End of Easter camping feared
(CNS): Local activists say they are fearful that the Cayman tradition of camping on the beach during the Easter holidays may soon come to an end in some popular locations. Although many people took their tents down to the remaining strip of Seven Mile Beach where there is still space and access to set up camp this holiday weekend, the proposed deal between government and the Dart Group may mean this area won’t be accessible next year. Representatives from the various community action groups opposing elements of the ForCayman Investment Alliance also fear that access to parts of Barkers beach may be lost in future as well, leaving hardly any beach space for the Easter camp at the western end of Grand Cayman.
Activists say that the beach land that Dart has acquired along Seven Mile Beach, which is proposed to form part of a new five star resort running parallel to the stretch of the West Bay Road that the developer plans to close if the deal goes ahead, is one of the few remaining access points for camping.
“This may be the last Easter when people will be able to camp at this beautiful spot,” a spokesperson for the West Bay Concerned Citizen Group and the West Bay Action Committee said at the weekend.
The community groups also have very real concerns about the situation in Barkers as the boundaries of the proposed national park appear to have changed. The activists fear that access to the land now in the hands of Dartat the location along the beach front areas may well be lost. Although Dart has proposed to trade some Barkers land with government for the West Bay Road land, this is not beachfront but swamp land, which is expected to form part of a planned nature reserve in the area.
The activists say that the details of the land owned by Dart at Barkers and the proposed national park location differ widely from the original plans posted on government websites in the past, leading to some confusion about the area and what will actually be preserved and what could be at risk of development. The local groups worry that Dart may also choose to develop areas that it owns along the beachfront of Barkers that will not fall into the proposed conservation areas, blocking off public access to some of the last natural and unspoiled beach areas on the west side of Grand Cayman.
“If government does go ahead with this deal with Dart, it is likely to further undermine the already limited access local people have to their own beaches because of the massive development in Grand Cayman on beachfront property,” the spokesperson told CNS on Sunday.
Last year the activists met with Dart after posts had been erected along the strip of Seven Mile Beach it now owns just before the Easter holidays, which had triggered the first concerns about the potential loss of access. Since then the details of the proposed deal with government that have emerged suggest that the closure of the West Bay Road will undermine the level of access that people have to this area of Seven Mile Beach and likely to put an end to a long held Easter tradition.
The controversial deal with the islands’ largest investor has not yet been finalized but the government, Dart and the NRA have already signed a preliminary agreement involving the closure of around 4,000 feet of the West Bay Road between Raleigh Quay to Yacht Drive. Dart has already begun work on the Esterley Tibbetts bypass, which will allow access to the district of West Bay once the current road is closed.
It is still not clear how much of the beachfront property now owned by Dart will form part of the resort development, but the group has proposed developing a second public beach at the northern end of the property it owns in the area as part of the overall deal, which includes the enhancement of the existing public beach area as well.
See more about the proposed projects on the ForCayman alliance website
Category: Local News
TRESPASSING! They are trespassing on private property plain and simple.
If a bunch of people went to their property and camped in their back yard they would have a melt down!!
Get it into your head that this is PRIVATE PROPERTY – BOUGHT AND PAID FOR. You have no right to camp on someone else's property. When this land was first sold in the 1970's it became, from that point on PRIVATE PROPERTY.
dont blow a gasket. I'm sorry, I didn't know the beach was private. you win, I will stay off you beach.
Private property over which the public maintains rights!
This is my take 'on it'. If you are wealthy and can qualify for PR and want to work, thus requiring a work permit, this is what you need to do.
1, Create and open a business
2. Work in your own business
3. Employ workers, minimum of 3 staff members. Caymanians must be in this 3.
Bush, I always supported you but you let me down on this one.
Why would anybody want to leave their nice warm beds to go lie in the bush on sand, eaten by mosquitoes and chased by iguanas? That life style is very unappealing to me and nobody have to worry about my family and I setting up any tent on their property.
Who are you, where you come from and no one cares what you would do and wouldn't do, this happens to be our island tradition and if you don't like on one is forceing you to go out there, so keep youe thougth to your self, by the way me and me family looks foward to Easter EVERY year! thank you!!
I enjoy seeing families camping out at Easter. Reminds me of gypsies. It also makesme sad as I see a people grasping- through their camping- for the last vestiges of an island that was once theirs. Blame your governments- past and present- for this. And clean up please. Or you will just give other people the excuse to advocate for a ban.
Although it seems acceptible to bash the man for every possible injustice in this life, governments had nothing to do with the founding families that cashed in their private "birthright" lands for the trappings of wealth. How that money was subsequently invested or blown has nothing to do with any government past, present, or future.
19:23 they hardly blame past governments, all these jokers want to do is blame premier McKeeva Bush and the UDP for everything!
…and Bush blames the PPM for everything.
And dem bloggers and devil worshippers!
To be fair and balanced, I took a drive from Savannah to East End today, and the cleanliness of the roadsides and the numerous piles of filled garbage bags at all the entrances to the beaches, attest to the very great effort made to leave the Island clean after the assault of the Easter weekend campers. I didn't check the beaches themselves, but things looked far better than I expected.
I find it amusing that some people talk about garbage being left behind by people on the beach after Easter camping.
What about the garbage left behind by people at Pirates Week and the Batabano parade? Both events produce garbage on both private and public land and no one uses that as an excuse to stop the event from going on. PWD and private clearners get things back in shape as soon as possible.
Yes it is annoying that people litter and should know better, however Easter Camping is very much a part of Caymanian culture. Policing of the sites must occur and the law should always stand up for Caymanian culture, meaning safe and clean camping for all to enjoy at Easter.
PWD should not have to be paid to clean up after slobs.
I agree, but how much work would they have if they didn't clean up people?
Some simple regulations around camping in Cayman in general and on Easter weekend in particular would solve most of these small issues.
Make people pay a nominal amount for a permit, agree to do x and not do y, fines if your campsite is found with litter after, allocate camping sites etc
As is done is most places where camping is a regular recreational activity.
It is wonderful for people to be out in nature, spending time with friends and family, enjoying our beautiful beaches. I hope that the (relatively new) tradition lives on.
But some regulation would be good! The huge areas cordened off by black tarp for one family are ridiculous. And the garbage at some sites.
Feared or welcomed?
From what I've seen in over the years this is just using the Easter holiday as an excuse to get drunk and stoned on the beaches while trying to take as much conch out of the sea as you can without being caught.
It's a 'tradition' best buried in thepast and forgotten.
I do not drink, use drugs, take illegal conch or go camping.
However I do RESPECT that camping is a Caymanian tradition. And just to be clear I DO NOT support others using drugs or abusing alcohol or illegal conch taking.
What you have said is the same as calling everyone who visits a bar and restaurant an alcoholic or a glutton.
West Bayers are you sick and tired of Big Mac as yet?
You all should be punnished for voting this man into office causing the people of this country so much grief.
Caymanians have been totally disenfranchised from making an honest living and this is the true reason for so much crime on island. An idle mind is the devil's workshop.
West Bayers, we blame you for all our woes.
I am not Caymanian, but every year I camp with a huge Caymanian family in a spot where they have camped annually for literally decades. It is truly the best time of the year for me. I love the families and children around me. We are a large group, getting larger each year, plenty young children, teenagers, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, you name it. Each year we come together in harmony. Its very special, and the only time when all family members truly commit to coming and joining with other family members. We go fishing each day, camp out each night, sit round the fire and talk and tell stories – I wouldn't miss it for the world.
I too have observed many camping out at Easter and leaving their trash and bottles behind all over the beach, but please people don't be so quick to tar us all with the same brush. The family I stay with have their children discipilined on manners and tidiness. We all clean the beach before we start and we do it all over before we leave. In fact when we leave, the beach is always cleaner than when we arrived. We clear every single piece of the land around us, – not just our own litter, but also all the trash and waste that was there before we came. We know and visit plenty of other families who do the same thing.
So all I am saying I guess is there's nothing wrong with camping, provided you do it responsibly, and please don't be so quick to generalise about campers littering the beachers when in reality, as usual, its the few spoiling it for the many.
Too much beach land is being lost to development and greed. In my book, no beach land should be privately owned, it should belong to the public and should not be blocked or claimed for anything else, so it saddens me to read this headline. It also saddens me to see families happily camping, playing music and having a good time, only for it to be spoilt by the rich people living in nearby condos calling the police and complaining, because no matter how well behaved the campers are and how miserable or unreasonable the home owners are, the police always come down on the homeowners side and can't even let it slide the one weekend of the entire year that people actually can camp on the beach and (try to) have a good time. Like the family I camp with, many of these families have been camping in the same spot for decades, long before the rich people built their homes there.
We have existing laws regarding littering. If you don't want to camp, then fine, don't, but why spoil it for people who do? We simply need to have the existing laws enforced (again); when people attempt to walk away from litter they have left, they should get fined.
How about this for a new policy: Anyone camping on a beach (or anywhere else) must police the entire grounds, picking up and bagging everything, regardless of whether they brought it in or not, and then pack the bags out. In other words, you "pay" for the PRIVILEGE of camping, by being required to pick up the area. Any persons caught dropping litter on the ground, gets fined.
This would seem fairly simple to enforce, to me……… no reason to nit-pick and question this or that piece of garbage 100 feet away from the campers — you're looking for the spirit of the law, not the letter, as the law exists now. Having officers assigned beats on camping weekends (it happens more often than just Easter) would also cut down on the drug use, and would give visitors to our beautiful beaches more of a feeling of safety also.
I'm told that there are already assigned 'beach beats', however I've never seen officers walking the beach — at least not in uniform.
I haven't done so in the past two years, however my family and friends have camped several times. We've always left the beach cleaner that we found it. We pack in a couple of small grills, and pack them back out, WITH the ashes. Pretty simple — just normal (I hope) human responsibility.
"Damned Lies and Statistics" they say… While I did not go camping this Easter, I (a local) have enjoyed it in the past. I found it a great way for families and friends to bond under one common denominator – which is perhaps the last cultural passion left, since we can’t count Pirates Week as such anymore.
I did however take my son to several sites to enjoy the beach and make new friends. I did see at all sites the bad issues of (broken)beer bottles in the sand and sea, ganja freely smoked, and the unfortunate sight of people tracking and driving through the West Bay cemetery! Terrible!
Of course some would falsely argue that the cemeteries are our last remaining public accesses to the beach.
Responsibility (for fires/outhouses etc) is paramount, and Cayman's mature adult campers ensure these are taken care of, and that the beaches and properties are not affected. The other animals (from every nation) cannot be distinguished, as everyone is now a ‘local’.
I see here that the special interest ‘blog machines’ are busy with their posts and thumbs up. Thankfully most realize that these blogs can be easily manipulated, and are no scientific measure. Plus, locals are outnumbered anyways, so they will there.
But pause to reflect for a second: First, it is patently incorrect to state, as one did, that this camping "tradition" only started in the 1980s".
We are a people who have traditionally "gone down to the sea", and this has taken many forms over the centuries. The first 'taste' of Cayman was by the shipwrecked, marooned or deserters who surely made their first 'camps' on the beaches – before establishing more permanent housing. Or, until a storm forced them inland.
Even so, the shoreline was a source of food & survival – from coconuts to conch.
As time went on, the local 'wreckers' lured ships onto our dark reefs at night, and benefitted from the salvage (though usually saving all souls on board).
The schooner/boat -launch events were most grand occasions, and the entire community – in their Sunday best – came out to celebrate these by the seashore. This was a time of mixed emotions, for while the boats provided livlihoods, tehere were no guarantees that the men and boys aboard would ever come back home – and many didnt.
Of course the boats coming home with turtle and other provisions, and the sale of rope etc, made our shoreline our top commercial property – although not for housing (until tourism came along).
Hmm. I wonder what the beaches & properties would still look like today if Hurricane Ivan had hit us directlyfrom the west??
Of course the Christian symbolism of Easter is mostly lost now, for this was a time of mass revival and baptisms, for which the sea & beach was vital.
And, there were the majestic boat regattas and races of boats – and even model boats.
Back then this camping was not traditionally ‘trespassing’. The camping in past times was done on public lands (up to the vegetation line) until the real estate pros convinced govt to extend the property ownership to the waterline (high water mark) to sell more square inches of our white-gold.
Plus, we didn't sleep on the beaches – the sandflies and mosquitoes ensured we didnt.
Today, like anything involving masses of people, Easter camping needs regulation and enforcement, and I hope to see this introduced (even if at a small coast to campers), so that my 3 kids will be able to enjoy this in the future.
Just some food for thought…
Say whatever you want about the history of Caymanians and the sea…camping was NOT a tradition here. I beleive it was Uncle Bill who brought int he first tens about 20 to 30 years ago. So the premise of this article that some greedy developer is doing away with some Caymanian tradition is nonsence.
Add to that Caymanians ( and others for that matter) have taking to using the beach as a garbage bag. They abuse it and yes it is time to regulate it.
A thoughtful and well written commentary.
Oh – add to that the 3 important uses of our beaches –
1 In addition to the spawnings of the almost extinct red shank crabs and other creatures, our beaches and those sea grape/casuarina trees were a great location for our own amorous retreats and many an island baby was sired there!
2 the sand was the easiest material back then to dig and use as burial sites – thus they are beachfront properties now.
3. The sand and gravel were key components of our homes and yards – thus the fading tradition of picture-postcard sand-yard cottages!
I am sorry to burst the condescending little bubble of so many here … but "Easter camping" is not a tradition held as sacred to the majority of Caymanians.
I too agree that the issue of trash being left behind must be addressed, however, some of the sentiments being expressed on this thread are as insulting as they are misplaced.
Yet another example of individuals speaking out of their asses in regards to a topic that they do not fully understand.
Quite telling indeed, for if some of you had bothered to interact with and integrate a bit more into our community you would have been able to forward more informed and relevant comments.
Kindly get to know us before you attempt to criticize us.
Lastly, I am always perplexed by the common accusations of "Caymanians" today. It is very much out of synch with the reputation of our people and country upon which our modern successes were founded;
All of the above is very much incontrast to the labels that are being forced upon us today.
Very interesting, as even if those labels were true, there appears to be a direct correlation between the arrival of our "newcomers" (and their toys) and or the ratio of "Others" : Caymanians becoming a bit heavy on the side of the "others", and the alleged negative changes in our society and environment.
Regardless, it is also very interesting to hear the never-ending calls for more of the (modern) same as a "solution" to our problems.
*All that being said – I would much prefer to live in a country and environment that has to worry about the potential for a bit of extra trash on an annual basis than live in or hail from one where vomit, alcohol, blood, sperm, used condoms, urine, used tampons etc. are hosed off its city centers' streets, walls and doorways on a weekly – sometimes nightly – basis.
(A cookie goes to the first reader to correctly identify the nation in question. Extra bonus for provided weblinks to photographic evidence of such barbarism … its not hard to find!)
Just another anti-expat rant in the guise of responding to the camping story. No real change there.
Thank you poster.
Thank you for demonstrating the very twisted and entitled mentality that plagues many users of this website.
You took it upon yourself to highlight what you considered to be an "anti-expat rant" yet there is no evidence of you doing the same to highlight the many instances of anti-Caymanian rants in this very thread and on this website in general.
I suggest you (and your like-minded friends) conduct some thorough research into Get-over-yourself-ology.
That "we are the mighty" attitude of yours (and your friends) doesn't fly with this current generation of Caymanians, my friend. We respect fairness and integrity. Anything else will be rightly called out and discarded.
The sooner you (and your friends) understand this, the sooner our community will arrive at the place of brotherly-love for which my people are renown.
Yours faithfully,
Whodatis
Renowned.
Well said, brother.
Can we suggest that you follow your own advice given the xenophobic rants you throw down from your high horse while sounding like a politics student from 1968.
I gave you a thumbs up by accident. Please deduct one thumb up.
Lol!
You just made my weekend … that was classic!!
🙂
The contempt with which many expats view Caymanians and their customs comes out clearly here.
Exactly correct.
I am Caymanain born and raised and I view this custom with Contempt because people do not respect the beaches when they're out there camping. I am sick of having to clean up after other people and tired of people treating my private property like they own it. The beaches may be public but the furniture on my back patio is not so keep your freaking hands of it. I work hard to pay for my beach view and should not have to see tents on the beach behind my house every easter while my family sits down at the diner table, and then we are the one who have to clean up the mess thats left behind.
Obviously any right-thinking person would object to littering the beach or private property or using private property without permission. Try to distingish between that and the custom of camping out itself whichhas been lambasted on here in the most derogatory terms.
I amnot an Easter camper, but it made my heart sing to see the campers next to the South Sound dock making the place cleaner than they found it before they departed late yesterday.
Those right at the SS dock do a good job every year however they are not the normal unfortunately.
The focal point of this debate is over convenience rather than access. The hassle of carrying stew a few hundred extra yards to next year's campsite versus any proper concern over the preservation and maintenence of public parklands. Diverting the road away from the beach will certainly not be convenient for those who have grown accustomed to wiring up full-sized household appliances. It is strange that these same groups are not vocal in securing an environmental law, the release of the $40mln+ Environmental Protection Fund nor theacquisition and preservation of additional public space. We never hear protests about how the public playgrounds at the parks (ironically donated by DART) are wasting away under the neglect of successive administrations – in some cases, hazardously. Such is the rank of child affairs among those responsible for bringing up Cayman's future generations. Such a shame that priorities are so far askew and focused on stew.
what happened at royal palms yesterday?
a bunch of people got drunk?
The reefs get hammered over Easter, especially the conch beds, which often get stripped out. Cayman has world-class litter bugs, who love to ruin what they claim to enjoy. You come across their s*** everywhere, even on the supposedly pristine Mastic Trail.
It is clear that Ken Dart a rich developer is nothing but a thorn in the side of the people of the Cayman Islands, particularly the working middle class.
Caymanians hoping to get rid of Dart holding Cayman hostge with his deep pockets, and railroading your rights and privileges, you simply need to get rid of McKeeva Bush by not voting for him in 2013. Hopefully the people of West Bay will be frustrated, furious and fed up enough to the point that they are willing to sacrifice money, microwaves, stoves, new roofs, cars, and all other handouts to save themselves from this man's control and preserve the future of their children and their children's children.
There is absolutely no hope and no future for Caymanians under McKeeva Bush as Premier. He is a representative and advocate for xpats and Caymanians are no where in the equation of his plans for their success and prosperity for Caymanian Families. The more pristine crown land Dart acquires on a constant basis under McKeeva Bush as premier, the more swamp land Dart will offer up for Caymanians Indians to live on the reservations offered to Caymanians by Dart and Mr. Bush! it is a atoatal disenfranchise of the will and rights of the people of the Cayman Islands. This is a loss of one's dignity and democracy.
The UDP is a total disgrace and a poor excuse for a political party and is nothing short of a totally incompetent government.
They must be ousted in 2013 at all costs..
Amen!
To: Anonymous on Tue, 04/10/2012 – 08:04
You were going well until you made the comment about 'advocate for xpats'.
Stop making it a Caymanian/Expat war!!! Mac likes that the island is divided in that respect. Can you imagine how great this place would be if you weren't so angry at the expats?
Get over it!!! They are here to stay and they help fuel our economy! If you want their jobs then get our schools finished and staffed with excellent teachers!! EDUCATE YOUR CHILDREN!!!
Education is the key, always has been . If you haven't learned that from caveman days, you're not paying attention. And the only place you are headed is downhill with Mac!
Good stuff
Hopefully this environmentally damaging “tradition” will end soon…at least on other people’s property. This “tradition” only started in the 1980s and it has destroyed more pristine beach than any other activity. Fires and charcoal in the sand, using the nearest bush as a outhouse, littering everywhere and killing anything that moves within the area. Not good for our beaches. Not good for our environment. Not good for our county’s image.
I think you need to compare the scope of 'enviromental damage' of some beach users and their trash to the complete and very long lasting buldozing, and paving of the beach.
This may help: go to any beach that is now a reastaurant, bar, whatever and count say the lizards, crabs, plants. Now go to a camped on beach and do a count.
Whilst you are correct to some extent, you generalise too much and you seem to view all camping families with contempt and appear gnorant to the fact that many families here have actually been camping each Easter since the 1960's, perhaps even earlier for all I know. Well, that's certainly the case for my family, although sadly next year we'll probably have to find a new spot because some rich dude is building a house where we have camped for decades and Iexpect won't want us camping right next to it. next year Yes we have fire and charcoals in the sand (which incidentally is parrot shit and as dead as a dodo so I am lost as to the "environmental damage" caused by it). We rake and clean the beach each year leaving it cleaner than we found it. We don't use a bush for an "outhouse" we hire a portable toilet. Nothing gets killed except for the fish we catch and eat. Anything else that moves is something to show and educate the children, each time we go fishing we show the children how to fish, explain to them about replenishment zones and the natural flora and fauna in the area. The children find it fascinating and the entire family comes together happily without arguments this one time each year. Everyone is happy, nobody is causing trouble, we leave the place cleaner than we found it and we damage absolutely nothing. Please understand that generalising as you direct your remarks not only at those who are guilty of what you accuse them of, but also those who aren't.. If carried out responsibly as our families, and other families we know do, this tradition does nothing to damage the beach, environment or our image, all it does perhaps is spoil the view of those who build properties right on the beaches and then love to complain so much when someone does so much as accidentally step on a grain of sand on their properties. The only thing destroying Cayman's beaches right now are those who build upon them.
Hey, camping is the tradition, not being an @55 as you detailed above. We need Easter Camp rangers! Police come out for Pirates Week and Heritage Days so why not at Easter?
Oh and guess what, those some @553s you mentioned use the bush as an outhouse every weekend, litter and destroy the environment all year long not just as Easter.
So learn to seperate the Tradition from the @ss#S or you will be identified as one yourself.
As a Caymanian born and living here all my life I can assure you that Easter camping is NOT a Cayman tradition. I agree with the other bloggers that the campers leave the beaches filthy and littered with their garbage for others to clean up. In any event I believe there is something in our statutes that strictly prohibit camping especially on the beaches.
This practice should be banned. These encampments are a disgusting eyesore.
Besides the fact that the "campers" leave the beach absolutely filthy and do not even attempt to clean up their garbage, the majority of "camping" is being done on private property. This amounts to TRESPASSING. i know that if ony one of the "campers" came outside one morning to find several people setting up a tent in their front yard, throwing garbage on the ground and pi**^ng on their hedge there would be blood shed. Yet, some people feel they have the right to use, abuse and destroy other peoples property and call it "tradition". A BIG PILE OF CRAP!!!!!
Now, the economic terrorist are trying to use that to gain support for their campaign against the ForCayman Investment Alliance. BS!!! The land is privately owned, sold, given away, or traded originally by our own Caymanian forefathers because it had no agriculture value. It seems the ones that are creating the most fuss about it are the so called West Bay Alliance. XXXXX
The beach where where the Westin is now used to be a popular spot too. Whats next? Occupy Westin??
There it is Cayman JACK is telling you straight you can't go on or through his beach to bathe and Jack says When you and your government sold it to him you also sold your rights to do so! Those who don't take care of what they have usually end up loosing it, fact of life Cayman get use to it. Easter Camping is a privilege not a right!
I for one will not be leaving my comfortable air conditioned room, and memory foam bed, to go camping and sleep on the ground with mosquitos biting me.
You don't know what you're missing until you try it. I used to think the same thing but got proved wrong. Now I wouldn't miss camping for the world and look forward to Easter more than Christmas, New Year and my birthday. A little bit of bug spray is all that's required perhaps in the early morning and evenings but other than that, my annual Easter camping trips are pure bliss.
This sordid little "tradition" should be discouraged. It prevents any civilized use of the beaches and makes Grand Cayman look like a refugee camp.
Wow, those is some pretty mean words.
Yes,some beaches are usually left in a mess; however, "sordid little tradition" , "pevents any civilized use of the beach"?!Man im not sure, but you sound like a cynical, grumpy and ignorant human being. I strolled the beaches and found happy local families taking in a Cayman tradition, which has been since the 1980's. Playing beach games, spending time with family,enjoying music, having a drink, socialising,please explain what part of this prevents any civilized use of the beach, in fact I have a better question; could it be you just dont like to share space with certain people?
Cayman,please remember to consider our environment, fellow man and seas. Preserving our history and identity does not stop at the "fun stuff" alone!
Lets use some perspective here.
One weekend a year. So all those drunkass cruise ship tourists who are here all year round, puking up, acting totally shamelessly, throwing bottles and plastic cups and straws all over the beach, walking round town with barely any clothes on, wearing little to nothing on the beach for all to see; drinking and dancing on the tables and showing their privates – you call that "civilised"?
Please get a reality check.
"Sordid litle tradition" and "refugee camp"
Is that what you call it when it is done on Mt. Everest by those seeking to climg to the top of the world?
Is that what you call it when it is done in North America by families fly fishing?
Is that what you call it when it is done in done in Europe?
Sounds like someone things themselves too good for our Caymanian traditions.
This is an old tradition that needs to stop anyway, people litter the beaches during this activity as if they have no respect for it. The Caymanian people of these days are nothing like the ones of yesteryear. They have no respect for the land they call their own. Just walk down any beach after Easter and see how disgusting it looks. Look at the public parks strewn with litter and this cannot be blamed on Tourists. Nowadays only the beaches in front of privately owned resorts are in preteen condition because they keep them clean..While the rest of the people just leave their garbage behind and feel it's someone else’s job to clean up I am sick of seeing charcoal and ashes dumped in the sand.
Make a comment like this in person and you will be told "it's my island" and if you don't like it, go back where you came from.
I was born and raised here. Were you?
Born and raised in a country that has been totally funded by foreigner investors and middle class expats labor and tourism. Wait for it….wait for it…"then leave if you don't like it"
Cayman does need foreign investment, but it is absolutely wrong to discount the major contributions made by Caymanians themselves and by working class expats.
I made a mistake, foreign investors that have earned cayman status through their large investments, so they are not really foreign by law right?
You are still desparately trying to take credit away from Caymanians and working class expats.
Thompson Shipping brings your goods here, AL Thompson's secures your home against hurricanes, IMP imports your possessions, Kirk's, Hurley's and Foster's feed you, Kirk Freeport gives you a place to spend your bonus…do not be so quick to discount the contributions of Caymanians to the development of this island. We put it in a state to attract all of you. You just did exactly what you did at home once you moved here: practise law, crunch numbers, sell properties, cut hair, whatever. It took some truly extraordinary and hardy people to move here centuries ago, some by accident, and get it most of the way to where it is. You all just added the icing to the cake. I agree that cake is very bland without icing, but still you cannot have one without the other.
So?
As you should.
Interesting responses. I accept that, as a visitor, I can and should go back where I came from if I do not like it here. What I do not understand and have experienced first-hand is the willingness and (it seems) preference of some Caymanians to trash the very place they live. Yes, you are free to dump your waste and refuse anywhere you want. But why would you want to? Why do some Caymanians almost insist on polluting their yards and neighborhoods, turning beautiful landscapes into piles of rubbish? This is what I do not understand. Just saying.
I am sick of seeing the island plowed under and paved over so you don’t have to feel revulsionn at the sight of some burned wood!
Did you comment on the disgraceful way the beach was left after New Year? Ask yourself why not. I try to walk the beach as much as possible and no one can deny that the camping usually leaves the beach worse than it was found, some exceptions of course. Sometimes you have to educate people on what’s right and wrong, just because it’s obvious to you doesn’t mean it’s obvious to everyone!
It would be a big plus for the environment if Easter camping was banned, the amount of garbage, destruction and human contamination caused by this recently adopted 'Cayman tradition' is pretty shocking.
I dont camp but I feel they have the right to do so.
That being said they should be held accountable for the garbage.
Dont forget…."get permission from the landowners if it is not public land". Most camp beyond the highwater mark and that is clearly private land.
I suppose it’s a big plus for the environment if we bulldoze big tracts of ecosystem and build concessions to entertain some bored people.
so judging by the 'votes' it looks like Yes, it is better for the enviroment to encapsulate it in concrete and 'granite with stainless steel' than to leave a cooked chicken on it to rot. Makes me glad I'm old enough to not see this world in 40 years. bye bye and thanks for all the 'attractions'
A visit to public beach on any cruise ship day is as bad, if not worse for littered plastic and fast food packaging. But we are looking to increase this Cayman "tradition". It's OK for one group of people and not for another? And yet I don't see any clear signs letting people know how damaging it is for our sea life for plastic bottles and bags to end up in the ocean.
…really? you need a sign to say don't put your trash on the beach? Don't steal the conchs? dont throw plastic in the water??… Common courtsey and common sence is all one should need. As for the cruise shipers, the company that put them there should clean up their mess or lose their business license.
People seem to confuse undeveloped property with public land. Many have been tresspassing for years and seem to be unconscious of the fact that they are just squatters on somebody else's place. If there is a real problem, which is far from certain, Cayman should create some more parks and buy back land if it needs to. Private owners of beachfront property do not owe anyone camping rights.
Well spoken on behalf of the one percenters. Keep defending them, they really like to see that
Give me your address and I will set up a pup tent there this weekend.
troll
West bay, big house, tall walls… You pay my security and chef fees… Lay it on…
People seem to confuse the earth for their own.
Private ownership of beachfront property is fine, but private ownership of one grain of sand on the beach should never have been allowed in the first place. No beach in any country should belong to anyone but the general public. I have no pity for you if you are one of these greedy selfish people who claim the same beach that has been used publicly for generations before you built your home there.
Thats not going to happen, Remember what our premier said they here for us!
It is over Caymanians it ends when you sell the land simply as that!
But another thing… the campers love to litter the beaches! They don't clean up after the mess they make! You see garbage cans, condom wraps, bags, et cetera on the beaches. So if they lose certain preveleges, I can see why!
What’s with all the condom talk. You people sound like your knee deep in condoms. It’s BS you’re knee deep in.
So say you about a group of people one weekend per annum. So what pray, is your solution to the real issue of the daily garbage, bad language, and nudity that we all have to put up with from the cruise ship tourists?
Oh come on! This 'tradition' has about 0.05% participation of the population. Leave it to the 'activisits' to twist this around. There is still lots of beach left to set up these anacronistic sqatter camps.
BTW, while some folks are respectful of the places they occupy, there are LOTS of people that dont quite clean up after a weekend of squatting. Parts of South Sound and SMB look like refuse camps after the squatting is over.
PLEASE clean up EVERYTHING once you leave your camp.
(Cant imagine why anyone would want to set up squatters camps on Barkers Beach. That area is always littered with needs and condoms and people just using it as a dump. Our company used to clean up there once a year, but we stopped doing it after noticing that a month after our cleanup, the condoms and needles were back)
Odd…. I am an expat and not a camper but I do go to Barkers quite often. Yes there is some trash, but I 10000000 times prefe that to say a parking lot and booze fueling station serving up bad food on stale bread. You and you ‘company’ may stay away thank you.
Needles?????? Do tell, what needles you are referring to, as I am unaware that we even had drug addicts who use needles!!! Are you sure you don't mean the crack pipes? Last time I checked we only had cocaine addicts here unless of course they have been imported from other countries and brought their dirty habits with them as they usually do……
Government and Dart are concerned about the tradition of making money. Not camping.
Mac is selling us out to Dart and if you think the loss of camping on the 7 Mile Beach area is the only lose to our traditions that will hit us over time because of the you sadly wrong.
Dart is doing the planning for our future not the people. It will be Dart that wins and the people that lose.
Not stopping it now means that it will for ever be too late Cayman.
absolute nonsense and scaremongering…..
question to easter caymanian campers….. how many of you are trespassing on private property?
Ummm, that’s kind of the point Einstein.
How many American Indians are trespassing on ‘private’ property?
True. So Caymanians descended from Tiano, Arawak, or Carib peoples should be allowed to camp….oh wait…
Tainos and Caribs are not indigenous to the Caribbean but were the first settlers in certain islands not including Cayman.
Its simple..if your ganny or grand pa sold your beach land dont go claim it now…go borrow their SUV at their airconditioned house and be happy.
I know it's difficult, but the Cayman People have to decide what is most important to them.
It would be nice if we could. Mac is not letting us.
…..And surely it ain’t camping and littering on someone else’s land!