. May 2015 .
Hi there,
May turned out to be reasonably sporty month, with a little bit of travel thrown in for good measure. Some Swimming, some Rugby, some Touch, some Gaelic. Some mixed results!
Summer is almost upon us, and that means heat...and rain. It also signals the beginning of Hurricane season. The predictions are that it will be a relatively quiet season. But we'll believe that when we get to November, so fingers crossed!
Batabano
The Batabano festival/parade is always popular. It's origins stem from Turtles hatching and making their way to the sea. However, having said that, I struggle to find any comparisons to that when watching the parade itself.
It is generally a bunch of people (of all sizes and shapes) dressed in skimpy outfits (with plumage) bumping and grinding their way down the road while drinking copious quantities of rum from mobile bars that accompany them on said journey.
The story is that you pay about $100 or so and that gets you your costume and free drinks for the afternoon while the parade makes it's way from the start to the finish (approximately five miles). It takes several hours as well and some of the people at the finish ain't looking too flash!
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| These guys somersaulted and flipped their way |
There were various 'floats' and each one had their own music and followers dressed in their float colours. There were also trucks which dispensed liquid refreshments to the parade-goers.
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| This is one of our friends, Carlie (note the green drink bottle: it isn't water) |
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| It's all happenin! |
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| These things pump out the noise. |
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| King Julian and his followers |
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| These are some of Sam's teachers (Sam made herself scarce at this point) |
Sport
In sports headlines for May.....
The Winter Touch competition moved onto the finals stage. Unfortunately Dave's team defaulted to Michelle's team which took them through to the Semi Finals. But they got a bit of a pounding for their trouble. So the less we say about that, the better.
The inaugural Masters touch night was held a couple of Fridays back. It's aimed at getting some of the more experienced proponents of the game out for a bit of fun and a run around at a less than hectic pace. Dave went along and had a good time. Michelle was reffing a swim meet so couldn't make it. Maybe next time!
Sunday Gaelic continues. Michelle's team is close to the top of the table and their prospects of winning the league were assisted last weekend by a massive win with a ridiculous score of 28 to 0.
Summer Touch starts up soon. Watch this space! There is talk of kids team entering this year. If Jake's team beats Dave's, there might be trouble....
Swim Meet
Another swim meet was held at the kid's pool this month. Actually it was two meets, but one was on the Friday night (Friday Night Lights) and the other was the next day (Lion's meet).
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| Sam and Coach David discuss head fashion prior to a race. |
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| "Go!" Sam is in the middle |
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| Michelle is getting right into the officiating. Here she was a Stroke and Turn Judge. She also spent some time as the Race Starter. |
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| Jake is up! |
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| It gets cold here. It must have been a bitterly cold 28 degrees Celsius on this day.... Last Sunday morning the 2nd annual Masters swim meet was held so Michelle thought she'd go down and see how she went. She swam 50m Back, 50m Fly, 50m Free and 100m Free - she was a bit disappointed she didn't swim faster but she went ok considering she only swims once or twice a week at best, and she was by no means the slowest! But its not so easy to wing it anymore!   |
And they finished off with some Water Aerobics....
Sea Swim #1
Sea Swim #1
There was a 800m Sea swim a couple of weeks ago.
The whole family entered. But the whole family didn't win a trophy....
Three quarters of us did!
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| Sam comes in in 8th place over all in 10 minutes |
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| Michelle was about two minutes back |
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| Jake was 16th over all in 11:50 - first time beating Mum - pretty happy with that! |
I wanted to say that we lost the photo of Dave getting his trophy.... But, alas, that wouldn't be quite accurate. He nearly broke the 20 minute mark though! 20.37 was his time.
Random
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| Sunday at the beach...Mother's day. |
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| We had a visit by our good mate Heath. Heath comes from Gore and used to live in the BVI when we where there. He now lives in South Africa and popped into Cayman on business...and to have a quiet beer and a catch up. |
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| Jake went to a Kid's Gaelic day last weekend. They got to play some GAA and also have a bash with the Hurling kit. No teeth were lost in the Hurling either. A miracle! |
Sea Swim # 2
Another 800m sea swim was held last weekend. Again the whole family did it.
Sam's swim group had to be at the venue an hour earlier and did an additional four circuits of the course prior to the race. Their Coach needed them to get their 'miles' up for the week. So, by the time they got to the actual race, they just used it as a warm-down. Sam still came in ahead of Michelle and Dave (gee, that's a surprise!) but Jake worked hard and came in ahead of all of us to win his event.
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| More trophies (46th over all in 13mins 48secs) |
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| And another one.... Jake was 26th over all in 12:05. First in age group. |
Sam cruised in in 42nd place over all in 13:41. Dave was 110th in 21:20. There were 132 entrants, so he wasn't last!
Coming up in a couple of weeks is the Annual One Mile Sea swim. Apparently it's the richest, and one of the biggest in the world. Over $100,000 in cash and prizes. Entry is limited to 900 swimmers - which is an impressive sight when they all start together. We've all entered so we'll see how that goes.
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| The Swim Club prize giving and lunch was held on Sunday. This is the Gold group. |
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| Sam is in the High Performance Group |
Freeport Tour 2015
This is the fifth year that Cayman have travelled to Freeport (Bahamas). Jake and Dave are now veterans, having been on all five tours. The locals are a good bunch in Freeport and it's almost like a homecoming every year.
This year we chartered a Jet from Cayman Airways, filled it up with about 80 kids and 40-odd parents and hopped over to Freeport (about an hour away). It actually works out cheaper to charter a flight than to travel commercial via Miami. It also saves the best part of a day as well.
So, Friday morning, off we head. Arriving in Freeport around 9 am. The kids hit the pool. The adults and coaches chill for a while as the annual re-enactment of 'Lord of the Flies' unfolds before them. The kids enjoy a bit of freedom on this trip and it's a time when they experience what Rugby tours are all about. Character building and all that!
Friday night was an informal welcome party at the club. The kids ate pizza, played rugby, scrag and whatever else while the bigger kids caught up with their Bahamian family and friends over a local brew or two.
Saturday morning it was up for breakfast and then on the bus and heading for the club.
Jake plays in the Under 12s and we split that group into two teams that were relatively even.
Freeport had one team, and another team came over from Nassau. There were also Under 10's, Under 14's and under 16/18s combined.
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| Jake was appointed Captain of his team (and not by Dave). He was pretty happy about that. |
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| Finally, ball in two hands! |
Jake played pretty well, especially having to lead from the front. He was one of the bigger and more experienced players in this group. But having said that, he still got his arse kicked a few times and took a few hits, which only stood him in higher esteem to some of his less-experienced and younger team mates.
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| The kids from all three clubs |
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| Believe it or not, the two boys in the red are twins. |
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| The casual lift technique |
Saturday's games were in a round robin format where each team played all the others. There were some really good games with results being shared evenly.
There were some very tired and hot sweaty boys after a day at the club!
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| The locals are friendly |
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| Nothing like having a Polish beer in the Caribbean! |
Sunday morning it was back to the club. Some folk looking slightly worse for wear than others.
We decided to combine the two Cayman teams and play one longer game against the Freeport/Nassau boys. It was a great game to watch with our boys coming away with the win.
So, the rugby was done for the weekend. Now it was time to relax after a hard couple of days in the sun. Sunday afternoon it was off to the beach for a bit of a party with the Freeport folk. The kids went for the water - the others for the shade of the bar.... It had been a hot few days!
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| 'Adventures' resort and beach bar |
Monday was spent at an all-inclusive resort which kept everybody happy until our plane arrived later Monday night. Monday was a holiday in Cayman.
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| Our taxi has arrived! |
Some tired kids and coaches and parents exited the plane back in Cayman. Another successful tour done and dusted. Freeport are trying to arrange a visit to Cayman in October which would be great. They've never been here. We'll see how they go!
So, what's the go in June?
- We'll have the Flowers 1 Mile Sea Swim
- Summer Touch starts up
- Gaelic Finals
- End of the school year
- Maybe some visitors... (repeat offenders methinks)
