Swamp Land with a Sandy Shoreline

Well its been a year since we stepped foot in the swamp, and its been a roller coaster of a year. The financial crisis is well underway and the financial markets and those that depend on them have their work cut out for the next year or two or three.............

Having lived in Bermuda for seven years we have been asked many times how the two islands compare, and we certainly do our fair share of comparing the two islands ourselves. With the exception of competing for the right to claim itself as the supreme offshore jurisdiction for hedge fund administration, the two islands share little in common. Cayman’s main industry is tourism and caters to the diving community and the non-professional expat. On the other hand, Bermuda’s main industry is well established international business, primarily Reinsurance. Businesses in Bermuda have a real physical presence on the island that most importantly includes mind and management versus the thousands of P.O. Box addresses of Banks and the like that are “supposedly” resident in Cayman. In addition, Bermuda caters to the professional expat couple and the advent golfer with a number golf courses to choose from. In sum, Bermuda is a place for professional couples, offering much more career opportunities and a wider variety of industries. For non-professionals, or couples with only one profeesional Cayman is the only choice.

The attraction to Cayman is the ease of non-professionals to find work. Whether it’s working behind a bar, as a grocery cashier or at Burger King, jobs are plentiful for the non-professional. This just is not the case in Bermuda, where it is the norm for couples to be both professionals due to the difficulty of non-professionals to obtain work. In addition, the other main attraction to Cayman is the ease of purchasing relatively inexpensive property. Unlike Bermuda, there is no lack of land and townhouses for sale - no foreign property ownership restrictions. The amount of residential development on Grand Cayman is incredible, in fact the market for a townhouse or condo in the $250 - $300k range is saturated and for the most part have now become "illiquid" as these it is not unheard of for these to sit on the market for over a year before selling at large discounts. For those wanting all the comforts of home with warm weather year round, Cayman is a much easier adjustment than Bermuda - people can purchase as many SUV’s as they like with no worry of their landlord yanking their assessment number. Of course the 4 wheel drive comes in handy in Cayman when having to drive over the many speed bumps - these truly are the only resemblance of any incline/hill on the island (should also mention the high wheel base comes in handy during flooding and sea surge!). The weather also is big plus in Cayman as it is tropical vs sub-tropical in Bermuda, however hurricane season is much more of a threat than Bermuda.

With no car restrictions and little incentive to drive scooters, the traffic is becoming a big issue in Cayman. Unlike Bermuda where the scooter is as common as the car/truck, the Caymanian driver is not scooter friendly - not to mention that the vehicles in Cayman dwarf those in Bermuda (Hummers, Expeditions, Escalades etc). We must admit, there is nothing like having the wind blowing in your face as you drive your scooter along South Shore or Harbour road. However, explaining to people that riding a scooter is enjoyable, is a hard sell when one can easily jump into the comforts of their SUV during a torrential rain storm instead of putting on that non-breathable MEC rain gear.

Both islands offer the simple life with recreational facilities only minutes away from home. The recreational facilities in Cayman are top notch - squash club, tennis club and softball facility, otherwise known as “the field of dreams”. The one difference between the two countries/islands is the level of government involvement. Most of the sports facilities in Cayman have been built with private money such as “the field of dreams” and the King's Sports Complex. Whereas, the Government in Bermuda has taken a real role in investing and running such facilities as is the case with the Government Tennis Stadium and the Government run golf courses. For us, golf is both good and bad in Cayman. Getting a tee time is easy and the golf community is very small. However, with the only 18 hole public golf course due to be bull dozed within the next 6-12 months by the owner of the Ritz property, Cayman will no longer have a full 18 hole golf course for either residents or the average joe tourist - a real shame.

By far and away the biggest difference between Bermuda and Cayman is the day to day life in Cayman. We do not feel the combativeness/dislike against the expat or the racial tensions between "blacks and whites" in Cayman as we did in Bermuda. From an outsider’s perspective these issues can easily be understood simply by reading the front pages of the respective national newspapers. Of course Cayman does not have the history of slavery that Bermuda does and the residents of Cayman are made up of a number of different nationalities. With these issues coupled with the fact that the Cayman Government doesn’t feed the media waves with racial rhetoric life is much less tense on the swamp verus the rock. We have found that because you can live a relatively normal life in Cayman the expat community is not as tight as it is in Bermuda. Hence you really don’t get the expat experience in Cayman as you do in Bermuda.

Cost of living - of course there is always a pro and con when living in an offshore jurisdiction and normally the con is the cost of living. We have found Cayman to be much more costly than Bermuda, with rent being the exception. The big difference is eating out - Cayman caters to the tourists and hence the restaurants are very costly (outside of the burger joints). The fact that the CI/USD rate of $1 USD = $.82 CI does not help as most companies earn USD and hence pay their employees in USD.

Immigration & Customs is also very different between the two countries, however one does not feel this is the place or forum to discuss this any further!

Topography - Bermuda is incredibly beautiful with its inlets, bays and many pink sandy beaches. Cayman on the other hand is best described as a swamp with a sandy shoreline. For those that have experienced beautiful beaches, the (7) mile shoreline better known as (7) mile beach, pares in comparison to Horseshoe Bay, Tuckers town beach, or Elbow beach. Unlike Bermuda which has done a wonderful job limiting the amount of development on its beautiful beaches, Cayman has turned a blind eye to the negatives of over the top development which is so exemplified by the latest monstrosity, better known as the Ritz Carlton. It's an absolute eye sore that removed any charm that the strip may have once had. I won’t blame most residents if they wonder if they really do live on an island from Monday - Friday, as the shoreline is so built up with (7) storey buildings that catching a glimpse of (7) mile beach without parking the car and taking a walk is next to impossible. Bermuda has done a fantastic job protecting it’s shorelines from over development and hence the drive into work, regardles where your coming from - St. Georges or Dockyard, provides for fantastic views of the ocean - please don’t change this.

We have yet to take in any of the "touristy" sites/activities which includes Sting Ray City, Helicopter Ride, and the Atlantis Submarine. We are also putting off diving until we can no longer golf, which hopefully will not be sooner than later. We are enjoying being offshore again where the weather is warm, and everyday life is simple. We are looking forward to having guests during the "luke warm" Canadian winters and spring.

For those that may come from Bermuda for a quick visit please bring a few orders of House of India and Portofino's - we miss those eats.

For those from Vancouver some soup from Hon's and a BIG order of Sushi would be great along with a grocery trip from T&T's!

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