7MB erosion worsens after Ian batters structures
(CNS): The passage of Hurricane Ian this week has revealed the seriousness of the erosion problems on Seven Mile Beach and how seawalls and hard structures, far from solving the problem, are making matters worse. In some places where there are no hard structures on the dynamic beach, the ocean delivered new deposits of sand. But in other places seawalls were destroyed and hard structures were no match for the storm surge and waves that battered Seven Mile Beach.
At the Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort on Tuesday, some 24 hours after the storm had passed, the problem of the near-permanent absence of the hotel’s beach was overshadowed by a new headache: flooding across the bar and restaurant areas. Next door, the new seawall at Regal Beach Club protected those condos but the knock-on effect of that wall plus the lack of beach brought the older seawall at Laguna Del Mar crashing down.
The problem of erosion along Seven mile Beach is nothing new and each storm serves to further erode the beaches around properties built too close to the ocean. The Cayman Islands Government has embarked on a proposed $21 million sand replenishment scheme as rising sea levels and over-development and too many hard structures on the beach fuel erosion. A business case and feasibility study for that project should be completed this year.
But the problem is becoming more serious and there has been little discussion by property owners about a managed retreat.
Speaking to CNS in May, Wayne Panton, the premier and sustainability minister, said that a managed retreat on some parts of the beach will be necessary. The public purse is picking up the tab for beach nourishment to give private sector resorts their beaches back, but some structures previously built on the dynamic beach zone will have to be moved.
“We will have to face this issue head-on,” the premier said, adding that he hoped the government would not have to legislate to force owners to remove existing structures. “I would like to think that there will be consensus across the board… and we will find a way to accomplish this together rather than having to legislate and have long drawn-out arguments about it,” he said.
Panton pointed out that Cayman has no choice and must deal with the inevitable consequences of climate change. However, none of the resort owners are discussing the issue.
Hermes Cuello, general manager of the Marriott, is deeply concerned about the hotel’s lost beach and he is not alone. Properties that stretch from Plantation Village to Coral Beach are all missing their beaches, as recorded at a meeting of the owners at the hotel recently. Cuello told CNS that dumping sand will help in the short term, but as climate change gets worse it will need to be done on a large scale.
But with the structural damage to properties that are being inundated with waves as the beach disappears, he said the issue of a managed retreat is both “complex and very challenging”.
“We don’t have the space,” he said, adding that when the hotel received planning permission back in the 1990s, there was a significant stretch of beach. With no beach at all now, he has to ferry his guests to the public beach on a shuttle.
Cuello and the other condo owners believe that only the government can help with solutions like sand replenishment or even, where there is space, moving hard structures further back. He said that if they lose their beaches, the hotels and condos are going to lose business, which means fewer guests, potential job losses and a drop in revenue for vendors that supply tourist accommodations, as well as a decline in tourism tax revenue.
He pointed out that helping the accommodation owners is akin to the subsidies government gives to Cayman Airways because it’s about supporting the wider tourism product. “People used to talk about the beach loss at the Marriott Beach Resort as the hotel’s problem, but with more than a mile and a half of beach lost now, it’s a much broader problem,” he said. “Really, it’s everyone’s problem now.”
In the medium term, Cuello and the owners believe the beach replenishment project will make a big difference and will last for several years, even if the exercise needs to be repeated in another twenty years. But he is hoping that government will soon be able to set out a timeline so he can plan how they manage the beach loss in the interim and how that affects the promotion of their hotel.
”My fear is we cannot have another year pass and we didn’t do anything about the erosion,” he said. “We cannot just wait for another year and see all the customers and tourists go to another destination because we didn’t do anything about it,” he added.
The Marriott is not the only large commercial private owner on the beach. Dart also now has considerable beachfront property in the area suffering from erosion. Royal Palms, which has been closed for two years and has become an eyesore, has also lost its beach. Just like the Marriott, a day after the storm had passed, the sea was still inundating what was once a popular patio bar at the location.
Dart’s own private house and other properties in the area are also beachless and residents can no longer traverse Seven Mile Beach across this stretch for most of the year. CNS has contacted Dart for comment about their plans for a managed retreat and we are awaiting a response.
The Cayman Islands’ single largest landowner and investor has the opportunity at Royal Palms to set a precedent by rebuilding whatever hotel it has planned for the location much further back. This would create the opportunity for the beach to return and demonstrate how moving back from the ocean front can help everyone.
However, the group has not revealed the plans for this site, and since its executives continue to lobby the government for high-rise development along Seven Mile Beach, it’s unlikely to begin any new project on the site.
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Category: development, Local News, Marine Environment, Science & Nature
The cause of the disappearance of beaches is not only global warming, sea level rise, and hurricanes, but also the reduction of the sand supply.
The sand supply has been reduced due to the construction of seawalls around the area that used to supply sand.
Some people criticize buildings close to the beach, but I think this has nothing to do with the problem.
Measures other than sand replenishment include
1 Place rocks that are fragile and could continuously supply sand on the revetted shoreline around the beach.
2 Line the beach with beautiful looking wave-dissipating blocks at a distance of 100 meters parallel to the beach.
3 Cover the beach with sheets and place weights on the beach before hurricanes to control sand runoff.
4 Global warming measures. Wind, solar, hydrogen power. promote EVs, induction stoves, heat pump water heaters, high airtight, high insulation homes.
Such as?
1:59; please don’t ever comment on CNS again.
I just lost brain cells reading this garbage.
This is correct. Ivan washed away some of the sand. The obvious solution is simply to buy a lot of sand and put it back. And there is no downside to this. Even in the worst case, the beach will be the same or better! More sand will not cause more erosion! If it works, then the problem is solved!
In 2015 SMB was voted ‘Best Beach in the World, – admittedly it wasn’t yesterday, it certainly wasn’t today and with everything considered it’s very unlikely to happen again the future, the reality is however it’s a more than an we’ll earned travesty. ❌🏖😔
Well, I live in Fort Myers…so count your blessings. In Miami right now, until who knows how long. No cell service, water and electricity, everything is closed. Lots of ambulances take patients elsewhere. luckily no damage to the building. Surf surge did reach our house, something that I thought would never happen. We are 20min drive from the FM beach and 20 from Sanibel. It took nearly hour to leave Fort Myers, for no traffic lights are working, some were blown away. I now understand what people were feeling during Ivan. Ironically this monster was named Ian.
We are lucky to have the best Governor.
🕊 peace to all. Don’t post nasty comments. Please
your message was fine and then you had to finish,
‘We are lucky to have the best Governor’ followed by – ‘Dont post nasty comments. Please’
You’re an idiot not to expect criticism for uplifting a Governor who essential helped taffick migrants from a State out of his jurisdiction for a political stunt and abandoned them in Marthas Vineyard and I’m going to call you out for it.
@7:16:
The Cayman Islands is so fortunate and blessed that we have people and leaders sensible enough to be very strict about protecting our borders and keep illegals out of our sweet homeland. Thank God that we have a government and a border control arm who actually enforce our laws and regularly rounds up, detains and ships out the few scofflaws who are here illegally. The Cayman Islands is still a country of laws in that regard. Thank you, God! Thank you, good citizens! Thank you wise leaders! Thank you brave and diligent immigration officers! Yea, thank God our leaders and our fine people are not so brain-dead as to allow our precious homeland, our Beauteous and Beloved Isle Cayman, to be invaded by lawless mobs!
7:16, it’s not a political stunt you idiot. He is not allowed to ship them back. Where does Cayman send Cubans? And since the useless fool in the white house won’t stop it, the Governor can do whatever he wants to protect his state and his economy.
referendum to remove all buildings too close to the sea.
Sandcastles made of sand.
“We don’t have the space,” he said, adding that when the hotel received planning permission back in the 1990s, there was a significant stretch of beach. With no beach at all now, he has to ferry his guests to the public beach on a shuttle.” The developers were irresponsible and made mistakes. The public purse should not pay for that. Let them fail, repossess the property, and destroy it. That beach is gone as they built too close. Won’t ever see that at say Caribbean club 2007 or watercolors 2016, because they did it properly. Owners and developers should pay for their failure
The two Kenneth’s can rebrand our Tourism product and call Seven Mile Beach the Venice of the Caribbean. We can get the Catboat Club to start building Gondolas for the 21 million.
Seven mile and the smb corridor now is north of fidelity roundabout. From there south there is no beach and it’s awful. Strange to think royal palms with a full beach and booming sundays was only a few years ago. 7 mile is 3 mile in only 4 years. Remarkable.
Cayman is doomed. Charging 5 star prices for 2 star location. Greed took over and that is where it’s at. Building million dollar cement blocks that ruined the prime tourist attraction.
When the Marriott was first built it didn’t have the big raised deck, and there was lovely beach. Now however……
So very true… That’s back to Radisson days. It was one of my favorite parts of the beach with tons and tons of SAND!
“We don’t have the space,” says the Marriott. (Just don’t look across the road where they have plans drawn if not approved to expand their hotel. Because you know there’s no space over there, right buddy?)
replenishing the beach with more sand is not the answer. we need reef balls to slow down wave action and help recreate the beach naturally. casa luna if anyone remembers had no beach. after installing reef balls they have a beautiful beack which turtles are nesting on. although Marriott does have reef balls they were not installed correctly facing a North wester.
After spending $21 million to replenish the sand – do they not expect that the same ocean that took the first bit of sand will take the $21 million worth of sand too?
They going super glue the sand down this time Bobo; it nah going nowhere…
Channel cuts opened up to accommodate increasing numbers of bigger and bigger boats in places not previously accessible have contributed to increasing water speed and increasing beach erosion in many parts of the island.
Da wa ya get.
Without managed retreat, this will be a drain on public funds Forever because it is not addressing the root of the problem.
Did Regal Beach pay us for the mess they made when they rebuilt the wall last year???
Managed retreat is a fallacy, its pure nonsense. You think any single owner of a condo on SMB is going to agree to demolish their development and build further back?
@4:05:
The retreat is inevitable. The operant factor is who will “manage” the retreat. If the resort owners do not manage it, Mother Nature certainly will.
When I built my home, I had the choice of building on my ironshore property or on my white sand beach property. I got to thinking: I have seen beaches erode here and the world over; ironshore ain’t going nowhere. I am SO happy that I made the decision to build on the ironshore property. The rest of the story is that the beach has eroded significantly in front of the beach land I formerly owned.
Well, whether they agree or not, the sea won’t care, and will take their property anyway
well then they will just have to fall in the sea then.
What does Da Wa mean! Please speak English
The water in West Bay
ITS CALLED DIALECT, YOU MORON.
Just leave. And take your bigotry with you.
Are any of the these owners requesting replenishment from the public purse the same ones as those driving us off their beaches, – if so I have an answer to their request.
@11:03:
I am with ya on that on that one.
Make this mandatory: tie in the sand replenishment with provision for the property to provide–BEFORE the sand goes in–very clearly marked nice wide public beach access paths and signs at the roadside and beachside indicating such.
Let those badly designed, outdated resorts fail. New owners can buy them at auction as teardowns. Then build something new and up to date with proper serback and no seawalls. The fact is, someone is going to have to take a bath on these properties because the problem is not going away. Why should it be the government? Let the wealthy owners write off these buildings and build back better. I have no sympathy for them.
OR make a law that maintaining the beach setback is the continuing responsibility of the property owner. That would start a new local industry of beach replenishment.
Except that the corrupt CIG will allow equally or worse construction.
However, current zoning laws are not enforced, why do you believe any future stricter regulations will be enforced. This simply will not happen in Cayman.
So just let them fold. Let a new owner build something better. This can happen. NO BAILOUT!
The new law should prohibit any building from at least 6 foot behind the vegetation line so that the public can enjoy what bits of beach we have left and somewhere to sit in the shade, without being ushered away by nearby property owners and hotel security. The vegetation and mangroves used to provide protection from storms, now nearly all gone to accommodate selfish and greedy developers. Tsssssskk.
Comment of the week. I commend you sir
The developers could put those concessions/profit to use given they/owners created the problem?
“I would like to think that there will be consensus across the board… and we will find a way to accomplish this together rather than having to legislate and have long drawn-out arguments about it,”
May as well start drafting up the legislation from now
Those photos make Seven (Four) Mile Beach look awful.
Well… It IS awful. The photos don’t make it awful – they simply document reality.
Cayman has enjoyed so much benefit & revenue out of 7 mile beach for decades, but the reality that is sinking in, is there are just as many beautiful beaches on other islands and countries in the Caribbean and Americas. Many of which have enjoyed protection from over-development to this day.
The entitlement of these people who pay no or next to no tax to demand tens of millions in public funds! Incredible.
Do you wish Cayman started taxing more? The electorate will never go for that.
no, just that public money is not used to subsidise people who have enough money to not need it.
Really? That’s what you took from that comment?
There needs to be a special assessment on property owners on Seven Mile Beach to basically save the beach.
At least half the properties on the Beach are unoccupied by absentee owners for half the year.
A big THANK YOU to Mackeeva, UDP, consecutive PPM administrations, and Planning Departments’s willing blindness and culture of corruption for landing Cayman with this totally avoidable situation.
All of unna floated like looney tunes characters to the smell of quick money with no thought of the very real consequences that:
1) you were all warned this would happen
2) you disparaged, belittled and insulted those of your countrymen and women wou warned you as ‘environmental nuts’ etc
You will all be judged by your legacy of enabling the destruction of seven mile beach. Cayman NEEDS better candidates and a party that actually seeks to protect CAYMAN and Caymanian people – instead of building 10-story laundromats on the shore.
This problem goes back at least 40 years. Many of those properties are older and should never have been built so close to shore and we are now paying the price.
@9:57:
This goes back wayyy further than Mac and company. I recall warning Messrs. Jim, Haig, Truman, Vassel, Benson, Linford, Kenneth, (Capts.)Charles and Keith, and a host of others, including developers and land owners, AND architects(!) that building structures too close to the sea, and building seawalls along the beach, would promote erosion and inhibit the beach from ever replenishing eroded sand. I was met with deaf ears, inaction, and occasionally, outright derision, only a very precious few stakeholders further researched the issue and agreed with me. All I have to say now to the idiots who allowed this, designed this, and who built stupidly is: Tek dat! I tole ya so!
I would start by suing the architects if they were so incompetent that they did not know or advise clients that structures promote erosion.
Where you have officials taking money from the developers, laws and ordinances will be overlooked. Money is the root of all evil!
Corrction. It’s the love of money that’s root of evil and there many especially in politics who have that love.
Correction. It’s the love of money that’s root of evil and there are many especially in politics who have that love.
Landholders like Dart have enough money and assets to clear dilapidated structures like Royal Palms. If they actually cared about this island an not just their bottom line the area would be cleared of concrete, with a natural green space and shore holding plants/shrubs trees being used to help maintain the beach line without the hard edges of concrete sea walls bouncing the force of the waves, and the sand they deposit, outwards..
Unfortunately we have left this far too long. But,
They say the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, second best time is today.
Cayman be ready in 2 years to vote for candidates who are ready ad willing to enforce protection of most calued assets, not to mention our literal national security in terms of coastal erosion.
Royal Palms is a disgrace. It actually feels like deliberate environmental vandalism at this point. I’m generally supportive of Dart’s developments but Palms is an affront to Dart’s responsibilities as a developer and common decency.
It always amazes me that people think DART can do no wrong. Look at Britannia, a total eyesore deliberately left that way to try to force the condo owners to give up claims to beach access, etc. Remember the Holiday Inn before Kimpton and all that ensued before that. The group make their money from vulture funding and styrofoam. Hardly the bastions of virtue. If you are shocked that Dart leaves Royal Palms to rot, i have some imported four mile beach sand to sell you…
Come forward to current times: Dart has had no involvement in the original ‘cup business’ for many years. Current criticism is valid, but get your information accurate. Posting known nonsense does your argument no help.
still made his money off it. still acting unscrupulously here
Darbot crie ;(
Sorry to disappoint – I’m not a Dart fan. But you’ll need actual brain cells to refute facts.
The DARTBOTS have returned trying to defend the indefensible KENNETH DART.
It’s is always about KENNETH DART and his greedy objectives endured by the politicians he owns.
According to Sir Alden Royal Palms is to be the site for DART’s iconic 75 storey Caribbean Building to rival the massive Dubai building.
1:24, Absolutely not true. You need to get your facts correct and stop being non sensical.
Please Google Dart Container and look at the Wikipedia site. It clearly says there that Solo Cup is a subsidiary company of Dart Container.
Get your facts straight before you go on this site.
You mean the solo cup producer? Why would anyone who produces non-biodegradable products care about the environment?
Why would any small island who allows non-biodegradable products be used care about their environment, or to fix their dump, or to protect it’s reefs and mangroves, or limit construction too close to the shore, or ignore recommendations on protecting it heritage?????????????? Look in the mirror!
@1:28:
Look in the mirror…
Do all the plastic products and items with plastic parts that you buy and use either have biodegradable plastic or you recycle or you otherwise ensure that they are properly disposed of? You are 100% in control of that. (Yeah, there is that, huh?)
You are one of those that uses the woke “biodegradable” products without reading the fine print I’m sure.
Calicos too.
Lucky we have Jackie offering acre for acre of developed land in green space ,fear not.
Royal Palms, the old Hyatt, all just left and the government won’t do anything about it? How about you can’t build anything new until you clean up your old mess?
“Really, it’s everyone’s problem now.”
F Off on the horse you rode in on.
Unnah and the greedy developers created this problem yet we have to fix it?
Was this interview conducted from a 7th floor penthouse?
To even suggest that the country bails out the condo owners on SMB? Seriously?! Ever heard of ‘buyer beware’???
You buy waterfront property in a hurricane belt, you don’t have to be a genius to understand the risks. Recently that condo in Regal Beach that is always on the news after storms got SOLD for $MILLIONS!! People are absolutely nuts.
Buyer beware. ANd how about we just STOP granting permission to anything new being built on the ocean side of existing coastal roads?
I’d not want to see the insurance increases coming!
They are all for the free market when it benefits them. God forbid they face the consequences of their actions.
Moratorium on shorebuilds NOW
Wishful thinking. I actually agree, but if that construction stops, kiss away gov’t funding for many Caymanians that are paid to do nothing, as well as many construction jobs that by their existance support many Cayman families. Be careful of what you wish for.
Have Treasure Island/Margarita Ville or whatever it’s called these days remove the groyne’s they have constructed for a start. The erosion has only gotten worse since that was built.
Look north and south of those, apparently you don’t notice the sand. This is not the same as flat, solid walls. The TI/Sunset Coast groynes are not a problem. Waves go over them, through them. Having a solid wall is a huge well-known problem.
Actually, you are completely wrong. The rocks there are laid with large gaps for water flow in and out. Look at the concrete walls further north for erosion causes.
This whining is pathetic. Developers should not spend thousands on litigation fighting the government to put structures on the beaches or over the water and then still expect government to fix their damn problems. Enough of the hypocrisy.
Rich developers and owners get together with your millions and figure out some real solutions that don’t involve hard structures or further damage to the environment. Climate change is real and a short-term fix is money down the drain.
And people, vote for those who really want to protect the country. These dartbots are waiting to pounce in two years. Don’t sell out!
Moratorium on new shorebuilds NOW
Great, sink our economy and jobs.
Darbot crie ;(
Actually NOT – Troll! Try another pathetic excuse for logic.
No more Ecoside!
This whining is pathetic. Developers should not spend thousands on litigation fighting the government to put structures on the beaches or over the water and then still expect government to fix their damn problems. Enough of the hypocrisy.
Rich developers and owners get together with your millions and figure out some real solutions that don’t involve hard structures or further damage to the environment. Climate change is real and a short-term fix is money down the drain.
And people, vote for those who really want to protect the country. These dartbots are waiting to pounce in two years. Don’t sell out!
I remember clearly when the Marriott was built. They surveyed the beach just after we had recently experienced a storm and the beach was at historic (never before seen) depth and they built the hotel far out into the dynamic range of the beach. Anyone in the know could have told you that this was a disaster waiting to happen. Planning and DOE will undoubtedly have the aerial photography to prove this case. Well the greedy developer ignored common sense and grabbed as much land as they could. Now Mother Nature has taken it back and as long as there is a concrete wall there – she is not going to give it back. I also think the “cove” in front of Treasure Island has messed up the hydrodynamics on the beach. That needs to go first thing.
I remember Ezzard and some others telling the developers they were building too close to the sea. They ignored the advise! Now they want the public to pay to dump sand on the eroding beach – which will be washed out in no time!
The Marriott, and half the structures in the area, appear to have been built too close to the sea and IN BREACH of the regulations in place, even then. None appear to have even attempted to plant local vegetation (sea grape, coco-plum) to mitigate damage. None should benefit from public funds to fix their beach, especially as any fix now will not survive the next storm. They destroyed OUR beach.
The beach down that end used to be >100ft wide in the 1990s, with a row of thatch pagodas, then the walls were built, and the sand has been excavated by wave action and flushed off the west wall. Probably a really nice beach down at 1000ft…might even be a pagoda or two!
‘They’ destroyed our beach) and so much more) with the approval of ‘’Our’ CPA. The older and wise politicians provided us with Laws that would have protected our beach if the younger and unwise had obeyed them.
And who approved it all? CAYMANIANS!
Nope. Canadians, for the most part, actually. With some British and Jamaican oversight. The only Caymanian directly involved was Ezzard, and he was doing all he could to try to stop it.
False! Prove your comment or remain silent. I suspect Canadians were not Cayman’s Ministers back in the day. Sheesh…
Caymanians have to blame someone for their self induced problems.
Who better than Canadians?
Especially since THEY dominated the planning department.
8:29, Yes, and their planning advice was 9 times out of 10 rejected by their Caymanian political masters.
3:46,
😂 😆 😝
Blame Canada. Source of all our problems here.
😂 😆 😝
Canadians can’t even vote here although many have lived on islands for more than 20 years.
Blame them for electing McKeeva too in West Bay.
The developers, greed, and corruption in planning f***** around and are now finding out, – not much else to say really 🌊⛱
The are several steps to be taken:
1) change Seven Mile Beach name to Four Mile Beach. Big advertisement and promotions. South hotels like Marriott can charge $80?a night instead of $400+ insanity
2) Dart remove the beloved Royal Palms and build a resort further back like the Kimpton but a discount version catered for a younger less affluent crowd but has a nice beach club party scene.
3) Approve 15 story high rises on the east side of West Bay Road offering spectacular panorama views across Grand Cayman
4) Marriott can fork over the bill to drop more sand. If they can charge KYD20 for a shot of tequila at their lobby bar then they can pay for beach replenishment.
5) Cayman politicians approve casinos being built on Kaboo grounds.
6) for the environmental nuts build a monorail system that runs from Kaboo to Camana Bay to George Town to Airport and Hurleys. Free of charge paid by Government and advertisement. Will reduce the bottleneck traffic jams on the streets and drunk driving.
I bet you thought you sounded smart writing this.
opposite effect has been achieved.
a bet you thought you were astute with your peckerhead speculation. sorry princess but the vast majority of my postings are for entertainment and humor after reading the latest on what’s going in Cayman.My apology I didn’t include KFC in the solutions list.
You’re not being helpful then – please go away.
“Entertainment” ?
Don’t quit your day job.
6:18, No 15 storey buildings. 10 storeys is enough.
It is still very profitable with 10 storey buildings. We don’t need South Miami Beach here.
Marriott is $600 a night along with Hampton. Locale is $400. All should be under $100.
All the experts are now hard at work on their opinions, I visited a beach of my childhood that was like two football fields away from the sea, no house built in the area and the sea is up to the grape trees we eat from. I am no expert however, from looking at the issue of beach dynamics, structures seemingly plays a part but there are other factors that should be given equal consideration or we lack the balance needed to really address the sand issues.🤷🏻♂️🙆🏽♂️
Did Ian cause damage to FIN?
Hope so
Cayman was praying…..
Some of the decisions made during the construction of Fin may have resulted in it being at risk of storm damage.
– The sea facing wall was constructed below the shoreline.
– The salt water lagoon channels storm waves direct to the base of the building
– The sea facing wall is built on soft ground. The so called ‘ironshore’ consists of porous and soft fossilised coral.
They are good points and should be of concern. Longevity may not have been the primary goal at Fin. Check for cracks at the bottom of the wall/ground facing the sea.
This whole area needs to be master planned and redeveloped with old owners given a choice a new piece of property or a payout. The undertaking should be done by a private developer – unfortunately I think Dart is the only one with deep enough pockets to do a project of this scale. Government should offer a duty concession for materials and waive stamp duty for current owners.
3:20am you should have put the drink down and gone to bed before writing this.
You may not respect or like Dart, but there is truth in what 3:20 said.
Don’t make the public pay for the rich just to have their million-dollar beach.
This was known from the 70s and 80s but we kept selling the beachfront to developers and they kept building on it with no consideration for the environment.
“Can’t continue another year said Wayne”, This has been going on since Wayne was a child.
Owning property on the beach has its risks. On basis that the owners were not sharing the benefits of the rentals with the people of Cayman, I say let them pay for any beach replenishment.
That’s not exactly true. All tourists rentals, including condos, pay a tourism tax to the government.
Not AirBnbs, because government is too idle to track them down.
Should have kept the set back limits, guess we learn from our mistakes!!
Sadly, we don’t. Caymanians will continue to screw over Caymanians.
Sadly, we don’t. Caymanians will continue to screw over Caymanians.
Did we have a storm?
No. Not really. Imagine how much worse it would have been if there was though, which I think might be your point, clearly being missed by many.
Those hotels should all wash into the ocean. They should have not been built so close to the ocean!
Now they have screwed up our beautiful seven mile beach that we had, which we don’t have anymore.
They think Government should help them with the problem that they caused! SMH.
Draft the legislation.
“The foolish man built his house upon the sand!” Mine is built on solid ground. Don’t expect me to pay for him to move his house.
No problem as the properties go into the sea with climate change, the insurance companies will pick up the tab. They will have to knockdown the properties and put it back to what it was before.
Now about those tourists, Build the dock. Then Government can add sand when we need it. Open 7 mile beach to leasing bars and large pools plus restaurants, etc, etc .
umm, you know we’ll end up paying too if insurance pays out right???
Soon we will not be able to get insurance here after the $50 billion of insurance claims in Florida due to Hurricane Ian.
Home insurance will not be financially sustainable for the insurance industry very soon with climate change.
By loss of tourists to the island you mean loss of tourists to the Westin
Why can’t Mr. Dart complete the replenishment?
The simplest solution to the problem is to put a lot of sand in front of the Marriot, Regal Beach, and other nearby locations. By a lot of sand, I mean 100 feet or more of sand to make the beach just like the beach near the Westin. This will solve the problem of waves hitting the seawalls, because the seawalls will essentially be underneath the sand once the sloped beach is built back. In addition, there will be a natural slope for waves to run up. The cost of this is not so much relative to the value to Cayman. There will be an annual associated cost as well, to top up locations that need it. Perhaps this could be paid by a separate tax on waterfront properties, or perhaps through the public purse. The easiest way to get the sand in is to bring in barges of washed sand and pump it directly into the sea in front of the beach, similar to what was done at Cayman Kai years ago.
One of the central problems with the erosion is that there is just not enough sand in the Seven Mile Beach basin. Parrotfish can only produce so much sand every year, and the wave action at the shore will only produce a certain amount. Large storms, principally hurricanes, have the potential of taking the sand right out of the bay, and it needs to be replenished somehow.
Managed retreat is just impossible. There isn’t enough space between the sea and the road and eventually the sea will erode a substantial amount of the existing land. The coastline has been eroding for a long time already on Seven Mile Beach – there are tree roots 50 feet out or more in front of the public beach and several other locations.
The hotels profit from their property, I get that… They should PAY for the upkeep of their asset! Don’t want to maintain their asset – shouldn’t have bought it. Beach erosion is an understood concept; don’t ask for assistance unless you want to pay it back from increased revenues.
I fail to see much value to Cayman from Marriot or Regal Beach and by extention why the rest of us should have to pay to replace their beach.
Brilliant! I suppose you don’t see much advantage from all the financial services offered by Cayman either. Maybe you should go talk to one of the older Caymanians, who had to go to sea to make a living (talk about a rough job).
Now if you had mentioned that there should be no hard structures on the west side of SMB – that would be managed retreat
This would make sense in that particular area where hard structures are simply too close to the sea.
Dumping loads of sand?
You must be taking the piss😂😂😂😂
Perhaps the most ludicrous suggestion ever – obviously you never saw the south end of the beach in the 70’s. I lived there for five years – half a dozen bungalows spread out on a wide site just south of where the Marriott stands. Nothing either side for 400 yards but bush – 150 feet of sand to the waterline – not a sea wall in sight. Even in the biggest storms the waves ran up the slope and as they lost their energy and slowly retreat leaving behind sand they had carried up – any that got over the crest at the top of the beach spread out into the bush, drained into the ground and eventually back out to sea. Yes – there were underground channels running out under the beach.
All the way up the beach the old hotels, private houses – yes PRIVATE houses, and the first of the condos – no sea walls and all set right back off the beach.
There is no pleasure in saying that much of Seven Mile Beach is, or will be ruined for ever. Even if a structural solution could be found the cost, like moving existing structures would be prohibitive.
Sadly the developers and successive governments dug a grave for themselves, and the island , because it was easy money…
Wife and I first visited in 1984 (Royal Palms hotel before it burned-down; actually dove with Don Foster) – your comments are spot on. I cry for what Cayman has allowed itself to become. Inscrutable developers are everywhere, and will push the limits as much as they are allowed – but Caymanians could have prevented much of the current mess.
This is nonsense. If you are to define a seawall as a hard structure, then every building on Seven Mile Beach is a seawall. Clearly, the beach is still in front of the Westin, despite the Westin itself being a giant “seawall”. The reason the Westin building is not a problem is that there is 150 feet of beach in front of it. This can be duplicated relatively easily in front of the Marriot, Plantation Village and Regal Beach. It only requires buying a lot of sand, one of the cheapest commodities in the world. The only cost is in transporting and cleaning it. If an offshore sand bank could be found then it could be dredged right up.
Ummm, Westin can be replenished from The North AND South. Marriott, only from the North (except for the fact that the Turner house prevents even that).
Poopie, you wrote the nonsense after being late to the party.
Of course, the sensible writers here understand that hard structures include buildings, parking lots, pools, etc.
Hard structures are any built/man-made structure that blocks natural wave action which brings sand up the beach slope and deposits that sand on its way down the slope.
Christ, don’t you understand that as yet?
What a load of drivel – typical know all “Johnny cum lately” – still wet behind the ears in terms of understanding the dynamics of 7MB.
Cancun replenished their beach. Check you tube.
putting sand in front wont solve the problem.it will get washed away. because the structures are built too close to the ocean the sand will get washed out especially in stormy weather
You all had big beaches until you put sea walls on your big beaches.
Look at the properties without sea walls on the Northern end of SMB: they all still have beaches.
Your big problem is that now the public own your beachfront condos as they are below the high water mark.
If you are unable to come together to manage a retreat from the shoreline, these properties should be written off, turned over to the Cayman Islands people, and all structures removed in order for the beach to regenerate itself.
Many of the northern properties do have seawalls. You cannot see them because they are buried by the sand, and there is 100 feet of sand in front of them. If the same conditions were created in front of Regal Beach, or the Marriot, the sea walls would not be visible, and there would be more beach for everyone to enjoy.
The problem with the idea that the beach will magically regenerate itself without seawalls is that it might not regenerate itself. The coastline might simply erode in further. There is a strong argument that we need to rebuild the beach further out, and this does not require anything else but buying a lot of sand and putting it there. If people feel that the landowners are the fault, then perhaps there should be some sort of fee on waterfront properties for beach replenishment and management.
lol. That should give you just enough time to sell your condo.
Your comments do not pass the logic test.
Best option is to let Mother Nature take control and wash these places down, then we can only let them rebuild with a proper setback; that is if you keep IP and the CPA out of it.
It really annoys me when the Marriott says they have no room. Drop the pool deck and reform your silly lagoon into a pool and you will be fine.
They have disproportionately contributed to a large part of this problem and then have the audacity to act like we all near to bear the cost of bailing them out so their business won’t suffer. Acting like their job losses will be a threat to our economy – lockdown well proved that veiled threat is a farce.
They need to step up, make necessary changes to preserve the potential beach space, and chalk it up to piss poor decision making they undertook in the past.
Erosion has been caused by the CPA allowing all those hotels and condos to build structures on the beach into the sea. The CPA gives the locals a hard time whenever they try to build but the rich and famous are allowed to do whatever they want.
The answer to the erosion is, remove the structures and let the beach replenish on its own. High walls to keep locals out has proven a great success for the developers.
Only in these Cayman Islands this could happen.
I remember when the Marriott was under construction, Ezzard Miller , as usual the only one with guts, went to the site to complain that setbacks had not been met.
He was verbally abused on site and no further action was taken.
We need Ezzard back in parliament to deal with so many of these turn a blind eye issues.
So Ezzard can push through his so-called farm roads in NS?
good bye paradise
Good bye paradise and hello Jamaica.
Thanks to Mac, Saunders, Kenneth, Seymour, Jay.
Lol! That shipped sailed a loooonnngg time ago. Unna ain’t coming back neither.
Plenty of money to fix the problems of the wealthy, while the minimum wage people on the island are suffering.
Christianity ? My a$$
Cayman hides behind the church. As has been the case for 2,000 yrs.
disguting and insulting trolls the both of you. don’t respect our Christian beliefs and heritage, leave. we don’t need you here. go back to your homeland and enjoy yourselves there.
Sorry to disappoint – A 4’th generation Caymanian who is repulsed by our false Christian beliefs. You sit in the pews, say your prayers, then step outside and revert into the unchristian practices so reviled inside of the church.
Look up the countries in the world where you will find the highest standard of living, education, welfare and healthcare.
Then compare that with the percentage of people in these countries that have no belief system.
See the light ?
Your belief is what was told to you.
Unfortunately you were not able to use your own brain and think.
If you were born in Pakistan, you would praise allah, in India you would be hindu, in the western world you end up christian.
Still don’t see it ?
Read up on the history of organized religion and you will find that 5000 years ago larger cities and communities emerged and population needed to be controlled ny laws. What better than a hell to threaten with if you don’t follow the rules. Therefor churches came in place.
To control YOU and your fellow believers.
Unfortunately because of people like you, we have wars, hate, poverty and misery.
Still don’t see it ? Well than you are an idiot.
disgusting and insulting truth, you mean?
Let the developers pay the bill, since they caused the trouble, and benefit from a beach.
21 million ? A friend of mine has diabetes and the insurance does not want to pay the medicines, east hospital drains her wallet by doing unnecessary tests, since they are in it for the money.
She is not alone in this situation.
What a fucked up christian place this is.
Cayman is not Christian – it is pure capitalist – how to make money.
Whatever it really is, there is a distinct preoccupation with the most self-affirming vengeful Abrahamic verse from the Old Testament…written a millennium or more before the birth of Christ and His Golden Rule. With over 200+ registered churches, there are shockingly few community good deeds and lessons to read about, or learn from. No shortage of hardships.
I’m not making the connection.
What do our esteemed MP’s and senior civil servants have to say about that? Those clowns could care less about the seniors since they have a nice safety net for themselves. Was told the option is to let old people just pass on and that way it will alleviate the burden on the rest of the population. That is the Christian way!
The foolish man built his house upon the sand.
A ignorant man builds his house upon an island swamp then looks around to see if anyone is more foolish than them.
But he always finds the more foolish one and then makes a profit and leaves!
All made possible by a corrupt and/or inept civil service that refused to enforce laws and regulations against “certain” people and interests.
The high watermark used to be the natural vegetation line.
Check history.
It was not corrupt or inept civil servants that changed that regulation.
Yes it was. They typed and printed them, and failed to advise of the implications.
And the cancerous POS that was in power then is still in power today.
What? You want them to mess up their gravy train? You must be a delusional person, this is the Cayman Islands!