here was our ride for this trip.   I had never taken a helicopter, so did not really know what to expect.

First off, across the Seven Mile beach “land” and over the North Sound and to Stingray City.  Plenty of cruise ships in port today, so lots of people having fun with the stingrays.

Next, off to the North wall … essentially where the North sound meets the reef and then the oceanic drop-off.  On the right is the North Sound (where is Stingray City) Then you have the barrier reef. On the left it gets progressively deeper.  Where you have the stripes is +-60-70 feet deep and then the dark blue is >6000ft deep.  The diving along the drop (called “wall diving” since you are diving along, well, a wall or a cliff into the abyss) is spectacular.

View from the chopper.  I was directly behind the pilot, who is a chap from France called Jerôme.  Quite a character! 🙂

Great view and colors around fisherman’s rock

Now back along Seven Mile beach ; always spectacular.

Great shot of the USS Kittiwake.  This ship was sold by the US government to a group in Cayman. It was sunk in 2011 and is now a popular diving and snorkeling site.   The Kittiwake was a “Submarine rescue vessel” and was in service from 1946 to 1994.  The boat is just over 250ft long.

Great view from above the Disney cruise ship.

And finally a video of the takeoff.  This will give you a good idea of how fun it was.

If you are in Cayman, I highly recommend this tour.  The helipad is right in George Town and its a blast!