I have grown a moustache, shaved it off, and now dont recognise myself!
Jill will be home in two days, and I wont be far behind her! Where has the last year and a half gone?
Before I get into that discussion, let me tell you about Movember!
Last time I wrote, we were nursing a hangover from a late night party after Calico Jacks. No sooner was that over then we got stuck into "Murph's last week in Cayman" TM. Tuesday night was Murph's last poker league, which we thankfully won! Wednesday was his last ever Poker night, which of course he lost, and Thursday was his official work going away in the Hard Rock. By Friday we were wrecked, but the real fun and excitement had yet to kick off!
Gail and Ross arrived on the 7:20pm flight from Miami on Friday evening, surprisingly with their bags in tow! As their plane landed, the George Town skyline was lit up by fireworks signaling the launch of Pirates Week, a festival that Ross struggled to understand until I laid it out for him, plain and simple: "it's a made up event for the tourists to make money!".
After a quick breather, we headed out to meet the gang who had started drinking several hours earlier on the "Jolly Roger" booze cruise, and were now fairly tanked up down in Hammerheads. Caoire and Kenzo had family and friends over (7 of them to be precise), so we had laid out a schedule of events for the coming week. We went on from Hammerheads to Aqua Beach, but headed home before it got too messy, in preparation for an early start the next morning. Sure to her word, Gail dragged myself and Ross out onto the beach for a 7am run (on a Saturday!!!), with stories of how she runs 10k a day. Not on sand you dont! Sure enough, her legs began to give way after less than a mile! A quick few lengths in the pool afterwards, and we were off for breakfast, picking up Foxton on the way to watch a Leinster match that we subsequently discovered wasnt being televised here!
By the time we got back to the house, the hangovers had kicked in, and we were all secretly envious of Jill who had stayed in bed throughout the morning's events!
After a couple of hours R&R, we officially kicked off Pirates Week by dressing up in the costumes that Jill had thoughtfully (or cruelly, depending on your perspective) picked up the previous week. In full Pirates Costume, we headed into George Town, stopping only to buy a few cans of beer from a street vendor, and to scream "Aahrrr" at unsuspecting children as we walked by! Digicel were hosting a corporate event at Breezes, a bar/ restaurant overlooking the Bay where the main hub of activities were taking place. We met up with everyone else, most of whom were also in costume, and got stuck into the free bar as we watched the parade. I will tell you one thing, it sure as hell beats the Paddy's Day Parade back in Dublin, watching a mock pirate ship storm the shore, with fireworks and cannons, and sunshine!!!!
As the night wore on, we gradually lost pieces of our costumes, and even more of our minds, eventually ending up on the dancefloor of the second floor of Breezes, struggling to keep the flame going 'til midnight!
On Sunday morning we dragged ourselves out of bed, threw on some decent clothes, and headed down to the Ritz for brunch, where we had booked a table for 20 people. To set the scene, the Ritz Brunch is something of legend. Three and a half hours of pure indulgence and gluttony, with a never ending supply of champagne and five star food: breakfast, meats, fish, cheeses, deserts, you name it, it was there, and in abundance. We lorded it up, ate like fools, and rolled ourselves into the bar four hours later to wind down. We eventually dragged our near asleep bodies on to Coconut Joes, where we hit the Beergaritas (a bottle of beer, upside down in a jug of Margarita, I kid you not!) and Buddies (Budweiser Extra: beer with red bull). Our gang were "sensible" and headed home around 11pm. The rest were not so fortunate!
Monday was a public holiday, and we had all booked a boat to take us out on the North Sound, but the sea was too rough, and the boat trip was cancelled, so we headed out to Rum Point, where we were joined by Tim and Leonie. There was a "party" on over at Kaibo Yacht Club, down the road, which we joined around 4pm, finding a poor party, but an empty volleyball court where we challenged a few people that Jill knew to a game, playing until sunset when we hit the road to go home and change before heading back out for dinner for "Murph's last supper" TM.
Copper Fall was the venue of choice for Murph's last meal on his last day on the island, and sure enough he was well fed. We were all fairly exhausted after nearly a week on the go, and so after a few drinks in Aqua Beach, we bid our farewell to Murpadurp! It was a sad day, but in fairness, we had three months to get used to it! Murph, I'll be seeing you soon buddy!
Tuesday was our night off. We chilled out, Jill cooked some top notch dinner, and we watched some DVDs. Perfect!
Wednesday, and we were back in action, this time back over the other side of the island at Kaibo for a night time kayak into the bioluminescense bay in the lagoon, one of only a handful of places in the world where there is natural bioluminescence all year around. Basically there were 14 of us in 7 kayaks, kayaking in the dark (and rain!) for about half an hour up the coast until we reached the Bio Bay. In they bay, you can see fish darting past as they are lit up in silver from the algae that live there. If you put your hand or foot through the water, you get the same effect, like silver stars on your skin. Its class! After a lengthy and tough paddle back to shore, we chilled out over some food and made the trek back home to South Sound, wet and thoroughly exhausted!
On Thursday night, we headed to Casanova's for a nice Italian meal, and then on to Coconut Joe's for the mid-month Movember party, where hairy men compared moustaches and drunk beer! After a few bevvies, we headed home, but on a relative high of giddiness. Once we got back, we opened up some wine and beers, and slapped on the music. Jill was sensible and went to bed around 1am, but myself Gail and Ross stayed up until 4am. OK for them on their holidays, not so good for me who had to get up at 6:30am, walk the dogs, and then go to work! To say that the next day was unproductive would be a gross understatement! Sure enough, our big night out on Friday night was curtailed to dinner in Calypso Grill. We were joined by Kurt, Meredith, Chanelle and Jen, but myself and Ross were struggling to stay awake at the table from tiredness, and we soon headed home to bed!
Saturday morning and we were up early to prepare for our day of footballing! The GAA Mixed 9's Blitz was being held in the Rugby Club, and myself and Jill had been signed up for the Digicel team. Ross and Gail were signed up for another team (the yellow's), but sadly we were not destined to play them. The day was hot but we got stuck in, Ross taking someone out with his elbow in the first 60 seconds of his game. A nice start! After putting him on in the back initially, his team eventually realised his potential and by the last game he was scoring goals left, right and centre! Meanwhile, the Digicel team were motoring away, stopped only by the referee, Foxton, who took exception to a bit of slagging, and decided to call us up on every single questionable decision, even going so far as to disallow a goal that would have seen us win the only match we loss. Alas, we pulled it together and stormed away to a semi final place, against Foxton's team!! Sweet revenge!
Being the sportsman that he is, he elbowed Jimmy H in the face as he went in for a goal, causing the now infamous "Foxgate" scandal. Tempers ran high, digs were threatened, but in the end, we won! Winning the final was just the icing on the cake! We held the trophy high, and got stuck into a boat race with the runners up (drinking game), which we sadly lost, but only narrowly!
Gail and I had signed up to run a 10K the next morning at 7am, but with the taste of victory on our lips, we all headed to the Triple Crown for some post match celebrations, leaving the idea of a quiet night firmly behind us! Sure enough, yours truly was soon up doing Karaoke in the pub, and then back up again for a duet with Olive MacDonagh. Not ones to break tradition, Jill soon announced a party back in ours, and off we trooped, stopping off in A La Kebab on the way for some needed refreshment. Tina Turner was Rolling, Jimmy and Lisa were dancing, and the dogs were barking until 4am. Our neighbours downstairs joined us, as did a taxi full of people that had been at a barbecue down the road, and pretty soon the house was full. It was a tough call getting rid of them all at 4am, but it was soon done!
Sunday morning and we were nursing hangovers, as usual. We had booked ourselves in for a boat trip at 9am, but that was quickly canceled, and we opted for a 12 noon trip instead. Out we went to Stingray City in unusually choppy waters, snorkeling, sobering up, and swimming with the stingrays. Gail cried when she first got in the water, but next thing you know she's chasing the stingrays, kissing them, trying to grab their tails; madness! After a few hours out on the water, we sailed back in, heading home for some Pizza and chill-out time on the couch.
With only one full day to go, Gail and Ross went on a shopping spree (I say in jest), and we went back to work! For our last night, we all headed to Grand Old House for a slap up meal, plenty of wine, chilling out on the water overlooking South Sound.
By the time they left, most of our friends here thought Gail and Ross were living here. We were all sad to see them off, bringing to an end our near two months of guests! The house was quiet, the dogs whining, and normality returned to 282 South Sound Road.
As for the last 3 weeks, I'll have to tell you again.....
BTW, Congrats to Jim and Lisa who finally got engaged at the weekend! It was about bloody time, but fair play.
