Friday, May 02, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Christmas, Miami, Mick & Tonia, Moving House, Stags, Vegas
Perspective. Priorities change quickly depending on your perspective. You’re $100 down and about to walk away but then you think, one more bet and you could be back level. You tell yourself that you’ll walk away when you’re level, so everything goes on the last hand, a 2 and a 5, unsuited. Trip twos later, you’re back level and you start thinking, I’ll walk away when I’m up $100. And so your perspective changes; sometimes for the worst when its 4 in the morning and you’re in Vegas, still playing poker after 10 hours drinking with the friends you haven’t seen in 8 months, but once in a while your entire perspective changes and two decades spent chasing a career goal that seemed to ignore the most important things in life fades into something much more satisfying. I’m not a believer in fate, but coincidence can result in surprising outcomes, starting with a phone call out of the blue to go work in the Cayman Islands and continuing with having well laid plans dashed at the last minute by someone else’s uncharacteristic greed. You can harbour grudges or you can get on with developing an alternative plan, or in my case, an alternative plan can gradually present itself to you over the course of 2 to 3 months, giving rise to a whole new perspective on life, relationships and your career, with so much to look forward to.
For now though, let me park that thought and tell you what we have been up to since I last wrote as 2007 came to a close.
I am on the final leg of my journey back from Vegas and I am, temporarily, a shadow of the man that left Cayman last Thursday. I flew in just after 9pm, arriving just behind the lads from home who had flown in from Dublin for Dave Ralph’s 4 day stag. I hadn’t seen any of the lads, bar Jay, since the wedding, so an opportunity for 12 of us to go on the tear for 4 days could not be missed!
We gambled and drunk in the madness and energy that is Vegas. A man died in the restroom beside us as we were drinking, but true to the spirit of the city, he was quickly removed and everything was back to normal within half an hour. I got the feeling that people died in restrooms there all the time! You can see Vegas for the glamour, wealth, good times and general grandness of everything, and you can see it for the messy, seedy, drunken dark shadow of humanity that it also is. These two sides exist side by side and its easy to fall from one to the other.
Thankfully, 12 lads from Ireland held their own and left with their lives! We went go-karting and quad biking in the desert, the latter being one of the highlights of the trip.
Motoring along in convoy up dirt tracks as we crossed over and around a mountain in the Nevada desert, tearing up the scorched earth was some serious craic! No injuries were reported, the closest we came to death being the seedy casino from “Dusk til Dawn” that we passed through on the way out that had proper needle disposal machines in the restrooms. Classy!
The first night started late with casualties dropping off throughout the night as jet lag and tiredness caught up. Friday night was spent in the MGM as we aimlessly wandered the casino floor, gambling, with no real plan. Saturday night we went out for dinner in an Italian restaurant in New York and then we split up with some lads hitting the strip whilst others hit Studio 54 night club, with more gambling until the wee hours. Sunday was spent shopping with Dave clearing out the outlet store, followed by food and drinks in Hawaiian Tropic at Planet Hollywood. I had to hit the hay early as I had to get up at 4 this morning to catch a flight, but the lads went on until after 4, with Dave winning over four grand! Not a bad end to the weekend. I am meant to be running the 5K Paddy’s Day Run at 5:30 this evening, an hour and a half after I land, but having not slept a wink last night I think I’ll be lucky to walk it with the dogs!
Getting back to where I last left off, December was a strange month. I spent the latter part of it on my own as Jill went home for Christmas, but the earlier part of it was busy as we recovered from Gail & Ross’s trip, missing them both sorely. Foxton, Kenzo, Jimmy Mac and myself did the Mezza brunch one Sunday after golf and ended up out until all hours. We drunk champagne at Luna Lounge by the pool at the Ritz and biggest news of all, Jim & Lisa got engaged! In work, we held a client event at (Ragazzi’s sister restaurant) in the Caribbean Club, which doubled as our staff Christmas party, and then on to Dec’s Christmas BBQ at his house. Jill’s work Christmas party was in Papagalloes and ended up being a great night out. I spent Christmas Eve at two parties, one in Olive’s and then on to Tim Fitz’s. Christmas morning I got up for a run on the beach, came home to make breakfast and then called home to chat with the family who were just finishing their Christmas dinner in my sister, Jennifer’s house. When Jen announced that she was pregnant again, I really missed home and would have done anything not to be in Cayman for a few hours.
The day brightened up when I went over to Kenzo and Caoire’s as they served up a huge Turkey and Ham dinner washed down with champagne, wine and beer. We then hit the road around 7 and dropped into Tim & Leonie, playing charades with their family who were over for Christmas, tucking into Leonie’s dad’s Bailey’s cocktails before falling into Fidels for the Christmas festivities. Sure enough, Stephen’s Day was a bit of a right off! Jill had been at Jean’s wedding the previous week and was happy as a pig in the proverbial to spend the next week chilling in her PJ’s at home with her mum and brother, leaving the house occasionally over Christmas for drinks and good craic with various relatives and family friends. Her chill out Christmas was much needed to help her get over the cold from hell!
December 30th, I flew into Miami to meet Mick and Tonia who had flown down from New York, where they had spent Christmas, and Jill who flew in later that night. Mick ended up getting hammered, which was great to see, as his wife tells us that he doesn’t get out that much these days! We spent a lovely few days in Miami, chilling, eating out, shopping, and catching up. For New Year’s Eve, we went down to South Beach and celebrated with champagne as the fireworks exploded above our heads. I left to return to work on New Years Day, picking the guys up the next day as Mick and Tonia would be spending the next 10 days with us. It was great to have them over; we ate out, we ate in, we chilled, we saw the sights, but above all else we got to know each other as couples, and look forward to hopefully spending time with them in Geneva some time soon.
The first big blowout night of January came midway through the month when an unplanned Friday night turned into one of the best and busiest nights had out in Aqua Beach. After two weeks of relative quiet, with the whole island seemingly off the drink after New Years, it was like a huge weight was lifted, and the island got back to normal, leaving sobriety behind!
We stayed on island for the long weekend, using the opportunity to move to our new house on Seven Mile Beach, which is in a perfect location just beside the Hyatt! The move took all day and left us wrecked, although we did manage Mezza Brunch for a gang of 16 the next day to celebrate Caoire’s birthday!
Our first weekend in the house coincided with the Stride, 10k run for charity which went along the West Bay road. It served as a nice warm up for the cross the island relay race the following week, which I also ran last year. The team consisted of myself, Gav, Linda, Tim & Laura Fitz, and one of Laura's friends who is a physio on the island. I ran the first leg again, which kicked off at East End at 6am. I managed to come in in 5th place at 27 minutes for my 4 mile leg. The team came in in 11th place, which was a fantastic achievement.
That weekend also saw the Cayman Islands Arts Festival culminating with a performance of La Boheme outdoors after sunset at Pedro's Castle, a renovated castle on the coast that used to be the seat of government in the islands 200 years ago. We met up with Tim, Leonie, Lisa and Jim for a picnic on the lawn as the sun went down, followed by an amateur performance of the opera.
February kicked off the new GAA season, with yours truly playing for the Wolfe Tones (the whites) under Tim's stewardship. We got off to a good start but the teams seem much tighter this year. Despite some lessons, I have a lot to learn!
For Valentines night we walked one minute up the beach to Hemingways at the Hyatt to have dinner, and then the next night, on Friday, we had dinner at the Ritz followed by a romantic movie (Sleepless in Seattle) shown on an outdoor cinema screen under the stars on the lawn at the back of the hotel. We snuck in some popcorn, chocolate and fizzy drinks and had a surprisingly lovely evening! Definitely something we couldnt do at home!
Saturday was Brian Herlihy's stag. We kicked off at the Triple Crown for a pint and lunch, then bailed into a taxi to bring 12 of us up to Morgan's Harbour where we were heading out for the day on a deep sea fishing trip. As we pulled out of the harbour, Micheail started to feel a little Moby Dick, as I slagged him, him being an islander after all (Aran). Sure enough, 10 mins later and my stomach started churning. Unlike the last time that we all went out fishing, this boat didnt turn its engines off. Deep Sea Fishing is not just about the location (i.e. leaving the lagoon) but is about "Trawling" up and down at high speed with about 10 lines cast. The smell of the fumes , the constant hum of the engine and the rough waves did not bode well for me, and within minutes I was getting sick off the side of the boat. For 3 more hours, the lads kept drinking while I lay down in various parts of the boat, watching the horizon. Jimmy H was in worst shape, although he held it down, and Micheail battled on, with beer in hand! I was glad to see the shore a few hours later!
After hopping off the boat, the now well oiled Brian decided to have a go at removing Conch from its shell, spotting some local conch fisherman emptying their boat. Lets just say I will think twice before ordering conch fritters again. Slugs!
We sat down for a drink in Morgans Harbour whilst waiting for the cab, and it was fairly evident that the lads were hammered. Some drinking games were entered into, and a litre of rum was polished off as a penalty for those too drunk to play along. It was 6pm!
Justin bailed early, whilst the rest of us bailed into the cab, driven by a highly strung young woman who wasnt happy about the level of drunkenness and the number of stops we asked her to make (the singing didnt help either!). We spilled out into Mango Tree by the airport, most obviously the only white people in the bar! Howard met up with us to find Paul Foxton wandering around the car park looking for a car that wasnt there, and Kenzo pretending to fight everyone. It was going to be one of those nights! All plans to end up in Tim's to polish off the 4 crates of beer we had left there were soon forgotten, and instead we headed to the Attic to play pool, and then on to the Triple Crown where we soon dispersed home for the night.
The following weekend kicked off with Jill's 29th birthday on the Friday night. We all went out for dinner in Ragazzi where Jill was able to show off her new diamond necklace (the sooner we get home and away from all these diamonds, the better!). We went on to Aqua Beach but it was a tame night as Maggie's hen was taking place the next day. The girls went off horse riding followed by drinks at Morgans Harbour and then out for cocktails and back to Maggies. Meanwhile, we started with the rugby, followed by golf, and then back to Tim's for poker. Turns out that the poker night ended up to be the better stag night, going til 5am with plenty drunk, and a lot more craic had! The first tournament was welcomingly interrupted by Murpa Durp, calling from the dark depths of North Dublin. Murph, its not the same without you buddy!
The last weekend of February, myself and Brian and Maggie did our Advanced Padi course, 2 full days diving. The first day we headed out to West Bay, where we took in two dives, one of a sunken wreck where we practiced our navigation skills, and then to a reef where we practiced our knowledge of fish and marine life and attempted to navigate with the compass. The next day was better again, diving down to 100 ft over the edge of the wall (a seemingly endless abyss of the coast of Grand Cayman) before making our way back up through tunnels to the reef. On our way back into town we radioed ahead to confirm that there were no cargo or cruise ships in town, a rare daytime occurrence, which allowed us to dive the wreck of the Balboa, a 375ft freighter that sunk in the bay of George Town during the 1932 hurricane as it tried, in vain, to shelter from the storm. Our two dive instructors informed us that they had never dove it during the day as it is nearly always off limits due to shipping traffic in the bay. We struck gold! The ship has been blown up twice over the years as they attempted to break it up and get it out of the way, so a lot of the boat is scattered but the main hull is still intact.
We finished up just after lunch and headed down to the GAA club to play two matches afterwards, winning one and losing the other.
The following weekend, the last before I headed to Vegas, proved to be a quiet one. The waves were crashing on the shore all weekend, washing sand almost down to our back door! It wasnt a weekend for lying out, but rather for walking the beach with the dogs and chilling in the house, reading the weekend papers (we get the Irish Times delivered to our door every Saturday now, which is class!) and enjoying doing a whole lot of nothing.
The weekend afterwards and I was off to Vegas. The rest, as they say, is history!
For now though, let me park that thought and tell you what we have been up to since I last wrote as 2007 came to a close.
I am on the final leg of my journey back from Vegas and I am, temporarily, a shadow of the man that left Cayman last Thursday. I flew in just after 9pm, arriving just behind the lads from home who had flown in from Dublin for Dave Ralph’s 4 day stag. I hadn’t seen any of the lads, bar Jay, since the wedding, so an opportunity for 12 of us to go on the tear for 4 days could not be missed!
We gambled and drunk in the madness and energy that is Vegas. A man died in the restroom beside us as we were drinking, but true to the spirit of the city, he was quickly removed and everything was back to normal within half an hour. I got the feeling that people died in restrooms there all the time! You can see Vegas for the glamour, wealth, good times and general grandness of everything, and you can see it for the messy, seedy, drunken dark shadow of humanity that it also is. These two sides exist side by side and its easy to fall from one to the other.
Thankfully, 12 lads from Ireland held their own and left with their lives! We went go-karting and quad biking in the desert, the latter being one of the highlights of the trip.
Motoring along in convoy up dirt tracks as we crossed over and around a mountain in the Nevada desert, tearing up the scorched earth was some serious craic! No injuries were reported, the closest we came to death being the seedy casino from “Dusk til Dawn” that we passed through on the way out that had proper needle disposal machines in the restrooms. Classy!
The first night started late with casualties dropping off throughout the night as jet lag and tiredness caught up. Friday night was spent in the MGM as we aimlessly wandered the casino floor, gambling, with no real plan. Saturday night we went out for dinner in an Italian restaurant in New York and then we split up with some lads hitting the strip whilst others hit Studio 54 night club, with more gambling until the wee hours. Sunday was spent shopping with Dave clearing out the outlet store, followed by food and drinks in Hawaiian Tropic at Planet Hollywood. I had to hit the hay early as I had to get up at 4 this morning to catch a flight, but the lads went on until after 4, with Dave winning over four grand! Not a bad end to the weekend. I am meant to be running the 5K Paddy’s Day Run at 5:30 this evening, an hour and a half after I land, but having not slept a wink last night I think I’ll be lucky to walk it with the dogs!
Getting back to where I last left off, December was a strange month. I spent the latter part of it on my own as Jill went home for Christmas, but the earlier part of it was busy as we recovered from Gail & Ross’s trip, missing them both sorely. Foxton, Kenzo, Jimmy Mac and myself did the Mezza brunch one Sunday after golf and ended up out until all hours. We drunk champagne at Luna Lounge by the pool at the Ritz and biggest news of all, Jim & Lisa got engaged! In work, we held a client event at (Ragazzi’s sister restaurant) in the Caribbean Club, which doubled as our staff Christmas party, and then on to Dec’s Christmas BBQ at his house. Jill’s work Christmas party was in Papagalloes and ended up being a great night out. I spent Christmas Eve at two parties, one in Olive’s and then on to Tim Fitz’s. Christmas morning I got up for a run on the beach, came home to make breakfast and then called home to chat with the family who were just finishing their Christmas dinner in my sister, Jennifer’s house. When Jen announced that she was pregnant again, I really missed home and would have done anything not to be in Cayman for a few hours.
The day brightened up when I went over to Kenzo and Caoire’s as they served up a huge Turkey and Ham dinner washed down with champagne, wine and beer. We then hit the road around 7 and dropped into Tim & Leonie, playing charades with their family who were over for Christmas, tucking into Leonie’s dad’s Bailey’s cocktails before falling into Fidels for the Christmas festivities. Sure enough, Stephen’s Day was a bit of a right off! Jill had been at Jean’s wedding the previous week and was happy as a pig in the proverbial to spend the next week chilling in her PJ’s at home with her mum and brother, leaving the house occasionally over Christmas for drinks and good craic with various relatives and family friends. Her chill out Christmas was much needed to help her get over the cold from hell!
December 30th, I flew into Miami to meet Mick and Tonia who had flown down from New York, where they had spent Christmas, and Jill who flew in later that night. Mick ended up getting hammered, which was great to see, as his wife tells us that he doesn’t get out that much these days! We spent a lovely few days in Miami, chilling, eating out, shopping, and catching up. For New Year’s Eve, we went down to South Beach and celebrated with champagne as the fireworks exploded above our heads. I left to return to work on New Years Day, picking the guys up the next day as Mick and Tonia would be spending the next 10 days with us. It was great to have them over; we ate out, we ate in, we chilled, we saw the sights, but above all else we got to know each other as couples, and look forward to hopefully spending time with them in Geneva some time soon.
The first big blowout night of January came midway through the month when an unplanned Friday night turned into one of the best and busiest nights had out in Aqua Beach. After two weeks of relative quiet, with the whole island seemingly off the drink after New Years, it was like a huge weight was lifted, and the island got back to normal, leaving sobriety behind!
We stayed on island for the long weekend, using the opportunity to move to our new house on Seven Mile Beach, which is in a perfect location just beside the Hyatt! The move took all day and left us wrecked, although we did manage Mezza Brunch for a gang of 16 the next day to celebrate Caoire’s birthday!
Our first weekend in the house coincided with the Stride, 10k run for charity which went along the West Bay road. It served as a nice warm up for the cross the island relay race the following week, which I also ran last year. The team consisted of myself, Gav, Linda, Tim & Laura Fitz, and one of Laura's friends who is a physio on the island. I ran the first leg again, which kicked off at East End at 6am. I managed to come in in 5th place at 27 minutes for my 4 mile leg. The team came in in 11th place, which was a fantastic achievement.
That weekend also saw the Cayman Islands Arts Festival culminating with a performance of La Boheme outdoors after sunset at Pedro's Castle, a renovated castle on the coast that used to be the seat of government in the islands 200 years ago. We met up with Tim, Leonie, Lisa and Jim for a picnic on the lawn as the sun went down, followed by an amateur performance of the opera.
February kicked off the new GAA season, with yours truly playing for the Wolfe Tones (the whites) under Tim's stewardship. We got off to a good start but the teams seem much tighter this year. Despite some lessons, I have a lot to learn!
For Valentines night we walked one minute up the beach to Hemingways at the Hyatt to have dinner, and then the next night, on Friday, we had dinner at the Ritz followed by a romantic movie (Sleepless in Seattle) shown on an outdoor cinema screen under the stars on the lawn at the back of the hotel. We snuck in some popcorn, chocolate and fizzy drinks and had a surprisingly lovely evening! Definitely something we couldnt do at home!
Saturday was Brian Herlihy's stag. We kicked off at the Triple Crown for a pint and lunch, then bailed into a taxi to bring 12 of us up to Morgan's Harbour where we were heading out for the day on a deep sea fishing trip. As we pulled out of the harbour, Micheail started to feel a little Moby Dick, as I slagged him, him being an islander after all (Aran). Sure enough, 10 mins later and my stomach started churning. Unlike the last time that we all went out fishing, this boat didnt turn its engines off. Deep Sea Fishing is not just about the location (i.e. leaving the lagoon) but is about "Trawling" up and down at high speed with about 10 lines cast. The smell of the fumes , the constant hum of the engine and the rough waves did not bode well for me, and within minutes I was getting sick off the side of the boat. For 3 more hours, the lads kept drinking while I lay down in various parts of the boat, watching the horizon. Jimmy H was in worst shape, although he held it down, and Micheail battled on, with beer in hand! I was glad to see the shore a few hours later!
After hopping off the boat, the now well oiled Brian decided to have a go at removing Conch from its shell, spotting some local conch fisherman emptying their boat. Lets just say I will think twice before ordering conch fritters again. Slugs!
We sat down for a drink in Morgans Harbour whilst waiting for the cab, and it was fairly evident that the lads were hammered. Some drinking games were entered into, and a litre of rum was polished off as a penalty for those too drunk to play along. It was 6pm!
Justin bailed early, whilst the rest of us bailed into the cab, driven by a highly strung young woman who wasnt happy about the level of drunkenness and the number of stops we asked her to make (the singing didnt help either!). We spilled out into Mango Tree by the airport, most obviously the only white people in the bar! Howard met up with us to find Paul Foxton wandering around the car park looking for a car that wasnt there, and Kenzo pretending to fight everyone. It was going to be one of those nights! All plans to end up in Tim's to polish off the 4 crates of beer we had left there were soon forgotten, and instead we headed to the Attic to play pool, and then on to the Triple Crown where we soon dispersed home for the night.
The following weekend kicked off with Jill's 29th birthday on the Friday night. We all went out for dinner in Ragazzi where Jill was able to show off her new diamond necklace (the sooner we get home and away from all these diamonds, the better!). We went on to Aqua Beach but it was a tame night as Maggie's hen was taking place the next day. The girls went off horse riding followed by drinks at Morgans Harbour and then out for cocktails and back to Maggies. Meanwhile, we started with the rugby, followed by golf, and then back to Tim's for poker. Turns out that the poker night ended up to be the better stag night, going til 5am with plenty drunk, and a lot more craic had! The first tournament was welcomingly interrupted by Murpa Durp, calling from the dark depths of North Dublin. Murph, its not the same without you buddy!
The last weekend of February, myself and Brian and Maggie did our Advanced Padi course, 2 full days diving. The first day we headed out to West Bay, where we took in two dives, one of a sunken wreck where we practiced our navigation skills, and then to a reef where we practiced our knowledge of fish and marine life and attempted to navigate with the compass. The next day was better again, diving down to 100 ft over the edge of the wall (a seemingly endless abyss of the coast of Grand Cayman) before making our way back up through tunnels to the reef. On our way back into town we radioed ahead to confirm that there were no cargo or cruise ships in town, a rare daytime occurrence, which allowed us to dive the wreck of the Balboa, a 375ft freighter that sunk in the bay of George Town during the 1932 hurricane as it tried, in vain, to shelter from the storm. Our two dive instructors informed us that they had never dove it during the day as it is nearly always off limits due to shipping traffic in the bay. We struck gold! The ship has been blown up twice over the years as they attempted to break it up and get it out of the way, so a lot of the boat is scattered but the main hull is still intact.
We finished up just after lunch and headed down to the GAA club to play two matches afterwards, winning one and losing the other.
The following weekend, the last before I headed to Vegas, proved to be a quiet one. The waves were crashing on the shore all weekend, washing sand almost down to our back door! It wasnt a weekend for lying out, but rather for walking the beach with the dogs and chilling in the house, reading the weekend papers (we get the Irish Times delivered to our door every Saturday now, which is class!) and enjoying doing a whole lot of nothing.
The weekend afterwards and I was off to Vegas. The rest, as they say, is history!
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Quick, Interim Weather Update
I intend to update the blog for December and January this weekend, but in the meantime, check out the following two weather reports from today:
Dublin
31 January 2008- updated at 13:00
Today
Bitterly cold and very windy, with sunny spells and scattered wintry showers.
Tonight
Very cold and windy, with frost and ice. Clear spells and scattered showers of hail, sleet and snow.
Tomorrow
Bitterly cold with sunny spells and scattered showers of hail, sleet and snow.
George Town, Grand Cayman:
# Today: Partly cloudy. High 28C. Winds ESE at 10 to 20 mph.
# Tonight: Partly cloudy skies. Low near 24C. Winds E at 10 to 20 mph.
# Tomorrow: Intervals of clouds and sunshine. High 29C. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph.
# Tomorrow night: Partly cloudy skies. Low near 24C. Winds ENE at 15 to 25 mph.
Oh, how good it is to be in Cayman in January!
Dublin
31 January 2008- updated at 13:00
Today
Bitterly cold and very windy, with sunny spells and scattered wintry showers.
Tonight
Very cold and windy, with frost and ice. Clear spells and scattered showers of hail, sleet and snow.
Tomorrow
Bitterly cold with sunny spells and scattered showers of hail, sleet and snow.
George Town, Grand Cayman:
# Today: Partly cloudy. High 28C. Winds ESE at 10 to 20 mph.
# Tonight: Partly cloudy skies. Low near 24C. Winds E at 10 to 20 mph.
# Tomorrow: Intervals of clouds and sunshine. High 29C. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph.
# Tomorrow night: Partly cloudy skies. Low near 24C. Winds ENE at 15 to 25 mph.
Oh, how good it is to be in Cayman in January!
Monday, January 14, 2008
In the papers
For anyone who cares, check out this article from today's Cayman Net News (excuse the cheddar!):
Baraud Article in Net News
Baraud Article in Net News
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Monday, December 03, 2007
Movember
Last week we put up our Christmas tree. It seems like only weeks ago that we got married, but since then we have been to Panama, nearly been hit by Hurricane, and had visits from my Mum and Anne, Joyce and Sandra, and most recently Gail and Ross.
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.
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.
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