First guests at Brac Reef Resort

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The Brac Reef Resort this weekend accepted its first guests since Hurricane Paloma destroyed the hotel in November last year.

The resort will officially reopen in autumn, but its first guests of 2009, the Dive Pirates, got a sneak peek of the revamped resort when they arrived on Saturday.

The Dive Pirates were taking part in a diving weekend at the Sister Islands. The group consisted of 63 divers, 15 of whom were divers with disabilities.

"Though we are on the mend, we are very excited to say we will be co–hosting the adaptive divers this year with The Breaker’s Condos and the new The Alexander Hotel, and the divers will continue to use Reef Divers II with its staff of specially–trained dive masters. 

“The entire community of Cayman Brac Island is thrilled to welcome back the Dive Pirates," says Mary Brandes, Owner, Brac Reef Beach Resort. "From our staff at Brac Reef Beach Resort, to the taxi drivers and people at Cayman Air, the entire community is joining together to host the Pirates, especially as the island’s first official group since Hurricane Paloma."

Dive Pirates was originally a social club of divers started by Barbara Thompson of Houston, Texas. In 2003, it became affiliated with Adaptive Scuba Instruction, a training philosophy that addresses specific needs of a disabled individual, trains to that specific disability, and then prepares that individual to dive with mainstream Open Water Divers. 

The Dive Pirates will be the first official tourist group back to Cayman Brac since Hurricane Paloma in November 2008, which rendered the island, and Brac Reef Beach Resort, temporarily closed.