A stroll along Seven Mile Beach by one of our reporters in what should have been a relaxing endeavour enjoying one of our best natural assets instead turned into a lament over its future.
(See article 1 in our new series on Page 4 - 7 in this edition)
The stretch of the shoreline is still seven miles - for the time being at least - but to call it Seven Mile Beach is in danger of stretching the reality of what’s left of it.
Our beloved Seven Mile Beach, by far Cayman’s most captivating tourist attraction, is being eroded in fact and its significance as the brand that sells ‘destination Cayman’.
But it’s not too late before it’s all gone and not just due to the gradual but unrelenting impact of climate change on our low-lying territory.
Much of it is self-inflicted. And by self-inflicted we mean caused by us and the continuing mad scramble for beachside developments.
Unless stopped, this front seat on Seven Mile Beach will soon be relegated from a front porch view and access to this spectacular, pristine natural beauty to a view of an eyesore because at the rate we are going, Seven Mile Beach might soon be no more.
In real terms, it’s already less-than-Seven-Mile-Beach.
The natural ebb and flow of the tides and storms which take away and replenish the sand on this treasured beach is at risk of irreversible man-made damage to this ultimate high-value natural asset.
Our award-winning Seven Mile Beach has been named one of the Ultimate Beaches in the region by Caribbean Travel + Life, the 4th Best Beach in the Caribbean by Trip Advisor, and the 12th of the best beaches in the world by MSN.
The Department of Tourism proudly states on the visitCayman website, “Seven Mile Beach is among the many reasons why Cayman is considered the ultimate destination.”
We need to be very careful that we don’t become a victim of our success by killing the goose that lays the golden egg.
Michel Lemay
31 Jan, 2023First they need to remove all those walls and no more building near the ocean.