Hello!We offer our sincere apologies for the tardiness of this edition. We attempted to publish it on friday but struck some technical hitches - no internet. It has been intermittent ever since. But hopefully we have got it up and running now!
Well, another month has passed us by and we have an action packed edition for you this month. A bit of travel, some big weather and errr... well, something must have happened. Read on to find out what.
Well, another month has passed us by and we have an action packed edition for you this month. A bit of travel, some big weather and errr... well, something must have happened. Read on to find out what.
Don't forget (especially new subscribers) you can view previous monthly editions of our blog by either scrolling down or using the Blog Archive section up on the right.
OK, lets hit it!
BVI Steelman
The BVI Steelman Olympic length triathlon was held earlier in the month.
There was a kids race (16 and under) and an adults race.
Sam wanted to do the kids race and ended up doing the bike leg (2 km) for her team “Tortola Angels.” The race was a 200m swim, 2 km bike and 1 km run. They were the youngest team to enter and did the race without any problems. Their swimmer was ninth out of the water and she handed over to Sam who maintained the same position. Unfortunately their runner had just run a 2 mile cross country race in the morning and was 'a little bit tired' and dropped a couple of places. Although they didn’t win, they all enjoyed it and were pretty happy when they each got a ‘prize’ for their efforts at the prizegiving. Sam is keen to do another and wants to do the run next time!
The BVI Steelman Olympic length triathlon was held earlier in the month.
There was a kids race (16 and under) and an adults race.
Sam wanted to do the kids race and ended up doing the bike leg (2 km) for her team “Tortola Angels.” The race was a 200m swim, 2 km bike and 1 km run. They were the youngest team to enter and did the race without any problems. Their swimmer was ninth out of the water and she handed over to Sam who maintained the same position. Unfortunately their runner had just run a 2 mile cross country race in the morning and was 'a little bit tired' and dropped a couple of places. Although they didn’t win, they all enjoyed it and were pretty happy when they each got a ‘prize’ for their efforts at the prizegiving. Sam is keen to do another and wants to do the run next time!
Dave also joined a team to do the running leg, but unfortunately it was in the adult’s race. He would have been happy with a 1km run.
The team was called “Fried Ice” but if you look at the team picture maybe “Oreo” would have been more appropriate.
This race was a 1500m swim, 40km bike and 10km run. The swimmer came out of the water in fourth position, the cyclist (one of Dave's gardeners) held on to that position and Dave managed to finish the run with the team in 4th as well. Dave hadn’t done any training for this and was just getting over a leg injury (not that he's looking for excuses!). But the day before the race, he thought he’d sneak down to the beach mid morning for a quick surf, only to stub his big toe on a rock and rip the skin off the front. Luckily it was more to the front than under the toe so he still managed to run without too much trouble. In the end he clocked a fairly average 55 minutes for the run but given that they held onto their overall position he wasn’t that unhappy.
The team was called “Fried Ice” but if you look at the team picture maybe “Oreo” would have been more appropriate.
This race was a 1500m swim, 40km bike and 10km run. The swimmer came out of the water in fourth position, the cyclist (one of Dave's gardeners) held on to that position and Dave managed to finish the run with the team in 4th as well. Dave hadn’t done any training for this and was just getting over a leg injury (not that he's looking for excuses!). But the day before the race, he thought he’d sneak down to the beach mid morning for a quick surf, only to stub his big toe on a rock and rip the skin off the front. Luckily it was more to the front than under the toe so he still managed to run without too much trouble. In the end he clocked a fairly average 55 minutes for the run but given that they held onto their overall position he wasn’t that unhappy.
Team Oreo
More Steelman pics:
Surf Report
The surf has been returning lately albeit intermittently. Dave popped out early in the month for a surf one Friday. It had been a while since he last went out but managed to catch a couple of waves. He was pretty tired afterwards though as he hadn’t done much paddling for a while and the surf was pretty choppy to battle through initially.
We hear that there has been surf for the last week (while we were away). Hopefully we’ll find a bit of time to check it out soon! Dave is planning to take Jake down on wednesdays after school as long as the surf hangs about. Other opportunities will be taken as they present themselves.
Earthrace NZ
The NZ boat Earthrace NZ popped into the BVI for a quick visit during October. Dave managed to pop down for a quick look at the boat before it sped off to it’s next destination. Weird looking boat but it apparently does the business having recently beaten the record for a round-the-world-trip (60 days?). It can constantly do about 40 knots on a good day and runs on bio fuel. Didn’t see a bar or jacuzzi on it, or even a ski pole. Not sure if we’ll get one of those to cruise about in.
The NZ boat Earthrace NZ popped into the BVI for a quick visit during October. Dave managed to pop down for a quick look at the boat before it sped off to it’s next destination. Weird looking boat but it apparently does the business having recently beaten the record for a round-the-world-trip (60 days?). It can constantly do about 40 knots on a good day and runs on bio fuel. Didn’t see a bar or jacuzzi on it, or even a ski pole. Not sure if we’ll get one of those to cruise about in.
Weather Report
The weather has been a bit strange of late. Often dry for over a week or so and then three or four days of showers. The temp does drop a bit with the rain so it's often down to 24/25 on a wet day. Haven’t donned the woollies yet… not that we’re likely too! The garden has been getting a bit confused with it all. Lots of rain and warmth for a few days followed by hot dry weather. One day we’ll work it all out!
And then there was Omar!
As we were preparing to head off on a wee holiday, there was a bit of excitement around the island about a tropical storm heading this way. The excitement grew, as did the tropical storm. TS Omar soon became Hurricane Omar and was headed directly for the BVI. Usually there is about three or four days notice for a hurricane, but as this one was coming from a different direction we got about two.
Dave was kept busy preparing Government House for the hurricane and the schools were closed and people headed for the supermarket, 'Gas' Station, 'Liquor' store, Bank etc to stock up. It had been raining heavily for two days by now and the roads were quite treacherous in places. The Hurricane was due to strike at 2 am on the Thursday. Our landlord came around Wednesday morning and boarded up a couple of windows. The Hurricane was predicted to be a category 1 or 2 at that stage. We had decided we would stay at home that night and ride out the storm, however later in the day the forecast was for a category three Hurricane (125mph+ winds) so we decided to take up the offer of staying at a friend's place which was a little more sturdy than our place - and they had a generator! So, Wednesday night we rocked up there and had a BBQ dinner before putting the kids to bed and having a wee nightcap ourselves. The nightcaps ended up being of the 10 Gallon variety and by the time the Hurricane hit we were able to sleep quite peacefully. In the end the Hurricane veered off just before it hit us so we missed the worst of it.
After rousing ourselves on Thursday morning we saw that there was a lot of water about and plenty of leaves and bits of trees strewn about, but nothing major. We went home and cleaned up a bit of water in and around the house before heading to town to check out Michelle's work and Government house. All were fine. The next thing we had to worry about was when the airport and ferry services would resume as we had planned to go on holiday the next day.
Travel Report - Cancun & Miami
And yes, we did get away. The water was flat and the skies were blue. Early Friday morning we jumped on a ferry to St Thomas and then flew to Cancun, Mexico via Miami.
The pool we had to put up with...
A pool or a lake.....
Arriving in Cancun we were struck by the humidity. Oh, that's right, it was rain, and lots of it!
Happy Hour Amigos!
We stayed at a place near Playa del Carmen which is about half an hour from Cancun. The Mayan Palace is a fairly flash resort set up. It's part of a timeshare chain (RCI) of which we are members. So we had a week here at NZ prices really (excluding travel!). It had it's own golf course, tennis courts, gym, a pool that covered approximately an acre (it's true) and about 4 resturants, shop, bars etc.
Yeah, the pool was pretty average alright...
Funnily enough, the kids were pretty happy with the pool.
But the rain continued to bucket down and we decided to rent a car and take on the Mexicans out on the roads.
The first day we headed to Xcaret (no idea how this is actually pronounced.) which is a sort of water park cum zoo resort type thingy based on Mexico. It was quite well set up with plenty to do. You could easily spend a couple of days there. We wandered about and checked out animals, fish and the like as well as doing a snorkel trip down an underground river. We also watched four amigos climb up a power pole (to music played by a fifth), tie themselves on to ropes at the top and then fling themselves off. It was a fertility ritual and was pretty well done.
We stayed all day and dined in one of the resturants while watching a horse show before going to a cultural extravaganza in the great hall. That was pretty good too. Plenty of Mexican history - Mayan people, dancing, sport, music and the like. Sometimes abit unsure of what was happening as we couldn't understand the language but the Mayan Hockey with fire balls was pretty impressive!
See the Video at the end of this issue. The reason they play with flaming balls is so they can play at night. No need for electricity!
The next day we headed for Chichen Itza and it was a sunny hot day. This place had recently been made one of the New Seventh Wonders of the World. There were lots of ruins and different Mayan buildings and pyramids to see. The movie Apocolypto has scenes filmed in this location should you wish to check it out. Unfortunately, we weren't able to walk up any of them.
Chichen Itza
We also visited Cancun the next day but weren't that impressed - mainly because of the weather, which is a little unfair. We drove around during a torrential downpour - considered a trip to a near by island but since we couldn't see it , didn't bother and ended up shopping and having a quick look around town before heading home.
The next day we headed for Playa del Carmen and caught the ferry to Cozumel, a small island off the coast. We had planned to do a bit of snokeling there and have a wander about but due to some confusion over the ferry timings only got to do the snorkelling. Oh well! It had been a reasonable day until we went snorkelling. Then it got really cold. It was probably the first time that we had actually shivered from the cold since we moved over to this part of the world. But never fear, our trusty guide Haimi provided us with a few beers to make us even colder!
That night we decided to spend the evening with Captain Hook on his pirate ship. It was all very cool. There were two 'galleons' that set sail and they had an ongoing show throughout culminating in a serious battle between Captain Jack Sparrow's Black Pearl and Captain Hook's ship. By the time the two ships met in battle, the 'crews' were fairly well lubricated as it was an 'all inclusive' affair with our personal waiter being fairly efficient with the delivery of beverages to the extent that Michelle had about three wines lined up. At which point she switched to cocktails and caught up fairly quickly.
It was a good night and the kids had a ball being pirates and being on a real pirate ship that really sails.
Messers Hook & Sparrow
The following day was a chill out by the pool day. We headed for the big pool and found it to be void of people.... because it was raining! But that didn't deter us, or rather the kids - they had a ball having the entire pool to themselves. Eventually the weather improved and a few people ventured out but...
More Mexico pics:
Friday again, off to Miami for the weekend. So, after a rather hair-raising ride in torrential rain in a dodgy mexican taxi we flew to Miami and headed for our hotel at Southbeach. On arrival we learned that the city engineers department had ploughed up the electical cable to the hotel and half of it was without power. But they had arranged another hotel just down the street. Off we went and checked in there (only 4 large blocks up the road, lugging luggage!). Not a bad place either - it was worth the journey!
Dave had arranged to meet a mate for dinner that night and he picked us all up and took us to a local restaurant for dinner and drinks. That was all pretty good and it was good to catch up with Josh who had left the BVI a month or so ago.
The next day we got a lift to a shopping mall and spent the day thrashing the credit card and ticking things off our wish list. We all came away quite happy, except for Jake who managed to lose his purchases somewhere on-route.
Sunday was a relaxed day of wandering around South beach before catching a late afternoon flight back to St Thomas where we spent the night before heading back to Tortola on the first ferry in the morning. Holiday over. Back to work.
Take the kids anywhere, as long as there is a pool.
We had a great time and had a good look around the Cancun area and also some of Miami. Not sure what will be next.
We had a great time and had a good look around the Cancun area and also some of Miami. Not sure what will be next.
More Miami pics:
Sam’s Teeth
Again, while in Miami, another fang falls out. Well actually Sam pulled it out herself…again. At least this time it wasn't in public. But she's slowly getting rid of those baby teeth. Now it's Jake's turn, but he's more likely to knock his out rather than have them fall out naturally.
Next Month:
Touch Tournament
Rum Appreciation Day ...oh dear...
Diving
Surfing
Visitor’s Report - who can it be?
Movember is upon us - will he or won't he?
Watch this... it's pretty cool!
But the BVI, being on average a little older than the Navy team, just kept the opposition on the back foot the entire game and eventually came out winners seven tries to Nil. We don't have any goalposts at the moment, hence the scoring method.
