The Reef Resort at New England's largest Travel Show

The Department Of Tourism brought some sunshine to cold Boston and last week's Vacation Outlet's Travel Expo. Together with several Caribbean islands, Mexico, Europe and many more exhibitors the vacation spirit was high. The show attracted several thousand visitors to give them ideas about their next holiday destination.

The Cayman team of six (represented by the Department Of Tourism, Cayman Airways, The Marriott and The Reef Resort) answered 1000's of questions regarding the islands, diving, flights, the hotels and many many more. Cayman Airways is also offering again non-stop flights from Boston to Grand Cayman.

Many visitors used the great offers and booked their next trip directly at the show.

And to all who visited us at the booth - thanks for stopping by and we look forward to seeing you soon in Cayman.

The Happiest Hour

The latest photos from Linda's Friday night Happy Hour at our beach bar have been published on The Reef Resort website bringing back sweet memories for all you Reef dwellers out there.

Some of the latest batch hold record figures as Linda's Friday night fan-base grows like a great 2 for 1 oak from a tiny 2 for 1 acorn.

If you're left wondering, 'who is this Linda with the liquor?' look out for a blog by Cool Beans later this week for more on Linda and friends.

Wedding Central

Hot off the press, the Spring 2006 edition of 'Destination Weddings and Honeymoons' magazine features The Cayman wedding of Andrea Simkins and Philip Watt.

This two page editorial feature covers all aspects of the wedding that took place last summer. The Reef Resort was 'Wedding Central' for just under 90 guests, who traveled from around the world to join them.

TomCayman brought the opportunity for this article to the attention of the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism, early enough for them to be able to proactively pitch it. Destination Weddings and Honeymoons Magazine has a circulation of 175,000 and growing as the trend for 'eloping' continues to explode. This issue will be on the newsstands for the next 3 months.

Now people everywhere will be reading about the wonders of getting married here on one of the most beautiful islands in the world.

Mann Power

Michael Mann is back in the hot seat taking care of all our Reefians and bringing some extra life to the place.




Great news! Michael has not only returned to The Reef but has also brought back the 'Star Gazing' weekly event - hosted by The Mann himself at 7pm on Sundays (just after Happy Hour - now no falling off the dock anybody).




And here is one of our budding astronomers Jonathan, last week at the 'come back' session, peering at the stars as Michael navigated the night sky for us.

The Fish Report

Another whopper of a day for Ecoventures yesterday.







Captain Joey and 1st Mate Shane hooked up this huge Yellow Fin Tuna and friend
(Barracuda) yesterday afternoon. Joey is seen here standing on our beach with his catch.

There was plenty to go round and the fresh Yellow Fin tasted beautiful, grilled with a sprinkle of salt, some freshly ground pepper and a squeeze of lime juice.

PS/ Notice Joey's ever increasing wardrobe of orange items. I've heard of orange clothing being worn by hunters to increase visibility but it appears that it may be a good luck charm as well.

Caribbean Creativity

We're not all sand, sun and sea you know. The Cayman Islands are the only location in the Caribbean to have their own International Arts Festival, held from 10th of February 2006 until the 18th.



Traditional entertainment comes in the form of The World Famous Harlem Gospel Choir - reputed to be one of the finest gospel choirs in the world. It travels the globe sharing its love of music, faith in the joy of music and raising money for children's charities.
They will perform on Friday 10th February at the First Baptist Church on Crewe Road at 7.30pm
Ticket Prices: $25CI in advance, $30CI at the door
Children under 16 $5CI
More information on Harlem Gospel Choir: here

On Thursday 16th February, again at the First Baptist Church on Crewe Road at 7.30pm, 'Bones Apart' will perform. They are described as "The truly awesome, phwoarsome, foursome"

Their concert incorporates not only theatre and costume, but music of all styles and genres including baroque, classical, romantic, latin, jazz, contemporary and popular as well as numerous commissioned works for trombone quartet.

Visit their Website here

And it's not just about the music - the festival is moving towards the cutting edge as The Better Read than Dead Society, an experimental drama group based in the Cayman Islands, get set to perform at the festival.

The group does not rehearse, does not learn lines but meets on a monthly basis to perform readings with an emphasis on spontaneity and the unanticipated. Roles for actors and actresses are selected blind from a hat. The Society's view is that a play is better "read" than "dead" (an expression inspired by The Globe Theatre in London which used to hold lively staged readings of unfamiliar works in the same vein).
The Better Read than Dead Society will be performing during the Festival and encourages willing spectators to join in the theatrical illusion by participating. Time, Date and Venue of their performance will be available soon at the Cayman Arts Festival Website here

Pied Peart

Thanks to Jim and Sharon Van Dyke who sent in these 'action' photos of John 'The Pied Piper' Peart, one of the Reef Resort Maintenance Crew.





John has pioneered the lunch-time fish feeding from our dock which, as you can see, is proving popular - especially with the scale-skinned community (that's the fish I'm talking about... unless you forgot to wear sun-block).

Sharon emailed and told me; "It was such fun for Jim each day at noon, feeding the fish. John was so nice and what a good activity for the guests".


"It was like watching the pied piper as he walked out onto the dock people all over the beach started walking over and he usually drew quite a crowd. It was fun!"





Sharon and Jim also saw someone at night with a fishing pole on the dock. They said when Jim mentioned it to John he was irate. John would like to protect the fish that live under our dock so that snorkelers can enjoy them for time to come.
After all (and have you ever known me resist the opportunity for an easy pun?) we have other fish to fry!!

Go East

When TomCayman (of The Reef) and Steve (of Ocean Frontiers) originated the 'Go East' initiative, little did they know that their angle would be co-opted by the Ministry.

Extract of Article from Cayman Net News:

THE Ministry of Tourism’s “Go East” initiative, which intends to create more business opportunities in East End and North Side, is bearing fruit with the proposed construction of Mandarin Oriental Hotel in the eastern districts.

The Mandarin Oriental group, which has 23 luxury hotels, has earmarked a beachfront area along the Queen Elizabeth Highway in East End, Grand Cayman, for one of its seven new hotels.

Work on the five-star property is expected this year and completion is set for 2007. At start-up the international group hopes to construct 150 guestrooms.

Tourism Minister, Hon Charles Clifford, is thrilled at the news that the Cayman Islands has secured another leading hotel chain with businesses in 17 countries.

“We’re very happy to have a Mandarin Oriental coming to Cayman,” said Mr Clifford. “Now that we have the Ritz-Carlton we’re likely to see competition following competition.”

The Minister said the company had identified a local contractor and he expected work on the hotel to begin in the coming months, given the commitment to have it ready next year.

“I would expect that they would start construction this year because they indicated that they would be opening sometime in 2007, when they made the announcement several months ago,” he said.

The location of the new hotel also pleased the Minister who noted the traffic congestion on the Seven Mile Beach, the busiest strip of land on the Island.

“There is a substantial amount of development on the Seven Mile Beach already and until we get additional infrastructure in place in terms of roads, it will be difficult to accommodate additional properties,” he noted.

Mr Clifford added, “We’re particularly happy that they have chosen the eastern end of the Island to develop.”

According to the Government official, the eastern district would receive special attention to allow for tourism development there.

“The Ministry is going to do what it can to facilitate the development of that property in the Eastern District,” the Minister said.

He disclosed that his Ministry was keeping an eye on the project and would facilitate the developers.

Mr Clifford stopped short of saying what impetus or assistance Government would provide the Mandarin Oriental, which has over 8000 rooms in its hotels in Asia, Europe and the Americas.

“We will do what we can as we normally do to facilitate their investments and development,” he added.

He also disclosed that a representative of the Four Seasons hotel chain has expressed an interest in coming to the Cayman Islands to investigate the possibility of establishing a property here.

Of course it would not be honorable to seek ones own honor - so Tom and Steve don't seem to mind that the Honorables themselves are exerting the Go East idea without mention of its humble beginnings; they're just glad that other people are discovering the East End.

We look forward to our new neighbours at Mandarin Oriental and the additional restaurant and spa choices they will bring to the area.

Crowing about Cayman

I'm not about to divulge the secret as to how Odd Blog got a ticket to the Ritz Carlton Grand Opening on Saturday night, but I will tell you that I did The Reef proud by getting a couple of blurred close-ups of Sheryl Crow as she sang to the fizz-filled party-goers.


While you may think it's nothing to write home about, rest assured, I wrote anyway.




But you know, something I couldn't work out... if all Sheryl wants to do is have some fun,.. she kept singing something about that over and over and I kept asking myself, what was she doing hanging out at the Ritz? Shez and her Crow Crew should have been at the Reef Resort beach bar for Happy Hour with Linda, the friendliest bar tender in the world. (Linda's latest happy hour sunset photos will be available for viewing soon - watch this space.)

Love is in the air...

This is Sara & Jamie's story and it started almost two years ago with a romantic dinner at a Barefoot Man night (click here for the pictures). Jamie proposed to Sara that night and of course - she said YES!
The romance continues and they reported a new arrival to this planet - little 'Cayman Rose' was born in November 2005.
All the staff of The Reef congratulates and looks forward to seeing you three in March at The Reef!

A mate for Castro ?

The Grand Cayman Marriott has followed in the footsteps of The Reef and they now have their own feathered friend, a young lady by the name of Ruby... hmm.. a friend for Castro perhaps ? :)

A Lad in Cave

.....




Yes it's a groaner, but I couldn't resist.

Superdave is demonstrating the wonders of the Ecoventures Cave and Woodland Treck:
1) You can explore something that you will not find anywhere else in Cayman
2) you can get the person in front of you to take a picture that makes you look like you're crawling out of a dragon(who has been eating peanut butter)'s mouth.

The Treck takes you from a secret location, into the inner-forests of the island where the landscape is 'untouched' in the truest sense of the word and nature is abundant.

So unique is this tour that the week before the Holiday, a reporter and photographer from Sport Diver Magazine came to encounter the unexplored with the Ecoventures team - look out in future editions of 'Sport Diver' for the feature.

So if one of your New Year's Resolutions is to be more adventurous - look no further than your next vacation.

We've got a few more Reef Resolutions on our home page