Ship shape

It has been recently reported that Grand Cayman's population is now sitting at about 60,000 people. Not that that's any cause for concern. This island is plenty big to house more than 60,000 of us, unlike Bermuda where at 66,000 the island is busting at the seams, which makes sense given that it's only 21 sq miles. It is because of this, that on any given day three is the maximum number of cruise ships that dock in Hamilton, Bermuda. Some of these ships eventually make their way to Dockyard, the West side of the island or they move onto the Bahamas. But for the few days that the ships are docked in town, Hamilton is busting with cruise ship tourists and it's quite difficult during lunch hour trying to get errands done while manouvering through the droves of tourists.

What is interesting about Cayman, is that cruise ships are not allowed to dock close to the harbour, probably because of the shallow waters combined with corals that deem it an unsafe and impractical place to dock. On any given day, one can see about five cruise ships (during peak tourist season) docked way yonder. So, how do the tourists get to town from their ships? Get this: by little boats. There are no ramps that let you walk right off the ships onto the dock. There are just little boats that take you from ship to shore. But imagine this, with five cruise ships docked, and the tourists that make their way onto the island, its population is literally increased by one half just one given day. That's a lot of people. Luckily it's just temporary, because those ships and the tourists that come along with it have got to leave sometime.