New high point for Cayman

(CNS): Not know for its sky scrapers and tall towers, there are not many places where people get the chance to get a bird’s eye view of Cayman but with the opening of Camana Bay’s Observation Tower there is a place where residents and visitors alike can take a peek day or nigh free of charge.  Located in the new town centre the Tower is 75 feet tall and offers a 360 degree view across Seven Mile Beach, George Town and the North Sound. According to a release from Camana Bay the Observation Tower was designed as a destination in its own right with its louvered windows modelled after those of traditional great houses, and its array of pastel colours reminiscent of old Caymanian houses.

“Its one-of-a-kind vantage point ensures that even as Camana Bay flourishes around it, it will continue to provide visitors with incomparable views and time to enjoy a truly unique piece of art,” the release sated.  “Just as impressive as the tower’s outlook is the journey to the top via a double helix staircase –two spirals that interweave but never touch. The staircase climbs alongside a floor to ceiling mosaic depicting Cayman’s beautiful reefs and marine life, giving the sense of ascending a deep sea dive from sea bed to surface.”

The mosaic in The Observation Tower is one of three landmark mosaics the other two are expected to be revealed in mid-October, designed to add visual beauty to spaces which are utilitarian in purpose. The sea wall mosaic was created to engage and entertain Camana Bay guests and to allow each visitor to experience the undersea life for which the Cayman Islands are famous. The sea life photography, which this mosaic is based on, was taken in water surrounding the Sister Islands.

The “sea wall” concept was designed by The Design Theorem to mimic the experience of scuba diving – the first level of the Observation Tower represents the sea bed, with the top of the tower a view of the sun as it peers through the water’s crest. Venetian glass tiles, made in Vicenza, Italy by Bisazza were imported and used to construct the mosaic designs. The Observation Tower design used the historic art of hand-cutting to create the minute details and characteristics of the coral life represented using the mosaic tiles. All of the precision hand-cutting was performed in Miami, Florida by Mosaico Boutique.

The Observation Tower may be the largest undersea mosaic installation of its kind in the world and Camana Bay said research is currently underway to determine if this is the case.