Karaoke time (budding "Barefoots")

Leona, our new activities director, has decided to stretch her abilities (or her vocal cords, to be precise) by running Karaoke nights at the beach bar on Wednesday nights.

Last night there was a good crowd, but it seems the parents were too shy and the kids took the mike... too cute !

Cogratulations to Barefoot Man !

Barefoot Man was never going to let Ivan keep him down, so congrats go out to him, as after playing his regular Tuesday night "gig" with us this week, he is taking a week or so off to move back into his house, which had to be totally rebuilt after Ivan.

Here is an article Barefoot wrote that we sent out in our Feb '05 newsletter from The Reef :

AFTER "IVAN" FOOTNOTES.... by Barefoot Man

The wise old Caymanians say the last big one passed this way in 1932 so I knew it was going to happen again one day , it was just a matter of time. My beach house was so close to the sea I could sit on my deck ( that was connected to my living room) with a margarita in one hand and a fishing line in the other...and believe it or not....actually catch fish. I'd often pinch myself and thank the Tiki God's for giving me such a lovely Island and spot to live. I am a bit of a recluse, but the few guests I've had at my house would always comment on the breathtaking view of the sea and reef exploding white foam in the distance. I would proudly agree with my guests .... yet always remind them , "Sure it's a fantastic location..... until the big one comes" . On September 11th the big blow came... when I saw on the weather channel that IVAN has made a detour under Jamaica....I knew it was time to pack up. My wife and daughters scrambled about boxing up photo albums , documents and canned food. I fastened down the hurricane shutters , my boat and guitars....and then we hit the road and moved inland to a friends house in the Georgetown. It wasn't till three days later that I made it back to Breakers ... It was impossible to drive past the Bodden Town police station , no road was visible , only coral rocks , mounds of sand , coconut trees ripped from the earth and snuffed-out cars squashed like beer cans. From Bodden Town I hiked... The sky was still a nasty gray and the sea was still boiling - destruction was everywhere. I knew what lay ahead... I knew my home was gone. Though I was mind set for the worst , the word "unbelievable" can not describe what IVAN did to my property and home... the steel reinforced concrete building was ground up as if someone put my house in a blender and pressed the " chop" button. Entire walls of my daughters bedroom were now in my pool... all that was left of my boat was an aluminum cleat hanging from the limb of a leafless, dead tree.... my fridge , furniture , computers , TV's , stereo and the only pair of shoes I owned where nowhere to be seen. With the exception of a few kitchen walls that held up a small second story room....all was gone. IVAN literally decapitated my house from its foundation. "Oh well such is life in the tropics..." At the sight of it all I said to my teary eyed wife "there's a song there". She didn't appreciate my humor, however about 5 weeks later I released the song IVAN and the Radio stations wouldn't stop spinning it. Over the Christmas holidays we quickly sold a thousand copies in a few weeks and recently the proceeds from this were handed over to the National Hurricane Relieve Fund. In spite of IVAN the terrible, Cayman has been good to me so I wanted to do my part to help. With great surprise in early December I received a call from PHIL McGuire , food and beverage director at The Reef, who told me that he was ready for us to start up performing again. I was flabbergasted at the repair and remodeling work that Mr. Lawrence, Phil and The Reef staff had accomplished . Myself and Chuck started back performing at Castro's on December 21st and continue to do so every Tuesday and Thursday nights. This will be my 4th season at The Reef Resort and we are prepared for quieter Barefoot Nights for a while , not the packed sold out evenings of the past..... however.... that's all temporary, I am convinced soon all will be back to normal... and even better. There are a few things that IVAN did not and could not take away... like all the necessities for great Cayman vacation.... sun , sand , sea and top-notch diving. So pack your toothbrush and two piece and head south.... If the wise old Caymanians are right ( and they usually are) we have at least another 75 years before another big blow ....... see you at Castro's.

Youngster helps cancer society

A great story in the Cayman Compass today about a nine year old foregoing birthday presents at his party and so giving CI$500 to the Cancer Society.

Cayman is a small community, and so the story behind the story is often even better. Sam Whitney's mum is Laura, the owner of Fitness Connection , an island institution, and where the flying fish (my three boys) all learned to swim... starting before 6 months of age. In fact, as I type this, Grandma is taking my 20 month old youngest to his swimming lesson there.

Laura (Sam's mum) not only runs a great business, but is also very involved in the community in many areas, and this must have rubbed off on young Sam.

Now, to make the story even better, Chris Sanders, who runs the Cancer Society here in Cayman, was for many years Laura's "right hand" at Fitness Connection and is pretty much Sam's "Auntie Chris", making this a real "feel good" story.

You know, I really love this island, there is no place like it !

Hurricane Ivan repairs - ugh !

Ok... I worked frantically to get my family back into my condo by the end of January after over 4 months out of the country... and now, in late June, we've pretty much got used to things being almost normal.

I got all the interior stuff done, but the Strata (ie condo association) took a long time to get insurance and construction issues sorted out, so they have only just now got around to their exterior work, the main thing being ripping out and replacing all doors, windows and sliding doors on the ground floor.

Anyway, it was scheduled, but nonetheless disurptive... 7am this morning a highly organised and large crew appeared at the house and by 7:30am had ripped out the Front Door and an 8' Patio sliding door... then, this being rainy season, a stormcloud descended.... ugh.

It has stopped raining now, but I am here at work and just hoping that they at least get me "dried in" by tonight !

Should have some pictures, will put them up once I have finished cleaning the dust off everything... hopefully it won't take more than... a few days !

Stars and Secret Ingredients

Just had the digital camera out around the resort.

First of all, congrats to our latest "star employee" award winner, Curt Weston. Visitors to The Reef will not see Weston unless anything goes wrong with the engineering around the place, but trust me, he has done a marvellous job since we re-opened of fixing the various things that seemed to mysteriously go wrong after our post-Ivan renovations... I guess not so much a mystery as to be expected that we don't catch absolutely everything the first time around after such a huge amount of salt spray flew around the place... but whatever went wrong, Weston (as he is nicknamed) has worked tirelessly to fix it.

Now, if you come and visit The Reef soon, make sure not to park in the parking space nearest the building... the special spot marked in yellow is not for me as resort chief cook and bottlewasher, it is for the current "star employee".

Congrats, Weston !


Secondly, Phil "the thrill" Maguire (calm down, ladies!) is in the middle of revamping the "Dining at Castro's section" of our website (soon come!), and we wants to make sure that he reveals our secret ingredient that goes into all our meals... the kitchen staff !

Graceful dismount... not !

As a follow up to the "Big Boys Birthday party" post over the weekend, I'm still in much pain from the "wipeouts". Although the whole gizmo is well padded, the bodyboard was not, plus it felt a bit like being flushed down a storm drain (I think!)

Anyway, a friend emailed me this photo...enjoy !

Caribbean Travel and Life - "All's Clear Grand Cayman"

No online link to this article (but it is well worth subscribing to this magazine, it is a fun read and the only magazine focussed on vacationing in the Caribbean), but just received today the July/August issue of Caribbean Travel and Life magazine, there is a big article by their Editor in Chief, Bob Friel, documenting the awesome recovery of Grand Cayman from "Ivan de Terrible".

When he was here a couple of months ago to do this piece, I spent a most enjoyable couple of hours with Bob sipping mudslides (tough job sometimes !) and discussing our story (ie how The Reef recovered... see other blog today).

Anyway, he saved the best to last in his 12 page article. The following three paragraphs close out the piece :

I fine the perfect example of the Caymanian's positive attitude when I stop at The Reef Resort, an east-end operation painted the color of sunrise that rises over the fringing reef just off its sandy beach. The property sustained $7 million in damage, but the local owners didn't even wait for the insurance adjuster. They rebuilt and repaired and are going full-steam ahead with new condos, which they expect to sell out during preconstruction.

The Barefoot Man - who was the island's favourite entertainer long before I got here (note : Bob Friel was a divemaster in Cayman 20 years ago..Barefoot has been here a while !) - now plays exclusively at the Reef Resort's Castro's Hideaway, and as the resort's general manager, Tom McCallum (note : that would actually be the inestimable Mr. Lawrence Haughton...I'm just the guy in the back office :)) and I listen to Barefoot's latest hit, "Ivan", I say that as far as I can see, the only concession they've made to the Storm is the new bar we're drinking at. It's made of poured concrete - what looks like several tons of it. If ever another storm approaches Grand Cayman and I happen to be on the island, I just may strap myself and my bottle of rum to this bar and watch it hit.

But as far as everyone on Grand Cayman is concerned, there's little chance of that happening. The storm of the century has come and gone. And it's only 2005 : They have a calm, clear 95 years to look forward to before they'll have to worry about what's lurking in the southern skies.

Well.. to be honest you never know when the next one will come, although Ivan was the first major storm to hit Grand Cayman since records begain in 1851. Our group of companies fared admirably with Ivan, but we are not resting on that, we have hired Marsh as risk consultants to help us fine tune our disaster planning (and to hopefully help save some money on our group property insurance).

Also, The Reef has had a Hurricane Guarantee in place to safeguard our guest's vacation interests since before Ivan, and it is still in place, here. The chances of anyone's specific vacation being interrupted by a Hurricane is very slim... if you think about it, there were only a couple of thousand vacationers on island before Ivan came calling, out of several hundred thousand per year who come to our islands... and again that was the first major storm to hit us since the word "tourism" first entered the dictionary.

I think the Westin is the only other property in Cayman with a Hurricane Guarantee, although I hope others will follow suit soon !

Reef Resort receives rave reviews

Not my headline, but from the Caymanian Compass today.

Congratulations to Cliodhna McGowan (the journalist who wrote the story...and that is Clee-own-ah) on her alliterative headline writing skills.

I am really proud of all our staff at The Reef, but I am most happy that the words in teh story come from our owners and guests, not from myself or anyone else who works here at The Reef. Those of us who work here believe it to be a very special place, and I am so happy that those who own and stay here also feel the same way.

The article opens :

The Reef Resort’s quick recovery following Hurricane Ivan, prompt actions in keeping timeshare and condo owners up–to–date on its status, and its high quality and service have earned rave reviews from customers

Read the full article here

One small clarification... we weren't just the first resort with timeshares to re-open, we were the first resort to re-open after renovations... period. Credit where due :)

British Lions Rugby - a sad, sad joke

Well, it happened, the Lions got totally crushed by the All Blacks of New Zealand.

Scotland on Sunday had it right :

Future is All Black for outclassed pussy cats

Zinzan Brooke, ex All Black, launched a scathing attack on Sir Clive Woodward on the BBC Website here.

As he put it :

The All Blacks ran rings around the Lions and the result in Christchurch wasn't even close.

There were so many flaws in the Lions' team, but the buck stops with Clive Woodward, some of his team selections and the way he made them.

What happened here is nowhere near the level of fiasco that Formula 1 just faced last weekend at Indianapolis, but it damages the sport of Rugby, and the fine institution that is the Lions touring team, founded as it is on co-operation between four proud Rugby nations..... this time it was ludicrously biased, not just to English players, but to older players past their sell by date, picked by the coach based on "experience, not form".

Well, the Emperor truly has no clothes....

Stingray Swim Club Meet - fighting back from Ivan!

This weekend the Stingray Swim Club put on a full (four day) swim meet, sponsored by Progressive Distributors (so lots of Gatorade etc around... they distribute it!).

After Ivan the swim programme took months to recover, and with swimming being such an intensive sport that a few months off is something that many swimmers don't come back from.

Anyway, while numbers are still down on previous years, I would guess there were still about 60 swimmers involved (including those below, who were enticed to a photo at the end by the promise of free doughnuts!)

Full results and info on Cayman Swimming on the link to the right of this blog.

This summer we are sending our senior team to the Island Games in Shetland, in the very North of Scotland... a bit cold for our Caymanian kids, but at least the pool is indoors and heated (we hope!)

(BTW, one of the kids in there holding his cool "alien swimmer" bobble head doll trophy for "high point, boys, 10 and under" is the older one of my two "flying fish".... I'm a proud Dad!)

Oh, and for Mad Bull... make sure and get MB Jr signed up for the Learn to Swim at Lions Pool in September... it's a great programme, and free.... all kids should take advantage of it !

Big Boys Birthday Party !

Yesterday a good friend of mine had a birthday party... no, not one of those grown up dinners for couples etc... but instead he hired the wave pool at the Black Pearl Wave and Skate park from 4-5pm on Saturday.

I guess for most of us there our kids had tried the wave pool, and we had always been full of bravado but were never going to try it until Des invited us.

Must have been the first "boys birthday party" I'd been to for 25 years.... and although I was disappointed at the lack of goodie bags, jelly and ice cream (!), the wave pool was, in the words of The Fast Show..... BBRRIILLIAANNTT!!!!!!!!!!

(Mind you, am aching all over today!)

At night, we all went to Roland's Garden for dinner.. food was excellent, but Roland was a bit taken aback when 16 of us showed up for a reservation for 12... but there was plenty of food to go around. For those who don't know his place, he used to run Lighthouse restaurant, has now retired to his house in Cottage (near East End), has a BYOB place with no menu (he serves what he likes) and no prices (you leave him what you think the meal was worth!). Quite extraordinary... but anyway, food excellent, definitely worth a try !

Restaurant re-opening update

Following a request by email (please post requests by blog comment where possible, so everyone can see them :) )... a quick update, focussing on restaurants in our area.

• Castro's Hideaway - open (of course !)
• Portofino - open
• Roland's Garden - open. This is a unique experience... Roland is a unique guy, right down to the fact that he has no menu prices, he just asks people to pay what they think the meal was worth !
• Vivine's - open
• Kaibo - open - downstairs only for now, limited menu. Indies Suites owners might want to skip this place (sorry... not in good taste)
  
• Over the Edge - open, limited menu
• Rum Point - open during the day, main restaurant to open for winter season
• Lighthouse - per earlier blog post (with pictures), being renovated. Am awaiting an update from Giuseppe, but it looks to me to like sometime in the fall
• Morritts - latest update from their GM is that whilst they will re-open part of the resort in the early fall, the restaurant will not open until 2006... as they are making extensive renovations and upgrades.

Now, some other updates to answer some queries, heading into town from the East :

• The Edge / Palm Beach (Bodden Town) - destroyed and demolished... but at least there is now a gorgeous view across Pease Bay to Breakers !
• Domino's - opened again last week in Savannah, call 947-1188 to pick up pizza on the way back out from town.. another small step to returning normality !
  
• Dragon Garden (chinese) / Pizza Hut - both open next door to.......Durty Reids - open
• Castaways Grille - open. If you have not been to Cayman for a while, this is the new restaurant at Grand Harbour (where Hurleys supermarket is), next to the skateboard park and Davey Jones' Locker (sports bar)... they do great pizzas :)
• Crow's Nest - destroyed and now demolished.. a sad loss- Grand Old House - open

Some other favourites

• Bacchus - downtown, first restaurant to open after Ivan, so I have a soft spot for them. Keith and Frances (owners) are friends. They send their kids off the island, but got their restaurant re-opened, even though their house was trashed.. they even slept on the floor of the restaurant for some time. Keith is also a tremendous chef in his own right (for a time was the chef at Lighthouse, before opening his own place). Definitely worth a visit for an evening meal.
• Pappagallo - everyone knows this place... and we all love Vico, the owner... not to mention that our "luvverly" reservations manager, Lesley has her better half (Gerardo) working there... so Pappagallo is really an extension of The Reef "family"

In short.... most of the places our guests would eat at across the island are now back open, many with major improvements... a lot of local businesses took the opportunity afforded by the enforced extended closures to upgrade.

For more information, Cayman Restaurants has a full list of updates.

Fine Art at The Reef Resort

After some delays (some of our artists were very much "Ivanised") we have finally got off the ground with our much delayed art gallery.

Our lobby already has the "wow" factor of walking in through our entrance and looking through to the wide view of the Caribbean... but we decided that we could add to it by turning it into an art gallery, featuring artwork from local photographers and artists from the burgeoning local art scene.

This week we got started with Patrick Broderick , a Caymanian photographer who is one of our several world class photographers. Boy, for those getting married in Cayman, there is no need to bring in your own photographer, we have several of the very best right here.

Anyway, yesterday Patrick came and hung 12 of his "Fine Art" pieces to start off our gallery (more to come from other artists). Guests can view them in situ, then order prints through our concierge to be fedexed out to their home.

We are excited about this new addition, and pleased to support local artists. We hope you support them to by buying their art to hang on your own walls at home.

We have also decided to work with Patrick Broderick some more by setting up a regular slot in our Activities Calendar where families can book him for a family photo shoot right here at The Reef. This was his idea and I think it was a great one, The Reef is an important part of your lives for many of you, so why not use it as a backdrop for your next Christmas card ?

Up Close with Castro

For those of you who have visited us at The Reef, you will know Castro (the cockatoo, not Fidel)

Anyway, a leading publication recently interviewed him for a personal profile. I had no idea how fluent a cockatoo could be, especially as English is his second language !

I think there may have been some ghostwriting in there myself, I leave it to you to work out which strange mind may have assisted in that area !

Up Close with Castro

Federico Campos Villanueva del Castro is the most famous character at The Reef Resort in East End - with apologies to the Barefoot Man - where he lords it over Castro’s Hideaway, the beach bar named in his honor.

Originally from Cuba, Castro was for many years a professional stowaway, smuggling himself aboard ship and aircraft to seek adventure, fame and fortune. One day, while sunning himself on the deck of a tanker, he spotted the eastern tip of Grand Cayman. Driven by his natural sense of curiosity he jumped ship and headed for our sandy shores, where he has remained ever since. The rest, as they say, is history.

Our feathered friend is something of a cunning linguist and can tell the same joke in seven different languages. (Those who know him well say he could probably use some new material.)

Favorite Movie The Birdman of Alcatraz

Favorite TV Show Wings

Favorite Athlete Larry Bird

Favorite Group The Eagles

Favorite Actor Walter Pidgeon

Favorite Comedian Robin Williams.

Hobbies Budgie-jumping and parrot-gliding

Favorite Saying You can lead a horse to water - but a pencil must be lead.

Any Famous Relatives? None more famous than me, compadre, but I will admit that Barry Manilow is a second cousin of mine. If we both turn sideways you can really see the resemblance

What Trait Do You Most Admire? Generosity. I’ve always been willing to facilitate those who believe it is better to give than to receive.

What Trait Do You Most Dislike? I dislike people who respond in detail when asked how they’re doing. I mean, give it a break pal, the fact that I’m being polite does NOT mean I’m interested, geddit? Getta life!

What Else Annoys You? Lack of due recognition. For example, people are always saying that my boss, Kel Thompson, is one of the best pilots on the island. I’ll tell you something for nothing pal - he’ll never be the flyer I am.

Most Embarrassing Moment? The last time I met up with my old sparring partner Mohammad Ali. We were sitting at a sidewalk café in South Beach when some fans walked by and one of them said - quite loudly in fact - “Who’s the old geezer with Castro?” I really felt bad for him.

Immediate Ambition? I’m going to stand for election next time around. Too many politicians are content to recite parrot-like statements that are totally devoid of meaning , and at the end of the day it must be said that six of one is not worth a dime a dozen. That’s not my style, compadre. I always say the more there is the less the better.

Biggest Regret Never settling down and starting a family. Don’t get me wrong, amigo, it’s not that I never had the opportunity, I came close on more than one occasion. But at the end of the day it was always the same old story - we were just two ships that passed water under the bridge. Maybe someday I’ll meet a nice girl who’s not afraid of taking a chance with a cockatoo.

How Would You Sum Up Your Philosophy On Life? Simple really, muchacho - the world is your lobster, unless you’ve been burning the midnight oil at both ends, in which case you're probably sailing too close to thin ice. I also believe that once you’ve buttered your bread you’ve got to lie on it. I really can’t say it any clearer than that.

Parting Thoughts I’ve always been known for my forthright opinions, so I’d like to take this opportunity to say to anyone I may have inadvertently offended over the years -- Kiss my tail feathers.

Federico Campos Villanueva del Castro can be seen in person at the Reef Resort in East End. He occasionally grants private audiences and says that although he is very fond of children he wouldn’t eat a whole one. And his bite is definitely worse than his bark.

Murray Mania as Scot Beats Seed

Sorry, this Blog is supposed to be about Cayman, but some news off the wire is that Andrew Murray, the 18 year old Scottish tennis player who won the US Junior Open last year... just beat the #14 seed at Wimbledon to get to the 3rd round.

Let's face it, Scotland is not known for great tennis players... but this guy is good... very good (John McEnroe rates him extremely highly).... and he learned to play at the club where my kids played while they were evacuated to Scotland after Hurricane Ivan, so my boys have been following Andrew Murray.

Anyway, root for him against David Nalbandian in the next round.... who knows how far he can go ! Full story here

Enstroms Toffee, the best candy in the world

This stuff is the DBs ... English sland for... ah-hem... something very good.

I was reminded of this by a conversation with someone today who was asking if I needed anything brought down to civilisation (ie Cayman) from the good ol' USA. The only thing I really crave is Enstroms toffee, a singular addiction that I was introduced to by my good friends Bill and Laura Disbrow.

If you ever get the craving, check them out at www.enstrom.com !

(ok.. who knows what DBs stands for ? :))

Watch this space..and tell your friends !

Got some interesting news to report (Cayman / The Reef specific... ) coming up in th next few days.

Check back daily for updates.... and please tell your friends who want to get their "Cayman fix" to check back.. their is nothing like seeing your daily visitor stats climbing to inspire effort in posting !

Insanity must be hereditary

Ok, I said I would not be too personal in this blog... but I always loved the shots Erik put in his blog of his kids.

Anyway, the title says it all. The first shot is of my 7 year old Iain before his first one mile sea swim... I'll say that again... ONE MILE... boy, that is a long way.

So, what do you think he was doing before the start.. calmly composing himself and resting to save energy ? Nah... jumping around like a rabbit being shot at having fun in the water !

Anyway, second shot is of him proudly showing his finishing number 47 minutes later.

He is, quite clearly, totally mad... I wonder who he gets it from !

Nothing to do with Cayman... English Lions team picked

One sport I love more than any other is Rugby. In fact, I make an annual pilgrimage in the middle of winter to watch Scotland play at Murrayfield with 60,000+ other pilgrims (of course, we normally lose, but that's not the point)

Anyway, the supremely arrogant/confident (you choose) English coach of the British Lions has just picked 8 out of his 15 players from 1 of the 4 nations represented... and a further 5 out of the 7 substitutes.

He is so loyal to his English players that he has picked the English player who was once (two years ago) probably the best player in the world out of position, as he was so desperate to include him in his team. He has also picked a guy for last line of defence that is so tiny that the huge New Zealand players will trample all over him.

The highly respected New Zealand player and columnist, Zinzan Brooke, says it best :

Among the contentious issues in Woodward's team announcement is Jonny Wilkinson's selection at inside centre and the naming of an all-England back row.

"It's hard to make any sense of what he's done there," said Brooke. "You could understand the decision if England had won the Six Nations.

"But he's now created two teams - an England team and a 'rest of them' team."

The full article is here on the BBC website

It's not that I am not supporting them to win, I hope the Lions do win... but I am demotivated enough not to bother setting my alarm for 2am to go and watch the match live here in Cayman.

Fingers xd.

Oh, and for Chris Burdge... if SCW is unbiased, where, oh where is Jason White in his squad ? :)

Big News ! The Cinema is going to re-open !

As my forebears would say in Scotland... YAAH BEAUTY !!!

The Cinema is going to finally re-open in mid-July... another mark of civilisation returning !

For the full story, see the article in the "other" quality newspaper, the Cayman Observer

In what seems to be another case of "back, better than ever", the cinema will be under new management, which promises major improvements.

The old cinema was facelifted on the outside when it became part of the Marquee development (owned by Joe Imparato, ex oilman, ex owner of CUC, now Cayman commercial property mogul), but it was always the same inside. The facilities were fine, but the lovely Cayman ladies who had been running it since the days of silent pictures (or so it seemed!) were still using cloakroom tickets for admission, still pouring diet coke out of cans (long lines at the concession stand), and just generally not going with the times, I guess because there was no competition.

This was fine when Cayman was a small town, but when things started getting busier, the old cloakroom ticket thing caused problems. I vividly remember taking my kids to see Harry Potter, then arriving at the movie theater 90 minutes beforehand to make sure to get tickets. Whilst the ladies were there, they said that they weren't selling tickets yet, but to come back 45 minutes before the show.

We then dutifully showed up 47 minutes before showtime to find that some more persuasive people had convinced them to start selling tickets early, so they were sold out. My boys were nearly in tears, they could not understand what had happened.

Anyway, the new management seem to be very IT aware, plus it seems they are experience in driving business, hopefully this will result in a more customer focussed business.

Oh, and note the other point in the article was about the Dart project. This is called Camana Bay, and promises to be the biggest thing to hit Cayman in many years. The Dart family are investing hundreds of millions of dollars into this. Yes, they expect to make money out of it eventually, but they are multi, multi billionaires (think about that next time you get coffee in a styrofoam cup from the gas station!) and this sort of planned community is something they have always wanted to do... and Cayman is lucky they chose us.

Right, after a couple of "dry" days, I seem to have been inspired into a fit of verbosity, but that's enough for now.. lunch break over !

Mandarin Oriental Project formally announced

This has been about the worst kept secret out.... but in today's Compass, the Mandarin Oriental company announced (here)that their new 114 room retreat will open on the Barefoot Beach location about two miles west of The Reef Resort along the Queen's Highway.

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery... hmm.. let me see now... a low rise resort of all beachfront suites.. with units sold as condos that can then be rented out.... hmm...

Anyway, glad to have a new neighbour coming to the area.... and if anyone wants to spend well over $1m for a condo in East End, you will know who to call :)

Iguana Diaries RIP

This one is in honour of Erik Stafford's late lamented personal Blog... The Iguana Diaries

Erik is IT guru and moderator-in-chief (LOL!) of the Morritts website and forums. He has had a hellacious time since Ivan dealing with hundreds if not thousands of timeshare owners at Morritts constantly seeking information. IMHO he has done a terrific job feeding all the information that was availalble to him to those clamouring for news.... and he has suffered a few "e"-bullet wounds from being shot as the messenger..... but things now seem to be moving head at Morritts with reconstruction and, as their neighbour, I welcome that and look forward to their re-opening.

Anyway, The Iguana Diaries was Erik's personal blog... he took it down after Ivan when he had to leave the island with his family, but up until that point it was a beautifully presented (after all, he is an IT guru... note.. I'm not.. my blog is a bit amateurish in comparison) and simple journal of a young family settling in to life in Cayman.... complete with many shots of his highly photogenic family..... which, consciously or unconsciously, it matters not... showed him to be a dedicated father and family man.

Erik, I know you'll read this... for the benefit of those who never saw your blog.... and, noting that the old posts are still available through the search function... would be great if you made the old archives directly available.. it was a great blog !

Anyway, my wife is very shy and doesn't want me making my blog too personal, but in honour of Erik's blog... here is a picture of my 7 year old... Iain.... proudly showing his finishing number on completing the Flowers One Mile Sea Swim in just over 47"

(nuts... that photo is on the home PC... will put it up tonight....)

My other son, Alex, finished in about 26"... aged 10... I'm another proud Dad !

Quiz of the day...

I'm disappointed, nobody came back and told me what SWMBO means... so another clue... the lead actor in the BBC series was Leo McKern.....

>>>>>ok.. I guess you all give up.... SWMBO is "She Who Must Be Obeyed"... as often used by Rumpole of the Bailey, that classic character played by Leo McKern and written by John Mortimer. Being married to a Caymanian, SWMBO is an excellent abbreviation for my wife :)

Another quiz for today.... what feral cat used to be "British and Irish" but now under Sir Clive Woodward... has changed nationality to simply "English" :(

>>>>>this one was more off the wall... I'm talking Rugby, the once proud British and Irish Lions (made up of the best of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland), since discredited this year by their current coach, who has picked a ludicrously biased side, with a squad made up of more than 50% English players (England being the team that came 4th out of 6th in the Six Nations championship this year..... and tonight Woodward names his team for the first test... my guess is 9 or 10 English out of 15.. and they will get crushed by the New Zealand team.

Sorry... Rugby is my passion...Phil (our Irish F&B manager) and I can talk Rugby for hours and no doubt bore our American guests to death if we kept it up long enough !

Destination Weddings / Honyemooning in Cayman

I just spent time this morning at an industry seminar on "Destination Weddings and Honeymoons" and how Cayman can attract more and more people to come here.

I know at The Reef we are doing a lot of this business.... wedding groups of 4 to 104.... and we did a whole bunch of Weddings in April and May.

(note : I really must get our main website updated... not just weddings, but also Phil is going to update the new restaurant menu, Leona the new activities calendar etc etc.... ah, but my secret weapon is my new assistant who doesn't start until September... patience one and all :) )

Anyway, I came away from this seminar even more impressed at what a first class destination Cayman is for visitors, and in particular for weddings. We have some world class photographers here (I recommend David Wolfe, Patrick Broderick, Courtney Platt, Rebecca Davidson, but there are even more), wedding planners, florists, restaurants etc.... it is all here, no matter what you need.

On the Honeymoon side, I know everone loves a Honeymoon "package", whether or not they are on Honeymoon, so at The Reef we have always just called it a "Honeymoon/Romance" package. It must be popular, either that or lots of people are coming here on Honeymoon, as this week we have no fewer than 12 couples on property on that "Honeymoon/Romance package" !

Cayman Message forum censorship :(

I've just had my wrist slapped (posts deleted/ heavily censored) twice in 24 hours by two of the most visited Cayman message boards, and I am upset.

I may be new to this blog stuff, but I've been hanging around on internet message boards for a long time indeed. Am I hanging out because it is my job to do this ? No. I'm doing it because I enjoy it, and I enjoy interacting with people and sharing information about Cayman. If that happens to benefit my business, then great, but I am not ever going to recommend something to someone unless I think it is right for them.

Now, I also know very well the old fashioned rules about "plugging" and otherwise being commercial on message boards, so I try hard to avoid it... but sometimes people ask questions specifically about The Reef, so am I supposed to ignore them ?

It is indeed a tough balance to strike, so one of the things I have always, always done is to make my email public and use a consistent username wherever I post. In other words, people know who I am and where I work, so they can always put anything I post in context.

What's my point here ? I guess I am just annoyed at being reprimanded by both of these message boards, who (IMHO) have lost the spirit of internet forums/message boards. In one case I was told :

management doesn’t want you promoting YOUR company on OUR website

That one was in reaction to me making an innocuous post replying to someone who was going to be staying at The Reef already asking about information about getting married in Cayman.... sigh.

In the other case I was told :

When you have information to share, it must be shared here - pictures and all, with no links or Google search suggestions

Now on THAT one, I was simply posting a link to my blog to link to pictures of the Flowers Sea Swim, plus suggesting to people how they could Google RSS to find out how to get RSS feeds for their news... because I have just discovered RSS and I think it is cool, nothing more.

I guess to me message boards and forums are supposed to be about open communication. Yes, they can be commercially minded by their owners, but they should not censor out information of value to readers unless it is a) offensive, or b) blatantly promoting a specific business over another.

Right... off my soapbox now

The "new" Castro's Hideaway

Also as I hustled back to the cool of my office from my photo mission... a shot of the new "built like a brick outhouse/no hurricane is moving this one" beach bar.... nicely in the shade and with a cooling breeze to go with those mudslides from Yoselyn... ah, if I wasn't at work now !

No webcam... but this is "Today at The Reef"

Ok so today the Cayman Compass (see link on blog sidebar) called me today... they are running a story on The Reef.. will post a link when it publishes... and they wanted a shot of The Reef since Ivan.

Not having shot any new "stock", I sacrificed my pale skin to the hot sun (and boy I was thankful for the breeze today.. it is H..O..T.. !).. and took this shot... the place looks good !




Also, as I walked back to my office to the cool of the a/c... saw this family out spotting Tarpon on the end of the dock.. it just looked cool.. hope you like it :)

What I want for Father's Day - the energy of a child!

I wish I could bottle the energy that kids have ! Yesterday my two oldest boys (7 and 10) swam in the one mile sea swim, then hung out on the beach for three hours waiting to win random prizes (they both did..lucky boys!), then we had several boys over for a sleepover for an early celebration of the older boy's birthday.

After all that energy expended,the "sleepover crew" still stayed up until 1am, then were up again at 6:30am... I'm getting a few moments respite now (courtesy of Gamecube), then am taking them all out to the new sports bar at Grand Harbour, Davey Jones' Locker. No, not to drink Red Stripe and watch the US Open (wishful thinking for Fathers Day!)... but they have a huge virtual sports game machine, and the boys want to try that out... kind of Gamecube / Playstation on steroids, I guess !

Anyway.... when the crew get picked up at 2pm today, I am sure my sons will still have energy to burn... but that's when I hope to get my Father's Day treat... a nap

**edited to note... midday we went to Davey Jones' Locker... excellent virtual shooting game... totally non-PC but a great hit with the boys.... eventually hit the hay about 3:30 for a blissful hour or so.. right, off to crash now (11pm ish), as SWMBO has me up running at 6am every Mo/We/Fr these days... ok... quick quiz... what does SWMBO stand for ? (clue : ancient BBC comedy)***

Flowers Recovery Mile Sea Swim - Cayman at our best !

As promised, coverage of the Flowers Sea Swim. This year, the annual one mile swim was renamed the "Recovery Mile", as local companies donated all kinds of services to the "live free for a year" fund. Ten local families in all five districts of Grand Cayman were selected as being in need after Ivan. Three were drawn at random at the presentations after the race and will "live free for a year". This will also include year long coverage on local television and should prove to be a positive and uplifting story, the sort of thing we all need here. We are tough people, but we all need a little lift sometimes.

Anyway, to the swim. As it always seems to be for sea swims, it was a gorgeous day. Hundreds of swimmers set off from the Ritz Carlton beach, swimming North to the beach across the road from Courtyard by Marriott.

Whilst it was a typical hot and sunny summers day, a light ocean breeze took a little edge of the heat (as I was walking the course, I was happy for the breeze!).

After the race, all finishers waited around for the random prize drawing. 1 in 5 finishers won a prize.... including my two boys, including my 7 year old, who was the source of great amusement as he excitedly ran up to the stage to collect his... cellphone ! A 7 year old who had managed to finish a one mile sea swim, then got a cellphone ? His grin looked like his birthday and xmas rolled into one.

Anyway, a few photos :

Hundreds of swimmers blast off at the horn to start the race :



Swimmers in full flow


Swimmers took from 17 minutes to 70 minutes to finish, so they were well spread out along the course, keeping the safety marshals in boats, kayaks and on the beach alert.



Of course I am sure that the speech by the Leader of Government Business was scintillating, but I'm guessing most of the crowd were thinking (I hope I win a Cayman Airways ticket... or a cellphone) :)

Porsche Cayman screws up Cayman web searches

Yup.... for some reason unknown to anyone outside Stuttgart, Porsche have give the name "Cayman" to their new hairdresser mobile (sorry, any Porsche other than a 911 is for hairdressers and ad execs only... I'm normally a flexible guy, but that one is a non-negotiable opinion).

Still, if you are interested and the Audi TT is a little too feminine for you (oops, now you can all see, when it comes to cars, I am possibly prehistoric in my preconceptions!), Porsche have a multimedia website here.

If I ever make my fortune, the Porsche I want is a (fully restored, of course) 1972 911 2.7 Carrera RS lightweight..... my current car has more BHP and better handling... but also has the computer controlled stuff to stop you going off the road backwards in the wet... whereas a 30 year old rear wheel drive, rear engined Porsche certainly engages the adrenaline flow somewhat !

Sorry.... am a bit out of sorts today... bit of the flu... normal sense of protocol and diplomacy should be restored shortly :)

Oh.... and if you are one for odd car names, remember the Toyota MR2 ? Now work out why Toyota had to change the name when they wanted to sell it in France ? first correct answer gets... well, nothing... but will be fun to see how long it takes for someone to come up with the answer ? (clue - phonetics)

Hey, I want to be the Activities Director !

In the last post I mentioned that Leona is our new Activities Director. Well, one of the things she suggested doing was water aerobics. That's her on the left, with two of our guests, taken earlier this morning... she claims they were doing leg kicks or something under the water, but it looks pretty much like they were just "chilling" in the pool... hmmm... I think I'm in the wrong job !

Sunday Fun...

While I was at home chilling out on Sunday, guests at The Reef seemed to be having a great time on the beach with our welcome party, led by Leona Baker.... previously one of our star bartenders, now our Activities Director.

I asked my staff to take photos whenever we have something worth showing, and I thought these were just fun :)

Rooster 101 - "Cayman Crosstalk"

Every morning I take my half hour commute from George Town out to The Reef. Driving along the empty Cayman roads heading East (and waving at the nose to tail traffic heading into the "big city"), I sip on my freshly brewed Cayman Coffee Company coffee (highly recommended!) and listen in to Barrie Quappe (that's Kwaa-pay !) on her morning talk show.

If you want your taste of Cayman in the morning, you can listen in online from 8am to 10am Cayman time (Eastern Standard Time).

If you only listen once a week, try Friday, as that is "Open Mike", so people call in with whatever is on their mind.

I'm a fairly frequent caller, as after all, I don't have much else to do on the drive to work... but this Friday (June 17th), I'll actuallly be in the Studio about 9:30am to promote the annual one mile Flowers Sea Swim, which this year is focussed on recovery efforts.

I'll give a report on the sea swim next week.... it is always a great event, and this year it promises to resonate more than ever with the local community as we show our resilience in recovering from Ivan the Terrible.

Phil's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Following an earlier post on the collected wisdom of our main man Phil, the photo below is kindly sent to us by caribbeansun who put it :

"thought I'd show him in action just in case there are any single ladies that will be staying at The Reef in the near future that might want to introduce themselves to Phil."

Before posting this I ran this by Phil himself, who, for once, was speechless !

Lighthouse Restaurant update

Another recent request was for photos of the Lighthouse. These were taken this morning on my way to work (another gorgeous day in Cayman!). You can see that Captain G has made some changes to the oceanside.

I also took a shot of the new view back across from Lighthouse towards Bodden Town, it really is breathtaking !

I'm going to email Giuseppe now to get his update on plans for Lighthouse and will edit this post once I have an update from him.

Castaways' Cove progress report

This past weekend someone requested an update on the progress of development at Phase II Castaways' Cove, and, lo and behold, this morning Lyall Watt told me that he had updated the website, including progress report photos here

As resort developers, we do have an odd situation at Castaways'. The normal rule is "build only as fast as you can sell", but in this case demand has outstripped our ability to supply. Phase II was sold out before we even got started building it, and now Phase III is selling fast, so we'll start building that too quite soon, but it will take us a few months to mobilise everything there. Still, high demand is a nice problem to have !

As you can see from the latest photos, the "first floor slab" that has just been poured is pretty high off the ground. What are we going to do with all that basement space ? Well, as The Reef grows, we need to add more facilities, so this basement will include two meeting/conference rooms, as well as a new gym and studio.

With these facilities, we'll move into the corporate retreat and meetings business, which is another exciting addition to our repertoire. Never a dull moment !

Queen's Birthday Holiday - what's that all about ?

Today in Cayman was a public holiday... for the Queen's Birthday.

I'm not really a royalist, but many people in Cayman are very loyal to the Monarchy, and of course to the "mother country". These days Cayman is called an "Overseas Territory", and we still have close ties to the UK, what with having a Governor, and (crucially for investor confidence) control over the judiciary and the police force resting with the UK.

Anyway, we have a Monday holiday, but I don't think many people in Cayman know what it is all about. We have a tiny little parade (after all, we are a tiny little place, only 45,000 people) over the weekend, but I thought some readers might be interested in referring back to the pomp and circumstance that is the real parade, known as Trooping the Colour (that is colour with a "u", we spell in English down here too, not American :) )

If you ever get the chance to see this parade in person, or even on TV, it is most impressive. The part of the British Army that is involved is known as the Household Cavalry, so we get to see many mounted horsemen with the smartest dress uniforms you are ever likely to see. And as for precision drilling, well, these guys are hard to beat.

Now that is tradition for you !

As for me, I had a quiet day at home with the kids, isn't that what holidays are about ? !

If another big one hits, StormCarib is the place to be

First of all, I should preface this by noting that Ivan was the only major hurricane to hit Cayman since records began in 1851... BUT, if the next big one comes, the experience after Ivan was that the US based media didn't pay us any attention after the storm passed, and that included websites.

For several days the only source of information for friends and family overseas was StormCarib. This website is the brainchild of Gert van Dijken, who was fed up with poor coverage of the impact on Caribbean islands of the passing of major storms.

Directly after Ivan, StormCarib was it, and I personally (and many people I know in Cayman) are very thankful for everything Gert did. On behalf of The Reef, I quickly invited Gert and his family down to The Reef for a free vacation this summer (he ain't scared of Hurricane Season!), and I hope he can take advantage of this soon.

Meanwhile, for anyone thinking about coming this summer to Cayman but scared of Hurricanes ? (scaredy-cats :) !), the deals are great this summer, with the Cayman Summer Splash being particularly focussed on families.

With the money you save, you can take out trip insurance, but also note that at The Reef (and I belive the Westin also does this) we have had a Hurricane Guarantee in place since before Ivan, and it is still available here.

In addition to formal Hurricane Guarantees, in the aftermath of Ivan pretty much every hotel, condo and dive operator in Cayman stood up to the plate and refunded monies.... it took a while for most of us, but as soon as we got credit card machines that weren't full of seaweed and a phone line that worked, we were punching refunds into those machines as fast as we could..... happily though, there were many of our loyal guests who simply said "no worries, save your cashflow, I'll just take a rain check to 2005".

I'm rambling here, but at that time (just a few weeks after Ivan), many of you up in the States (and elsewhere) said and did things like that to make us really feel like family. Trust me, every small show of care and affection make a BIG difference to us down here at the time.

Ok, enough rambling for one day.

Hurricane Ivan slideshow

Friends of Cayman is a terrific idea for a website that a friend just pointed me to.

On the website is a slideshow of Cayman pictures, plus a variety of organisations to contact if anybody wants to help with recovery efforts.

Looking at these makes me realise quite how far we have come in these few months.

If you are interested in how we handled things at The Reef, I have kept our newsletter up on our website here . I've left those updates "warts and all", so you can see how things changed as time passed. Even with our experience in project management and development, we too initially underestimated how long it would take to recover. We also have our own pictures linked on the left side of this section of the website.

In response to some comments, I am going to try to get new shots of The Reef done, but really need a pro to do this, and in reality it looks just as it did before Ivan, so the current shots on the website are fine... except of course for the beach bar, which I do need to take some shots of.

"Sam's Club" improves civilisation ??

Strange though it may seem, having the first wholesale club in Cayman open up has been a real enhancement to quality of life for those of us living on this small island and dealing with (import duty and shipping) enhanced pricing every day.

The newly opened "Priced Right" store has been opened by the Foster family and is next to Foster's Food Fair by the airport. Now, if only I lived in a house rather than a condo I could store stuff in a chest freezer in the garage... oh well, can't have everything !

Words of Wisdom

These words of wisdom from Phil are posted behind our beach bar. I would say that he definitely has an unusual sense of humour and way with words, as shown by his biography (here) :

Phil has been fortunate enough to live on Grand Cayman for the last seven years. Originally from Dublin, Ireland (as opposed to Dublin, Ohio or Dublin, Georgia), he started in the industry almost three decades ago - but he claims he’s not as old as he looks. On the island he has worked at and managed the Hog Stye Bay Bar and Café, The Wreck Bar and On The Rocks Restaurant, before deciding to forego the hustle and bustle of Georgetown for the quieter environs of East End.

Known to one and all as “Big Phil”, he describes himself as tall and deeply shallow with a good sense of humour. He actually follows a strict moral code that prohibits him from betting on women or riding horses, among other things.

Despite his easy-going nature and roguish Irish charm, Phil admits that he has been unlucky in love for most his life. He often feels love might have come to him more easily if he hadn’t been quite so good-looking. He refuses to give up hope, however, because he knows there is someone out there who will hang on his every word and devote the rest of her life to him… He also writes fiction in his spare time.

Shifting Sand

Tropical Storm Arlene passed through our area... much ado about nothing, but gave us some much needed rain... although a little too much ! Thursday morning June 9th we woke up to see a combination of soft sand (we'd had virtually no rain for several months to pack down sand) and a huge amount or water run off... create what looked like a Los Angeles storm drain behind the beach bar... in all my years in Cayman I had never seen anything like this, a very unusual way to start the day !