. May 2014 .
Wow, May just passed us by! That was quick!
Another action packed month for us. A little bit of travel, plenty of sport, a couple of parties and some beach time. Can't complain really!
Read on!
Freeport (Bahamas) 2014
Jake and Dave headed off on their annual pilgrimage to Freeport early in the month. This is the fourth year that they have gone there for the annual Rugby Tournament. This year they again chartered one of the Cayman Airlines Jets and with about 120 others (kids, parents and the National Men's team), whizzed on over to the Bahamas for the weekend. The reason for the charter is because going commercial you have to fly via Miami, and that is a pain in the bum for most travellers, and takes the best part of a day each way. The charter is one hour each way. Perfect!
Arriving Friday lunchtime, it was a relaxing afternoon around the pool followed by a reception and welcome drinks at the Rugby club. It was great to catch up with the Freeport crowd who have been great hosts over the last four years.
Saturday morning the kids were straight into the games. Jake's team played well and never lost a game the whole weekend! In fact all of the Cayman sides came away unbeaten which is unheard of. So, despite Dave doing some of the coaching, something must be working !
Key Biscayne (an Argentinian club, based just out of Miami) came over for the weekend as well. They also brought an Oldies team over, so Dave and a few Cayman lads joined forces with Freeport and took on the Argies in what was the main game of the day..
Unfortunately the Argies cleaned up. They did have some very handy players, one of which played for Argentina about five years ago! But it was a fun game and a good run about.
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| 'Said' Argy international on the right. |
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| Catching up with some old acquaintances in Freeport |
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| Jake talking through his try after one of the games. |
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| All the kids at the official welcome |
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| Jake's team get their orders |
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| Lining up for kick off. |
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| That's how to play rugby amigo! |
A storm came up later in the day - right in the middle of the International match between Cayman and Bahamas. Because of the lightning they had to delay the restart, but the weather cleared and away they went again. Cayman coming out convincing winners and advancing a few places on the IRB rankings. Up to 56 or something!
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| Suddenly the bar at the club was packed! |
Sunday morning was the last round of the kids games. The Cayman sides all won. Then it was off to the beach for some fun.
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| Chillin on the beach. |
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| Some bar with hats stuck to the roof. Never found out the significance. Might check that out next year! |
Monday morning was the scheduled departure to head back to Cayman. Unfortunately one of their planes broke down so the Cayman group was left stranded... for 9 hours. But then someone had an idea. "Today is Cinco de Mayo!" and as luck would have it, the local Mexican bar was doing $2 Margaritas.... all day.
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| 15 Margaritas por favor! |
But the plane did arrive and everyone made it back home. Some in one piece, but plenty in pieces.
Diving
We had a spare day the other weekend so Michelle, Dave and Jake went for a dive out in the rain down the street at Eden Rock. Sam was in study mode (exams coming up) so we left her to do that in peace.
Unfortunately our dive camera is on the blink, but we went to the local Dive/Camera shop and rented one of theirs. We might even buy one as it seemed to take pretty good pictures.
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| Jake's stylish descent. |
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| An Eagle Ray decided to pay us a visit. He came back a couple of times as well. Pretty cool to see. |
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| Xmas Tree worms |
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| He's back! |
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| Mr. Shrimp |
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| Which way is up! |
800m Sea Swim
It's sea swim season at the moment and there have been a few 800m swims over recent weekends.
The Annual Flowers Mile sea swim is coming up next weekend as well, so these are a good build up for that. Sam, as usual cleaned up Michelle - of 127, Sam came in 18th, Michelle 45th and Jake 60th (won't be long until Mum's dragging up the rear...unless Dad is swimming of course!). Look out for the mile sea swim results next month!
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| Sam and co. clown about pre-race |
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| Looks like trouble... |
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| Done! A good race by all three (Dave was at the rugby club filming) |
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| Trophy time! |
Random Happenings
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| Cayman Rugby TV crew out for a few beers with Koro, who is heading back to NZ soon. |
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| We're a close bunch... |
More: CRTV Night out pics....
The Batabano parade was held recently. Batabano (officially called Cayman Carnival Batabano) is the name of the Caribbean Carnival held in the Cayman Islands. It is an annual event held in May. There are two parades held during this time in Grand Cayman: one for adults and one for children. Batabano was launched by the Rotary Club in 1984.
The word Batabano is linked to the Islands' history in turtling and is the word given to the tracks left by turtles when they drag themselves onto the beach to nest in the sand.
The parade is just one big party - it's all about loud Caribbean music and "jumping" aka dancing along the street, for about 3 hours in the heat! Everyone has a blast, and loads of spectators go out to watch the show. At the end their is judging of costumes and dance moves, then music to continue the party into the evening. Michelle and Lisa went along to watch - they knew loads of people in it - maybe it will be their turn to join the fun next year! Here's a selection of the pics. Some amazing costumes!
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| Just so you know, a lot of those bottles had more than water in them... |
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| Hazy sunset at the beach |
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| Sam cooks breakfast! Anything to get out of studying! |
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| Jake and friends playing rugby at the beach one Sunday afternoon |
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| Sam doing the Turtle crawl out of the water, up the beach and then back to the water - but she didn't lay any eggs. It is Batabano after all! |
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| Building a ramp into the sea... with varying success. |
Quiet time...
The rugby club held a fancy dress party last weekend. Michelle got busy and made these Flintstone outfits during the week. Pretty cool!
Dave made the club...
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| Banana Leaves! Yes, that is pebbles, our daughter, with a real dog bone in her hair! |
Golden rugby players, ball included!
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| A bunch of the Rugby girls |
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| The winning team costume - a six pack! Five of these guys are brothers - their younger brother was too young to be there. And there area couple of girls as well in that family.... |
The kids had two swim meets last weekend. A distance meet on the Friday night followed by a sprint meet on the Saturday. They both swam pretty well with some PB's thrown in there.
Saturday was particularly hot with everyone feeling the heat after that. There was also a sea swim on after the swim meet but we decided to give it a miss - far too much swimming and sun - everyone was exhausted.
Dave had to go and play in the Touch finals at Midday. Cooking! Needless to say they cleaned up.... but they were playing the bottom side for some reason.
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| Finals day for Jake's soccer. Lost the first and won the second to come third overall. Not bad Jakey! |
It was the last round of the Gaelic competition on Saturday. Michelle's team was up against one of the better teams but despite that, gave them a good hurry up. Not a successful season for her team this year but finals day is still to come and it could all change!
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| Kick-off, throw-off, throw-up or whatever they call it - look at that enthusiasm! |
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| Michelle shoots for goal! She might even have got that one! |
Following the Gaelic, we headed out to a friends place for the Rugby club's coaches bbq. This is for the volunteer age-group coaches that coach on Saturday mornings. The club put some $$ towards the dinner, which was nice of them.
There was about 30 pounds of prime beef, and it was cooked to perfection - especially since we have our resident chef Dan (who incidentally, has a brother that runs the Glenavy Pub back in NZ - near Dave's hometown, Waimate).
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| We even had a Billy Joel impersonator regale us with some classics, although he traded the Piano for a guitar. |
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| This is the crew! |
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| A day in the sun, a large meal, a couple of wines.... |
And that's it for May.
In June we have more swim meets, the mile sea swim, end of school and Dave makes a wee soujorn to Boston for a birthday party....
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