. May 2017 .
Hi there,
May was a fairly mixed month for us. Sam was busy with Exams. Jake and Dave had a quick trip back to The Bahamas. Michelle had a five mile party and there was a bit of swimming thrown in there as well. There was also an election here on island. We are still waiting to see how that might affect us over the next little while.
Batabano
The word “Batabano” refers to the tracks that are left in the sand when the turtles come onto the beach to nest. The tracks are reason to celebrate because they signify that the turtle population is replenishing itself. Turtles have always been an important part of Caymanian heritage; in the 1600s and 1700s, the islands became an important stop for ships due to the abundant population of green sea turtles.The turtle population has diminished significantly due to excessive hunting, but it still remains an important symbol of the Cayman Islands.
Michelle and co joined in on the annual Batabano celebrations for the second time. This year resplendent in Blue & Purple. Last year was red and orange I think! They had to attend a number of training sessions this year where they practiced their dance moves that they put on en masse throughout the parade. They got together at around 10 am to start their preparations...which may or may not have involved some bottles of a bubbly substance.
Kick of was scheduled for 1 pm...ish.
The parade starts at Public Beach and winds its way all the way down West Bay Road and into George Town. This is about a fairly decent trek, and with losts of backwards, forwards and sideways dancing and moving, they would have clocked up a lot of miles! They also had a mobile bar with them which would have helped to numb the pain!
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| Trying to impress the judges |
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| The Judges don't look that impressed |
There were a number of floats. All with their own mobile bar and Music/DJ.
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| These guys clearly started on the rums fairly early |
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| Got the generator going to power the sound system! |
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| Having lots of fun! |
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| This year's crew |
They had a great time and were all a little jaded by the end of the day. The parade takes around 5 or so hours! Dave caught up with Michelle and a couple of others in town after the parade. Feathers everywhere!
Party Time
We also had a friend's 50th earlier in the Month. It was a 70's & 80's Party. Dave was asked to come as the Cowboy from the Village People, although he probably looked more like Woody from Toy Story!
Party Time
We also had a friend's 50th earlier in the Month. It was a 70's & 80's Party. Dave was asked to come as the Cowboy from the Village People, although he probably looked more like Woody from Toy Story!
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| The good old YMCA - The birthday boy was Pete (the Builder guy) |
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| Some interesting outfits! |
Sea Swim
Last weekend was the annual Butterfield 800m Sea Swim.
The whole family entered this year, with three out of four placing in their age groups!
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| Jake won his age group and came 4th overall! |
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| Sam spent some time in the race pulling on Mum's feet and being a general nuisance but still came 2nd in her age group... |
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| First Place in her age group! |
Dave also placed, but not in the top three!
He would have won his age group - if he'd entered in the 85 and overs...
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| Random sunsets after a Sunday afternoon at the beach |
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| Early morning swim time at Sunset house |
Sprint Meet
The swim club hosted a Sprint Meet a couple of weeks back.
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| Due to the pool being very busy, Sam and Jake and their team do their swim meet warm up in the sea at Smith's Cove. |
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| Half way to Honduras... |
It was a busy meet with some good times being clocked.
Both Sam and Jake were intered in all strokes, which may not have been to their liking, but it was good to see them working hard in all events.
Freeport
Jake has also been training at the rugby club in preparation for the Annual Rugby Trip to Freeport, Bahamas. This is the seventh year that the event has been happening, and Jake & Dave have been to all of them! As usual they chartered one of the Cayman Airways planes and fly direct to Freeport (approx and hour away).
Freeport definitely has that familiar feel these days!
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| Cayman U14s |
This year the Cayman Rugby TV Crew decided to go on the road and stream the tournament live from Freeport. Rob, from the Freeport club arranged for the local Telecom company to put on an internet connection for us, so we took the camera and the broadcasting kit and away we went.
The operation went quite well, apart from when the local network went down temporarily. But we did have over 3,500 viewers over the weekend which is pretty impressive.
The only downside is that Dave didn't get to actually stand on the sidelines for Jake's games (Dave does the Camera work for the TV), so that's why we don't have any action pics of Jake.
They won most of their games and had some good battles with the teams from Bermuda, Key Biscayne (Miami), Nassau and Freeport.
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| Catching up with some familiar faces |
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| Most of the kids at the presentations |
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| Even Peter Garrett (Midnight Oil) popped in for a beer and a song! |
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| Beach day at end of the tournament |
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| The kids spent most of the day out there - or eating... |
It was a successful weekend all round. The flight back didn't get in until about 11pm so there were some tired kids at school the next day!
That's it for May. Next up is June, and that includes:
- Michelle's Trip to NZ
- The Flowers 1 Mile Sea Swim
- The UANA Open Water swim champs
- Gaelic Finals Day
Catch ya soon! 😁
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