News

It was a busy February afternoon on Cayman Brac: A half-dozen sunbathers were turning the colour of mahogany armoires on a curve of the public beach, a boatload of scuba divers left the dock at the Brac Reef Beach Resort, and I passed two cars along the entire length of the island's South Side Road.

Only 140 kilometres from Grand Cayman's casinos, five-star hotels, glitzy boutiques and hordes of cruise-ship passengers, "the Brac," as locals call their tiny Caribbean island, couldn't be more laid-back if it was swinging in a hammock.

The island -- 19 kilometres long and less than two kilometres wide -- may be small, but it's certainly the most dramatic of the three-island archipelago. Brac means "bluff" in Gaelic, and the word perfectly describes the island's main feature: a great wedge-shaped slab of limestone that slants up from west to east and ends in a 43-metre-high cliff that drops to the crashing waves.

Tiny communities and a handful of beachside resorts are spread around the bluff in a narrow skirt of flat land, where the main focus seems to be the cultivation of a sun-drenched somnolence that keeps the party-hearty crowds away but draws others back year after year.

"It's quiet and not for everyone," said Mitzi Scott, a local tourism-industry spokeswoman. "But many of our visitors are regulars: people who come for a quiet do-little break; or divers and snorkellers."

Aside from the sort of tranquil atmosphere that has long since vanished on many popular Caribbean islands, the star attractions of the Brac, the largest of the two "Sister Islands" in the Cayman group, are found offshore. Since the 1970s, when it was first discovered in a big way by scuba enthusiasts, it has perennially been ranked by the sport's magazines as one of the top dive destinations in the world.

"You just can't beat the diving here," said Martin Van Der Touw, dive operations manager at Brac Reef Beach Resort. "Underwater visibility is up to 100 feet, water temperature is usually in the low 80s and there are more than 50 designated dive sites around the island. People can come here for two weeks and never dive on the same site during their stay."

At the top of any must-do list for divers is the 100-metre-long Russian-built Cuban frigate that was intentionally sunk off the island's west end in 1996. Renamed MV Capt. Keith Tibbets after a popular Brac politician and master mariner who died the same year, it lies 15 to 21 metres below the surface, slowly being encrusted with hard and soft corals.

Another wreck popular with divers is that of the Prince Frederick. Built in New Brunswick, the Norwegian-registered vessel was on its way from Brazil to Mississippi in 1897 when it ran aground on Brac's southern reef.

Last year, a local artist started work on an artificial underwater attraction called the Lost City of Atlantis in a sandy area near a popular dive site known as Radar Reef. Easily accessible even for snorkellers, the "city" is now open and will eventually consist of more than 100 submerged sculptures ranging from human figures to a huge sundial and a three-metre-high pyramid.

But Brac's main underwater lures are natural: numerous shallow reefs swarming with queen trigger fish, trumpet fish and reef sharks; and awesome walls -- pocked with a labyrinth of tunnels and coral arches -- that drop into the black abyss. Fishing is also excellent around the island, either from shore for bonefish, pampano and tarpon, or from charter boats for deep-water battles with blue marlin, wahoo, dorado and barracuda.

Non-divers and non-fishers will find diversions inland. Hikers and birders can explore more than 14 kilometres of trails that crisscross the bluff. About 200 bird species have been spotted on the island, including frigate birds, brown boobies, owls, peregrine falcons and the rare Cayman Brac parrot.

A relatively easy hike through the Parrot Reserve takes you from Major Donald Drive to the edge of the bluff on the south coast for a terrific view over the sea. But be warned: In places, the elements have carved the limestone into serrated daggers, and tripping would be like falling into a shredder. Sturdy hiking boots are recommended and it's wise not to get too close to the edge of the cliffs.

Major Donald Drive, which cuts across the centre of the island, also leads to the lighthouse at the eastern tip of the Brac. At almost 43 metres, it is the highest point in the Cayman archipelago, and was spotted by Christopher Columbus in 1503 on his fourth and final voyage to the New World. While it's an ideal spot for a warning light, that light has not always been successful. Many shipwrecks lie under the crashing waves at the base of the sheer cliff that, in recent years, has become a magnet for rock climbers.

Brac's long limestone spine is riddled with caves that have historically served as shelters during severe storms. Peter's Cave, for example, at about 800 square feet, is the largest on the island and can accommodate up to 100 people in an emergency. Reached by a wooden staircase above the small community at Spot Bay on the northeast coast, it was most recently used in 2004 when initial forecasts put Hurricane Ivan on a direct course for the Brac. In the end, the storm gave the island only a glancing blow before going on to destroy 70 per cent of the buildings on Grand Cayman, a devastation from which that tourist centre is still recovering.

The Brac has not always been so lucky. A poignant reminder of nature's fury is a small sad tombstone in Rebecca's Cave near the southwest coast. Seventeen-month-old Rebecca Bodden was one of 108 people out of a total population of less than 2,000 to die in a fierce hurricane that devastated the island in 1932. At the western end of the island, a trail leads to a marker and a ring of stones that indicates the site of a mass grave for 19 other victims of that powerful storm.

And a tiny museum at Stake Bay has a small but dramatic exhibit that tells the story of the catastrophe. It also has relics that illustrate island life from the 19th and early 20th centuries, when Brackers made their living farming small plots on the bluff, building ships, hunting turtles and salvaging shipwrecks.

Most of the wild turtles are gone now -- along with the caymans that lent the islands their name -- and most locals make their living from the renewable resource of tourism. Along the beach in front of the small resorts at Brac's southwest tip, clusters of hand-painted driftwood signs left behind by vacationers sprout from poles and decorate the sides of dive shacks. Locals say it's a display of ownership by those who plan to return. One at the Reef Beach Resort said it all: "I'll be Brac"

Pack your bags

GETTING THERE

Air Canada (aircanada.com)has regular non-stop flights to Grand Cayman. Cayman Airways (http://www.caymanairways.com) offers regular inter-island service.

WHERE TO STAY

Brac Caribbean Beach Resort: 345-948-2265; http://www.866thebrac.com. Rates from $215 a day.

Brac Reef Beach Resort: 345-948-1323; http://www.bracreef.com. Rates from about $235 for three nights.

Carib Sands Beach Resort: 345-948-1121; http://www.866thebrac.com. Rates from $1,275 for seven nights.

Divi Tiara Beach Resort: 345-948-1553; http://www.diveresorts.com. Rates from about $1,165 for three nights.

Most resorts offer multi-day packages for divers and non-divers.

MORE INFORMATION

Tourist and diving information:

caymanislands.ky, divecayman.ky and http://www.naturecayman.com.

Recommended Reading: Adventuring on Cayman Brac, by Skip Harper (widely available on the Brac).