Hi there eager readers!
Wow, these months just seem to fly by! Another busy month for us with Swimming, Rugby, Swimming and more Rugby and maybe a bit of time in, on and under the water!
Without further ado, we’d better let you read on!
Easter
The Easter Bunny paid a visit to our house again this year. The kids left a note and he did his best to grant their wishes. Last year we went to Little Cayman for Easter. This year we stayed put and spent some time at the beach with friends or at BBQs. One day we went and explored a little and ended up at Starfish point where we found about six large starfish loitering in the shallow waters there.
Million Dollar Race
Every year there is a Speed Boat race held at Easter. There is a couple of local boats and some from offshore that come down. They run a series of races in a circuit to the front of Seven Mile Beach. This makes good viewing for the spectators and there is plenty of room to spread out and enjoy the day. A bunch of people, mainly from the rugby club, met up in front of the Governor's residence and set up shop for the day.
Every Easter the Government here allow people to camp on the beaches. Any other time of the year camping is prohibited. So, as we arrived at the beach we noticed tents and shelters and BBQs and Portaloos and cookers and beds and all sorts of crap strewn about as the locals took advantage of being able to camp at the beach for the weekend. Not too many expats take up this offer funnily enough. There's enough Mossies and other critters running around as it is without actually going and joining them in their own habitat. Not to mention the heat of being inside a tent in a place where the temperature seldom gets below 30 during the day and 25 at night!
Anyway, a path was cleared through the rubble and the cooler boxes/chilli bins/eskis were opened much to the delight of the thirsty beachgoers.
As it was quite hot out in the sun, a great place in which to watch the race in relative comfort was in the water. There were plenty of little groups of people standing about in the water enjoying the race and the occasional liquid refreshment. Dave was in one of these groups, as was Michelle occasionally. The boys had Jake running back and forth from the water to the cooler boxes ferrying drink orders and removing empties throughout the day. They didn't actually have to get out of the water at all for about four hours.
When they weren't being used as mini bar staff, the kids had a ball playing on paddle boards and anything else that would float. Generally a fairly relaxing and sociable day was had by all.
Watching the big race from the Swim-up bar...
The kids create their own chaos on the high seas of Seven Mile Beach
Latest visitor to our garden
Swimming
Swimming continues at the club with a sprint meet being held last weekend. Both Sam and Jake swam the maximum allowable five races each. They both improved on their Personal Bests in almost all events and Sam came away with a Bronze in the 50m Butterfly.
They have both been promoted in their respective swim club groups with Jake now in the Advanced Competitive Skills group and Sam being elevated to the Enthusiasm group, which means she has a 6:15am start at the pool every Tuesday before school. Michelle is lucky enough to have the honour of taking Sam to that session, but she does get a swim as well, since there are a couple of lanes reserved for “Masters” swimmers at that time. All in all, Sam has five sessions a week and Jake four.
The 800m sea swim scheduled for last month was rescheduled to April. Michelle and Sam were about to head off to do that when Jake became suddenly ill. Since Dave was down at the Rugby club filming a game from up on the roof, he couldn’t look after Jake. So in the end Sam went with some friends and did it while Michelle played Nurse. Sam came in at 84th place overall with a time of 18:34, giving her 3rd place in her age group. This was her second 800m sea swim.
Michelle is keen to do the next one and even Jake and Dave might attempt it also, although Dave might struggle to keep up with Jake the way he is swimming these days!
Swimming continues at the club with a sprint meet being held last weekend. Both Sam and Jake swam the maximum allowable five races each. They both improved on their Personal Bests in almost all events and Sam came away with a Bronze in the 50m Butterfly.They have both been promoted in their respective swim club groups with Jake now in the Advanced Competitive Skills group and Sam being elevated to the Enthusiasm group, which means she has a 6:15am start at the pool every Tuesday before school. Michelle is lucky enough to have the honour of taking Sam to that session, but she does get a swim as well, since there are a couple of lanes reserved for “Masters” swimmers at that time. All in all, Sam has five sessions a week and Jake four.
The 800m sea swim scheduled for last month was rescheduled to April. Michelle and Sam were about to head off to do that when Jake became suddenly ill. Since Dave was down at the Rugby club filming a game from up on the roof, he couldn’t look after Jake. So in the end Sam went with some friends and did it while Michelle played Nurse. Sam came in at 84th place overall with a time of 18:34, giving her 3rd place in her age group. This was her second 800m sea swim.
Michelle is keen to do the next one and even Jake and Dave might attempt it also, although Dave might struggle to keep up with Jake the way he is swimming these days!
Oops!
Finger Report
Not much to report on Dave’s digit. Only that he can’t bend it much and is due to see the specialist next week. Hopefully there is nothing major going on there.
Finger Report
Not much to report on Dave’s digit. Only that he can’t bend it much and is due to see the specialist next week. Hopefully there is nothing major going on there.
RUGBY
Dave’s team, the Iguana’s, took out the league (AA Cup) this year but couldn’t pull off the double and the Waterford trophy went the way of the Storm. Dave didn’t really enjoy watching the game from the sideline… but that’s life!
Dave’s team, the Iguana’s, took out the league (AA Cup) this year but couldn’t pull off the double and the Waterford trophy went the way of the Storm. Dave didn’t really enjoy watching the game from the sideline… but that’s life!
Jake showing us how flexible he really is
Kids Rugby
The big weekend of rugby is coming up on 1 – 2 May. Bermuda comes to Cayman with their Under 10’s, Under 12’s, Under 14’s, Under 16’s and their men’s team. There will be a lot of rugby this weekend and we’ll report back next month. However, if you do want to watch some of the action (you might even see Jake playing) it is all being broadcast live on www.caymanrugbytv.com free! Just log on and have a look. Remember that we are about 16 hours behind NZ, about 5 or 6 behind the UK, 1 behind the BVI. Anyway, the games on Saturday start at 8am Cayman time and go to about 2 pm.
On Sunday they start at around 8:30 leading up to the full International Test between Cayman and Bermuda at 4 pm.
Kids Rugby
The big weekend of rugby is coming up on 1 – 2 May. Bermuda comes to Cayman with their Under 10’s, Under 12’s, Under 14’s, Under 16’s and their men’s team. There will be a lot of rugby this weekend and we’ll report back next month. However, if you do want to watch some of the action (you might even see Jake playing) it is all being broadcast live on www.caymanrugbytv.com free! Just log on and have a look. Remember that we are about 16 hours behind NZ, about 5 or 6 behind the UK, 1 behind the BVI. Anyway, the games on Saturday start at 8am Cayman time and go to about 2 pm.
On Sunday they start at around 8:30 leading up to the full International Test between Cayman and Bermuda at 4 pm.
The Under 10 kids (Jake's team) have been training hard (four sessions a week) and are actually starting to look quite organised.
Sadly, the same can't be said about the under 14's that Dave coaches. A general lack of enthusiasm in this age group might be their undoing. They do, however, have a core of keen and relatively experienced players in the squad. Fingers crossed!
Dave is back coaching Tag rugby in the local schools. They are now in the middle schools with classes of approximately 40 12 – 14 year olds in each class. And yes, these kids listen just about as much as any other 12 – 14 year old…
Dive Report
Michelle and Dave have both had a few dives this month. Usually it’s one or the other but last week they managed to ditch the kids and both went together, for two shore dives.
No Manta rays this time, but plenty of Turtles, lots and lots of those nasty Lion Fish, a few Morays, Lobsters and co, swimming around also.
Weather Report
Hot, dry and windy of late. We did have a wet few days a week or two ago, but not much since.
It has got noticeably hot over the last few days with even the locals complaining of the heat. Most days are around the low 30’s with very high humidity. It doesn’t take much to work up a sweat in these parts lately.
Dave is back coaching Tag rugby in the local schools. They are now in the middle schools with classes of approximately 40 12 – 14 year olds in each class. And yes, these kids listen just about as much as any other 12 – 14 year old…
Dive Report
Michelle and Dave have both had a few dives this month. Usually it’s one or the other but last week they managed to ditch the kids and both went together, for two shore dives.
No Manta rays this time, but plenty of Turtles, lots and lots of those nasty Lion Fish, a few Morays, Lobsters and co, swimming around also.
Weather Report
Hot, dry and windy of late. We did have a wet few days a week or two ago, but not much since.
It has got noticeably hot over the last few days with even the locals complaining of the heat. Most days are around the low 30’s with very high humidity. It doesn’t take much to work up a sweat in these parts lately.
Next Month:
Conyer's Cup Report
Maybe a little travel report?
Any other goss that we might make up
