Lets get back to October. It was a great month.
We kicked off the tenth month of this year with a weekend in Little Cayman, the smallest sister Island of Grand Cayman which is 90 miles East of Grand. Originally booked as surprise 30th birthday present but rescheduled due to Hurricane Dean, 16 of us finally flew off on the first Friday of the month, departing on a plane that held around 20 people, with our coolers stuffed full of beers, rum, burgers and bread rolls!
To set the scene, Little Cayman has a population of 125 in peak season, and around 80 people when we arrived there. The airport is a strip of tarmac beside the main road, the only road on the island. The airport is also the gas station, off licence, video store, gift store and supermarket. Its class!
Basically we spent the weekend chilling by the pool, drinking beer in the hot-tub, barbecuing burgers when we got hungry and generally chilling out. After a heavy night in the only bar on the island on the Friday night, 10 of us went out on a dive on Saturday morning, heading to Bloody Bay Marine Park, one of the top 10 dive spots in the world. Our first dive was off the Wall, but the second one was even better, off the shallow wall, where we saw turtles, sharks, stingray, lobster and seahorses. Not a bad morning!
On Saturday, most of the bar & hotel industry staff on the island came down to our pool where after a rumour had spread amongst the handful of islanders that the "Irish" were having a party.
On Sunday we all swam to Owen Island, a deserted bird sanctuary about half a mile off shore from where we were staying, where we played cricket, drank beer and generally arsed around. By the time we got back on Sunday night we were wrecked from two days of doing nothing.
Monday afternoon saw the arrival of my mum and my aunt, Ann. It was great to see my mum, who had just spent two long days in New York with my sister Fiona and my cousin Gillian. Sure enough, one of Ann's bags was missing, but we made do until its arrival later that night. Unfortunately my mum and Ann arrived to one of the wettest, stormiest weeks that we have ever seen in Cayman with driving rain every night for the first 4 days, accompanied by heavy thunder and lightning. I dont know how they did it, but they managed to find dry spells on every day, chilling out on the beach between coffees and cakes! We ate out half the week, and chilled out watching videos the rest of the week. On Friday, a gang of us went to Grand Old House, a beautiful old restaurant up the road from us, on the water, on South Sound. Dec's parents were also visiting that week, and came out with us. After a gorgeous meal (the best I have had in Cayman), we brought the mothers up to the Ritz for Mojitos and dancing. I think they were suitable impressed!
Saturday was due to be a big day. We had rented a 12 man speedboat to take out on the North Sound for the day. At 9am we picked it up, with yours truly at the helm, continuing to bluff about my prior boating experience. 10 minutes out on the open water at full throttle and the engine started banging like crazy, with smoke spewing out from under the luxury leather seats at the back of the boat. Sure enough, there were a few unhappy faces! To make matters worse, Murph, who along with Jimmy H had accompanied the 8 of us, was still pissed from the night before, and so thought it was great craic to keep revving the throttle on the way back in when we were trying to bring the boat slowly back to shore without blowing up! We got back in at around 10am, and were met by the boat rental guys who were trying to arrange a replacement boat. Before they arrived, I had to "park" the boat, a damn sight more difficult to do when its three times the size of the only other boat you have ever driven!
Anyway, after 45 mins of waiting, the new boat arrived. Would it start? Of course not! Half an hour later and the boat trip was cancelled, with everyone packed back into the cars on our way to Rum Point where Murph was told that he wouldnt be allowed drive a jet ski until he had sobered up. This we were told before we even asked about renting them bloody things!
After lunch we headed over to East End to Morritts, a big resort hotel with an infinity pool overlooking a windswept beach, with two whirlpools, one heated, and with a pool bar in the middle of the pool. Cocktails and chilling were the order of the day.
No sooner were we back home than we were out again, this time being picked up by a bus that brought 24 of us back over to East End to Rolands Garden, a "restaurant" that is really some guy's lush, green back garden with a barbecue and candlelights. Roland, the chef, cooks you 6 or 7 courses as you drink your own beer and wine. At the end, you decide how much you want to pay! Its class. On the way home, with everyone fairly tanked up, the bus driver suggested that we stop in a "local" (read: black) bar in Bodden Town where my mother and Ann were chatted up by two Cuban men. We were the only white people in the place, which didnt stop us from bringing our own lack of style to the dancefloor. Sure enough, it was then back to ours for a party which went until around 4:30 with several people taking turns on the hammock before re-stocking with rum. How my mum and Ann slept, I do not know.
Sunday's plans were pretty much scrapped, and instead I brought Ann and my mum up to the Turtle Farm, and then home for some chill out couch time.
We chilled out on Monday in Casanovas, a lovely Italian restaurant on the water near town, and then finished the girls' holiday on Wednesday with a meal in Calypso Grill.
We were sad to see my mum and Ann off on Thursday morning, the craic had been great, with my mum and Ann telling stories and winding each other up.
Thursday night we had to ourselves, before the arrival of Jill's mum, Joyce and her friend Sandra on Friday night. This time both of their bags went missing!
Saturday was the Rugby World Cup final, which yours truly won 25 bucks on. Wost game of rugby I have seen in a long time, but sweet to see England lose.
Saturday night was Oktober fest in Coconut Joes, where we ate and had a few drinks.
Sunday, 12 of us headed back out to Morritts in East End where we spent the day chilling and playing volleyball with bunch of Russians (we lost!).
On Monday night, Joyce and Sandra treated us to a beautiful meal in Grand Old House, and then they headed off to Cuba on Wednesday morning with Jill and her friend Meredith, where they had booked into a hotel in Havana for two nights.
On Friday morning, 12 of us lads flew to Montego Bay for Murph's official going away golfing and drinking weekend. I only found out on Thursday night that we were all booked to return Monday, and not Sunday as I and my employer had previously thought! Ah well!
We arrived in Mobay just in time for breakfast, checked into our private villa, dropping off our 12 bottles of liquor and the cocktail shaker, before heading out for our first round of golf in Cinnamon Hills. The course was beautiful, and I think we pretty much had it to ourselves. The caddies were of crucial importance in me finishing second place overall for the day, finally winning some golf money!
We came back, changed, ate dinner in the villa, cooked by our personal chef (not great, more of a landlady who cooked on demand) and then hopped onto the bus that we had rented for the weekend, along with a driver, for US$300. We drove around countless bars and clubs, gradually leaving a growing trail of carnage, before finally heading home at around 5am. The next day, Kenzo and Jimmy H couldnt get up until dinner time, both returning straight to bed afterwards, not resurfacing until Sunday. The rest of us dragged ourselves out of bed, into the pool, and off to White Witch, the Ritz Carlton's golf course, definitely the most beautiful course I have ever seen. The level of service was unbelievable, and the course was amazing with even better views of the ocean from higher up the mountain. My golfing prowess was not quite as good, and so begun my current slump!
We headed back to the villa for steaks, spuds, and veg, and ended up not going out; instead just making cocktails until the early hours.
On Sunday morning we all headed down to the Jamaica Bobsleigh bar to watch Liverpool V Arsenal (the bar had the original bobsleigh used in the Olympics aka Cool Runnings), sipping bloody marys to sort our heads out before heading out of town to another top course, Tryall. One of the lads from Digicel Jamaica had advised us that it was the best course in the Caribbean, a claim that it couldnt live up to. Still a great course, but after playing White Witch the previous day, nothing was going to match up! That night we went out for dinner on a boathouse, a floating restaurant on the lake just outside Mobay. Monday morning was painful, getting up to fly back to Cayman, drive home to throw a suit on, and then back to work. I was a shadow of my former self on Monday evening!
Joyce and Sandra flew home on Tuesday morning, after apparently having a good time in Havana, but general consensus was that it is a dishevelled city not for the faint hearted!
Sure enough, last week was quiet! The plan was to take it very easy at the weekend as Gail and Ross arrive on Friday 9th to spend nearly two weeks with us. In true Johnny and Jill tradition, we went to a fancy dress Halloween party next door on Friday night, with Jill inviting some people "back to ours" for drinks afterwards. I dragged myself up for golf on Saturday morning, which was tough, but not as bad as the shameful round that I had! I had read during the week that there was a ladies exhibition volleyball game on at Public Beach at 4pm on Saturday, with DJs and party games, in aid of charity. It wasnt that difficult to persuade the lads to join us!
What started as a few afternoon drinks matured into drinking games and as the flies dropped off, it ended with Jill and I, Jimmy Mac and Lisa agreeing that a night spent dancing on the sand listening to old school dance classics being pumped out of the speakers was sure to beat sitting on the couch. The music ended at 12; we turned the iPod and speakers on for another hour and a half, not wanting the party to end, and then all headed "back to ours" for more singing, YouTubing, Christopher Walken impressions, and general BS!
So here we are, just recovering again, with Gail and Ross arriving in four days for an action packed bank holiday weekend. Life in Cayman is a lot of responsibility, not for everyone, and requires a lot of stamina! Beats rain, wind, and cold back home!
BTW, in the midst of Saturday night's madness, myself and Jimmy Mac signed up for Movember (www.movember.ky), agreeing to grow a handlebar moustache during the month of November to raise money for Cancer research. Let the hair gro mo in Movember!
