George Leppla

We were one of the first ships back into Grand Cayman after Hurricane Ivan. I wanted to get away from the city area to see what damage has been done so Becca and I took the public bus system. To get a bus you walk left from the tender pier, turn right at Colombian Emeralds and go the Post Office where you turn left and walk 2 blocks. The bus area is there and there is a person who will explain the system to you. Basically, there are two "loops"... east and west. The west loop takes about one hour to complete and the east about twice that. The fare is $2.50 US for the west and $5 US for the east. You pay this fare no matter how long you stay on the bus... so you can ride the entire loop for one fare. If you get off, you pay another fare when you get back on. There are lots of bus stations along the main roads but the buss will stop anywhere if you wave to the driver. These vans are small and cramped but the people and drivers were friendly. The countryside in Grand Cayman is devastated. The hardest to replace damage is the large, old trees that have literally been uprooted and flattened. Thousands of palms are gone as well as other varieties. Things grow fast in the Caribbean climate so the underbrush and smaller plans will come back quickly but the big trees will take years to re-establish. Whole buildings are gone. Many of the stores in the surrounding areas are closed as are many of the hotels. I think that by the end of the year that the island will be mostly back in business but it will be a long time before they recover from this storm.

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