Seven Mile Beach bar closes blaming eroded beach
(CNS): Coral Beach bar, situated on Dart-owned land in the heart of Grand Cayman’s Seven Mile Beach, will close at the end of this month, owners have said, largely as a result of the significant beach erosion in the area. Since the owners, Crown Jewel, leased the site from the Dart Group, the bar has mostly catered to cruise tourist passengers, charging them to use what were once beachfront facilities. But with the loss of the beach, the venue will now close on 31 January.
“This decision comes after a prolonged period of environmental challenges, including ongoing beach
erosion, diminished beach access and the demolition of the main bar building due to storm damage
which have significantly impacted the ability to deliver a pleasing beach experience that guests to
Seven Mile Beach deserve,” the owners, one of which includes the veteran West Bay MP McKeeva Bush’s son, stated in a press release.
They added that with no beachfront, the safety, convenience and comfort of guests have been compromised, and the erosion has complicated seating, water activities and accessibility.
Managing Director Kenny Rankin said the decision would affect employees, trusted suppliers, service providers and the local artisans who have been integral to the operations.
“To them, we extend our heartfelt gratitude and appreciation,” he stated but did not indicate how many Caymanians were employed on site, if any. “To our loyal visitors and industry partners, thank you for allowing us to be a part of your Cayman experience. It has been our privilege to host you, and the cherished memories created at Coral Beach will live on beyond our closing.”
With access to the shore still being blocked by owners, the closure of locations catering to cruise visitors and those not staying in beachfront condos, combined with the recent worsening beach erosion, is making Cayman’s once prime attraction almost impossible to access and putting enormous pressure on Public Beach and Governor’s Beach, two of the few areas that remain accessible.
Over the holidays, Seven Mile Public Beach has been packed beyond capacity with visitors looking for a spot, and loungers and sun umbrellas crammed along the shoreline covering every inch of sand. Added to that, beach vendors now ply their trade, both legally and illegally, at the location, changing it beyond recognition.
Given this mounting problem, the current government is still attempting to steer legislation through parliament later this month to pave the way for a referendum seeking support from the public to develop cruise berthing facilities. But as Cayman loses its famous beach to developers and erosion, any increase in cruise passenger numbers raises the question of where these visitors will go.
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Category: Local News
Piers will add thousands, not just to GeorgeTown, but also to the already overcrowded higgler beaches .
Should do some ground radar for the bodies buried under the thing. Might pop down with my metal detector.
If you were here in the 60s you know.
Look at those 2 big lots, Royal Palms and Coral beach, I see a high rise going in there. Good thing though, they can set it back, so the beach will be there for the customers.
Where will our elected members go now to punch bar staff?
Cruise passengers and rental business should be banned from cruise ship beach…I mean public beach! Absolutely ridiculous!
Coral Beach Bar was a minor peripheral hub compared to Royal Palms Beach Club 💃🏻 🍹
It’s amazing the condos on south side Seven Mille like Laguna Del Mar, Cayman Reef Resort and Regal Beach Club haven’t gone down in price now that there is literally ZERO beach there anyone.
Ultimately, many won’t even care the beach is gone in the location, other than the local population that has used it for generations.
The newcomers to Cayman come here for reasons other than 7 mile beach. Cruise passengers are here for a few hours, so who cares if they get crammed onto a strip of sand>?
The Realtors will change their spin from ‘Beach Front’ to
‘ Absolute Ocean View ‘. Most won’t notice the spin direction change.
Some good points but expats definitely appreciate SMB like everyone else… locals and tourists. SMB is stunning
South side condos on Seven Mile should still drop in price now with zero beach 🏝️regardless of realtor’s crafty jargon
lease? ha ha ha…
Charging people to use the beach? Serves you right
First decent Nor-westah of 2025 should give the place a decent cleaning.
don’t believe the lame excuses. it was run into the ground by the people running it and hampered by some of the worst customer service on smb….
Why would DART be in business with some of those people?
Have you ever looked into how Dart makes its money? The guy holds entire countries to ransom over debt deals. He doesn’t care about the morals of Kenny Rankin!
Should be mandated to tear down that sea wall. Nature will replenish that area of beach later this year if this is done.
All the rest have to go for that to happen, not just one.
At least we’ll have the memories. The CCTV footage of a drunken member of parliament. Ah, good times.
I like the way they acknowledge the challenges without making the link as to why this erosion may have occurred.
There is no barrier, no wall nor anyone that can stop the sea, it will make a way where there is no way! Stop fighting it and go with the flow!
There sea wall might have something to do with it….
It doesn’t.
The wall had been there for 40 years….
Let’s build a cruise ship dock so everyone can be sent to the same tiny strip of beach! Yay!
Soon, the whole beach will be gone, which will be the beginning of the end for Cayman.
Let’s build a Cruise ship facility so that 1.2 million people who come to the Cayman Islands have infrastructure. We have an industry since 1937 and have no shelter from rain or sunshine and can stand in a line for over 45 minutes. How primitive and barbaric with no thought for elderly people with hardly enough somewhere to sit down while using a walker. What about mothers or fathers that have children? I hope you all are put through the same abuse. You all have no empathy for your fellow human beings. What a disgrace to try to make people believe that an island as big as Grand Cayman doesn’t have enough beaches?? Whats wrong with the religious educated youth of today? We can find beaches in the Eastern districts. We have over 400 high school leavers coming out of school every year. There will be jobs for them that AI can’t do, think!!
What????
Ever been to Charlotte Airport? You’ll be waiting much longer.
Put the pipe down mate.
Sure it closed due to eroding beach. Absolutely nothing to do with rebuilding on the Palms property next door.
That entire lot of land and its wall is responsible for a lot of the erosion in the first place
When will we start pumping the sand back onto the beach???
Dart should open up Tiki Beach
Dart didn’t want cruise ship passengers near his hotel guests.
Doesn’t have any problem with the Higgla’s and sh*t show at Public Beach for some strange reason……2 hotels that you can throw a stone from……Public beach is going to be taken over by DART, our Govt is currently figuring out where to move everybody.
They want to take all 12K daily cruise passengers to Smith Cove!
Let Kenny put them at the fish market. Yummy Ganga smoked fish.
Smith Cove is also a shadow of what it once was. It’s now a scruffy mess.
Smith Cove is still under the original covenants of “NO business transactions allowed”
thank goodness they thought about that many years ago and it will be the one place that remains pristine! Any environmental lawyers out there brush up on your homework because Smith Barcadere certainly has the greedy politicians eyeing it once again?
You should open a beach bar.
That place had to close. When there was beach there it was a nice little unpretentious spot. But now it is basically a small mini-cliff into the water!
It became unusable and basically an embarrassment to us in the minds of tourists.