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Fri 3:00 pm EST: Grand Cayman ready, mostly, for Gustav
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| Published on Friday, August 29, 2008 |
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A solitary green iguana stands guard over the empty streets of George Town as Tropical Storm Gustav approaches. Photo Steve Knipp
By mid afternoon, the runway of Grand Cayman’s Owen Roberts International Airport looked lonely and abandoned, its last departing flight, a fully booked Cayman Airways 737 bound for Tampa, having lifted off at 10.55 am.
Three miles away, a blazing summer sun made the sands of Grand Cayman’s famously beautiful Seven Mile Beach look as white as baked salt. But they too were as empty and silent as the airport terminal, the island’s international tourists having all either already departed for calmer climes, or were locked safely away in their hotel rooms watching television.
In downtown George Town, the international banks, law firms and cruise ship kiosks had all been closed for nearly 24 hours, their big plate glass windows secured behind specially-designed aluminium hurricane shutters. On historic Albert Panton Street, not far from the courthouse, the only soul out and about was a curious meter-long iguana.
The only activity still apparent in this normally lively tropical town was at Hammerheads bar and restaurant, directly on the waterfront, and potentially, in the direct path of rapidly approaching Tropical Storm Gustav.
Here an assortment of bold younger tourists and well-known island gadflies still mixed, delighted to have the Friday off. In flip-flops and tank tops, they were chatting and toasting their good fortune with bottles of chilled Caybrew, the locally produced beer, while nibbling on conch fritters.
Meanwhile, white caps were starting to appear in the harbour. | | | | Reads : 122 |
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