Issue # 68 - The April Sun (But not in Cuba)

. April 2013 .

. Hello one and all! (or maybe it's just one...)

Welcome to our April edition of what we've been up to. A month without travel for a change (that's if we discount the Jamaica trip at Easter). Still, a fairly busy month of doing stuff around the island. And there always seems to be something going on. Sport, boats and beaches pretty much make up this month's efforts.

Click HERE to view blogs from 2007 - Oct 2012. More recent blogs can be found on this page... somewhere...


SWIMMING
Just when you thought you'd seen and heard the last of swimming for a while, here's some more. After CARIFTA, the club held a fun meet to welcome back the CARIFTA swimmers. It was a Yellow v White arrangement where all of the swimmers got allocated to either the Whites or the Yellows. Jake ended up in the Yellows and Sam in the Whites. The races were all short, fun races with no official timers or anything. Parents were encouraged to come along and support their team. Since we had one in each Camp, Michelle went for the Whites (with a bit of yellow) and Dave went for the Yellows (with a bit of white).

The CARIFTA swimmers all received a certificate from the National Swimming association.
(Note the cool guy in the Yellow shirt...)

Some people got well into the spirit of things.

Jake wins some points for the Yellows

Sam adding to the White's total

 In the end it was a tight affair with the Yellows in the lead going into the final relays. According to the MC, the Whites needed to win at least two races to take out the overall points. The Yellows won one which was supposed to be enough to secure the win, but then they realised that relays count for double points and the Whites just managed to sneak though and take the overall win. Some say it was rigged... others don't agree.

But it was a fun and very quick meet.

Blonde is catching...

Beeeeeeeeauuutiful!

 Jake's Party
Jake was 10 in January but we only just got around to having his party in April (what terrible parents!).  He took a few of his mates and they went to see The Croods at the movies, then came home and had pizza and icecream cake. They then had a war around the house before being banished to their cells for the night.

 We're not sure that they had a lot of sleep, as they were a bit quiet on Sunday morning.  But they had a good time and now Jake doesn't have to wait so long for his next birthday... hopefully.

Girls' Boat Trip
You may recall that Michelle and Co. were the first all women's team in the "Off the Beaten Track" relay last month. For their efforts they were given a boat trip for an afternoon.  So they managed to agree on a date and away they went. It all started very civilized - bubbly and nibbles at Stingray City (no-one wanted to get in the water since they'd all been there and done that several times), then over to the sand bar between Starfish point and Rum Point. Here they did get off the boat, reluctantly at first, and met up with some other friends for a chinwag. After that, it was off to Rum Point for a mudslide or two - the girls had a blast - no kids and no blokes (apart from the driver!) - what a fun afternoon! At least one was rumored to have been put to bed by 7.30pm, while some went on to Sunset House for dinner, not that they remembered what they ate!
Here's hoping they win it again next year!

 Bottoms up!

 Having a bit of fun on the dock

This wasn't the only boat trip Michelle went on this month - she had two others - one a farewell trip for a couple leaving the island. She only decided to go on that at the last minute as she was unable to play touch due to her achilles injury. When she finally turned up (she was late as they had changed the roads and she couldn't find the yacht club!) she saw everyone was dressed up as pirates - she felt like a right idiot as she had completely forgotten. Anyway, a couple of ciders later she was fine! Off to Stingray City again, then to Starfish Point for some food - for one or two it was a bit late!

The other boat trip was a Happy Hour boat trip for the Gaelic girls. This was a 2 hour trip along 7 mile beach at sunset, with all you can drink beer (two choices), rum and vodka. It's amazing how many drinks you can fit in such a short space of time... Everyone got off the boat very happy (it was Happy hour after all)! A few other bars were visited during the evening, a bit of singing took place, and a good time was had by all!....Until Saturday came around...Michelle was very quiet and nursing a rather large headache for most of the day, eventually getting up and leaving the house at about 3pm - mmm, a quiet night that night! Not planning a repeat of that for a while!

Under the Sea
Sam went on a Submarine trip for her Geography class at school. They managed to squeeze about 40 kids into the Submarine and away they went. They went as deep as 102 feet.

 They spotted Barracuda, lots of coral and schools of fish as well as two turtles.  They also checked out the Cayman Trench, which is over 2km deep and apparently helps prevent Tsunamis from reaching Cayman.

Sami and Sam

Duathlon & other sport
The annual duathlon was held last weekend. Michelle had planned to do the whole thing (Run, bike, run) but injured her foot a few days before and couldn't run.  She managed to find a spare runner lurking in the bushes and they formed a fairly formidable team.

Micha and Michelle

 Dave and his mate Mick entered again. They aren't sure why they enter as they don't actually train for the event. But Dave does do a wee bit of running from time to time.  Dave did the the first run (2 miles) then Mick was off on the bike in hot pursuit of Michelle (for 12 miles) and then Dave finished off with the last run (another 2 miles). They never did catch Michelle's team...(or Mick's wife. Lisa's all girls team)!

The Well Hung Ploughboys

 There were about 105 entries. Dave and Mick finished in 55th place. Michelle finished in about 21st.
Dave won a spot prize of a spinning session, only to find out that there was another Dave Bailey on the island. They gave them both a prize.And then Michelle won one as well! And funnily enough, one of the Dave Bailey's won another prize, so they both went up again and collected another one each.

That afternoon was Gaelic. Dave's team didn't fare too well. Michelle didn't play, but her team actually won! The following week showed similar results. This time Dave's team took a real pounding. Michelle's team won again! Finals day isn't too far away either. The pressure is on!

Touch has been on the cards of late as well. Dave's team has never been beaten since this competition started (last year) and were sitting at the top of the table as at last friday.  Come last Saturday they got beaten by a point in a hard fought game against Michelle's team. Michelle was out injured. Dave's team remained at the top of the league but a week later, the winning streak was well and truly over. A 7 - 4 loss which leaves them in 2nd on the table.
Michelle's team had a win and they currently sit in 4th.
Finals day is looming!

Beach
We made it back to the beach on the weekend. It had been a while. It was our friend Lisa's birthday so there were a few folk gathered to have a nice day on the beach.

Jake makes some improvised shade

 The chefs were out in force and kept everyone happy with Ribs, Chicken, Sausages and pulled pork.
And because it was a special occasion, the generator was called for and the blender. And when the generator and blender are called for, that means Mudslides - one of the signature drinks of Cayman (Vodka, Baileys and Kahlua, and not much else). Pretty popular among the ladies.

Mudslides were on the menu!

 

The kids all had fun too!

 Our friends Toni and Paul brought their jet-ski along too. That kept the kids entertained until Paul got sick of the arguing between the girls and the boys and came in for a well-deserved beer and a mudslide.

Latest trend in Caribbean hairstyles.

Work this one out...

Reef Clean Up

 Michelle and Sam went diving one Sunday as part of the Reef Clean Up weekend. They joined a few people and headed out in search of rubbish in an effort to clean up the reef.

They found a few bits of trash and other debris during their dive.

At one stage Michelle found a piece of rope wrapped around some coral. She undid that and proceeded to follow it along the bottom. It seemed to go on for ages. She got to the end and was trying to untie it when someone came along waving and thrashing about (the equivalent of shouting above the water I guess). She was in the process of untying a dive safety line that had been put there to show divers where to go when ending their dive...  Ooops!

 I can lift it...about an inch!

The trash!

This little dude hangs around our Papaya tree.
Looks like one of the cats might have had a crack at his tail!

Click HERE for more photos from April!

Next Month.

Looks like some travel happening next month.

• Sam heads to Busch Gardens (Florida) on a school trip - all I ever got to do at that age was bike out to the Black Hole for the night, eat burnt sausages and then bike back the next day!
• Jake and Dave head to the Bahamas for Rugby.
• The whole family heads to Honduras for a weekend as well.

After all that we'll be broke and won't have any more travel stories...