Bruce Tanner headed up the Midwest Scuba dive trip to Grand Cayman in March 2005. He says considering what the island went through during Hurricane Ivan, they are doing remarkably well with a great comeback!

The east end of the island, as well as Bodden Town, suffered the heaviest damage. 7 Mile Beach reopened around the first of the year. Both the diving and the cruise ship business are bouncing right back. On one day when the Midwest Scuba crew drove through Georgetown, there were seven ships in port … that's about 15,000 people!

Georgetown is mostly open now. There are only a few hotels than remain closed, and some hotels still have a few rooms closed. Sunset House even had a few rooms they were still working on. Although much of the vegetation was destroyed during the hurricane, Grand Cayman doesn't look too bad. Many of the Caribbean islands actually imported fully grown palm trees to replace those lost to Ivan.

Bruce reported only light damage on a few of the dive sites. In general, the diving is still great, both from the boats and from shore. In case you were worried, the Sunset House mermaid is just fine!