Hello all!Well, July has been and gone. As the Tee- shirts and hats around here say: “Time flies when you’re having Rum!” (and they'd be pretty accurate, too!).
A few boats trips this month. Also some Diving, Rugby, Touch Rugby & Soccer and Dave popped over to Jamaica for a Rugby weekend.
Without any further delays from us, feel free to read on!
Travel Report
Jamaica
Dave travelled with the Cayman Over 35 Rugby Team (The Tarnished Turtles) to Jamaica last weekend to contest the Gemini Palais Cup. It’s an annual event that has been going on for a number of years now.
There is an ‘official’ match report down below in the Sports Section. It was authored by one of the team members and Dave will attempt to provide a real 'match report' for you immediately following the official report.
A summary of the weekend:
Friday – meet at Airport and have a couple of nerve settling Heinekens. During the one hour flight all of the Heinekens on board are consumed. Picked up at Kingston and driven to a very dodgy-looking part of town where the team enjoyed a meal (Curried Prawns, Lobster, Fish etc) whilst being plied with copious amounts of Red Stripe (Jamaica Beer) and Appleton’s (Jamaican Rum). The evening continued with a trip to a local ‘nightclub’ of sorts then back to the hotel for a nightcap… or two.
The hotel was the Pegasus and apparently Pope JPII and the Bishop of Canterbury stayed at the same Hotel, but not when Dave was there. Maybe they shared a room? King Don Juan (or whatever his name is) and Queen Sophia of Spain also stayed there. Dave wondered what they were all up to. Maybe a rugby trip as well…
Saturday morning. Up for breakfast and then into the bar to watch the All Blacks SA game at 10 am. The main game (Ours) was planned for about 4 pm. In true form out came the beers and the rums and the pre match planning conference began while watching the All Blacks game on the TV... and it carried on afterwards. Unfortunately it all went downhill from there with several team members struggling to walk, let alone play a game of rugby. But everyone turned out and the game was played. (Results in Sports section).
Post game entertainment consisted of a stack of Cold Red Stripes, more Appleton’s and a really nice BBQ at the home of one of the Jamaican guy’s. Another long night ensued, similar to the first.
Sunday. Dave was invited to go on a bit of a tour around the countryside. Since it was his first time to Jamaica he thought he’d have a look around. He went with a guy called John Gibson, who played against the All Blacks in Scotland in about 1978.
Friday – meet at Airport and have a couple of nerve settling Heinekens. During the one hour flight all of the Heinekens on board are consumed. Picked up at Kingston and driven to a very dodgy-looking part of town where the team enjoyed a meal (Curried Prawns, Lobster, Fish etc) whilst being plied with copious amounts of Red Stripe (Jamaica Beer) and Appleton’s (Jamaican Rum). The evening continued with a trip to a local ‘nightclub’ of sorts then back to the hotel for a nightcap… or two.
The hotel was the Pegasus and apparently Pope JPII and the Bishop of Canterbury stayed at the same Hotel, but not when Dave was there. Maybe they shared a room? King Don Juan (or whatever his name is) and Queen Sophia of Spain also stayed there. Dave wondered what they were all up to. Maybe a rugby trip as well…
Saturday morning. Up for breakfast and then into the bar to watch the All Blacks SA game at 10 am. The main game (Ours) was planned for about 4 pm. In true form out came the beers and the rums and the pre match planning conference began while watching the All Blacks game on the TV... and it carried on afterwards. Unfortunately it all went downhill from there with several team members struggling to walk, let alone play a game of rugby. But everyone turned out and the game was played. (Results in Sports section).
Post game entertainment consisted of a stack of Cold Red Stripes, more Appleton’s and a really nice BBQ at the home of one of the Jamaican guy’s. Another long night ensued, similar to the first.
Sunday. Dave was invited to go on a bit of a tour around the countryside. Since it was his first time to Jamaica he thought he’d have a look around. He went with a guy called John Gibson, who played against the All Blacks in Scotland in about 1978.
Adrian (Our 'Tour Guide), Dave, Eric the Local Guy and Gibbo enjoy a wee rum or two on a sunday arfternoon in Mandeville.
Anyway, they jumped in a rickety old van driven by a couple of young local guys and off they went. After approximately three minutes, they were pulled up for speeding but when the cop saw the two white guys in the back they let the driver off with a warning.
They headed for a place called Mandeville where an old mate of Gibbo’s lived. After a little drink stop on the way they found themselves in Mandeville and headed to a bar for (you guessed it!) a few Red Stripes and some more Appleton’s.
They headed for a place called Mandeville where an old mate of Gibbo’s lived. After a little drink stop on the way they found themselves in Mandeville and headed to a bar for (you guessed it!) a few Red Stripes and some more Appleton’s.
Checking out '5th Dimension Wellness'
After that it was off to Milk River. A place with a mineral spring, Rastas and Crocodiles. They missed out on the spring but went Crocodile hunting along the river’s edge with a Rasta guy. They spotted one Crocodile on the other side. Beer time.
After that it was off to Milk River. A place with a mineral spring, Rastas and Crocodiles. They missed out on the spring but went Crocodile hunting along the river’s edge with a Rasta guy. They spotted one Crocodile on the other side. Beer time.
Then it was off again along a bumpy road until a big bright Rasta sign attracted them. Thinking that they had only stopped for a photo or two they soon found themselves inside the ‘Ark of 5th Dimension Wellness’ (whatever that is) sampling some ‘herbal’ concoctions and associated tobacco products. Funnily enough, all aches and pains from the previous day had disappeared.
After that they floated back to Kingston where the rest of the team were attempting to get themselves onto the plane back to Cayman after a very heavy afternoon of Red Stripes and Appleton’s.
Tour over. A very colourful one. Dave’s first with Cayman and hopefully not the last.
More Jamaica pics:
Rugby Girls Day out
Boozy Sunday Boat Trips
It seems that everyone with a boat (and those that don’t) head out to Stingray City and Rum Point on the weekends to while away the day. Michelle had three such trips this month. Sam went on two while Jake and Dave had just the one.
It seems that everyone with a boat (and those that don’t) head out to Stingray City and Rum Point on the weekends to while away the day. Michelle had three such trips this month. Sam went on two while Jake and Dave had just the one.
Michelle plays with the Stingrays
One trip was a sort of a family outing with several families from Gaelic Football. There was a bit of swimming with the Stingrays, some snorkeling and some floating about with a few drinks in hand.
Another was Michelle’s Gaelic Football team where they went to Stingray City, then off to Starfish point while having a few drinks and things. Sam went on this trip and was immediately 'adopted' by a couple of the Irish girls. The third was the Women’s Rugby Team. They pretty much did all of the above and also went to Kaibo (on land near Rum Point) where they had some food and played twister and attempted 'Aircarft Carriers' on wooden picnic tables. One of them ended up with a few splinters in her 'generous' chest. Ouch!
All good fun though!
Jake gets a bit tied up
Starfish Point
Mudslides at Kaibo with the Gaelic Girls
More Pics:
More Pics:
And some other pics:
Visitor’s Report
No visitors this month, but rumour has it that next month there might be some movement in this area.
Sport
Touch Rugby
The Summer touch league has started. Dave volunteered to organize the referee schedules and is now wondering why on earth he actually did that. Opening day resulted in three wins for the ‘good guys’. The competition runs on Mon, Wed, Fri for the next two months so we’ll keep you up to date with results of that. Michelle hurt her knee (again) in a warm up game the other week so is out of action for a little longer.
Soccer
During a week in the holidays the kids went on a ‘Football Camp’ where they spent each morning learning soccer skills and playing in mini tournaments. They both really enjoyed it but Sam was a little disappointed with her kicking for goal. She hit the posts at least once a day. We told her that it isn’t easy to hit those posts - anyone can kick a ball into the big gap in the middle, but to hit the posts takes something special.
No visitors this month, but rumour has it that next month there might be some movement in this area.
Sport
Touch Rugby
The Summer touch league has started. Dave volunteered to organize the referee schedules and is now wondering why on earth he actually did that. Opening day resulted in three wins for the ‘good guys’. The competition runs on Mon, Wed, Fri for the next two months so we’ll keep you up to date with results of that. Michelle hurt her knee (again) in a warm up game the other week so is out of action for a little longer.
Soccer
During a week in the holidays the kids went on a ‘Football Camp’ where they spent each morning learning soccer skills and playing in mini tournaments. They both really enjoyed it but Sam was a little disappointed with her kicking for goal. She hit the posts at least once a day. We told her that it isn’t easy to hit those posts - anyone can kick a ball into the big gap in the middle, but to hit the posts takes something special.
Rugby
Under 19 Caribbean Champs
No, Dave wasn’t playing in this. The tournament just happened to be held during the first week of the School holidays and Dave and the kids spent a bit of time at the club watching the games.
Up-and-coming International Rugby Referee (and Ex BVI player) Nicholas Fox made an official appearance during the final as well. And also, for those of the BVI, Brooksy was also in attendance and put his body on the line for international relations during the tournament.
Cayman managed to win the final against Mexico which qualifies them for the Under 19 (or 20?) world cup tournament next year. It’s like 2nd or third tier rugby and they play teams like Kenya, USA, an Asian side and a few others.
Under 19 Caribbean Champs
No, Dave wasn’t playing in this. The tournament just happened to be held during the first week of the School holidays and Dave and the kids spent a bit of time at the club watching the games.
Up-and-coming International Rugby Referee (and Ex BVI player) Nicholas Fox made an official appearance during the final as well. And also, for those of the BVI, Brooksy was also in attendance and put his body on the line for international relations during the tournament.
Cayman managed to win the final against Mexico which qualifies them for the Under 19 (or 20?) world cup tournament next year. It’s like 2nd or third tier rugby and they play teams like Kenya, USA, an Asian side and a few others.
Reggie Hannon Memorial
Dave played in the inaugural Reggie Hannon Memorial game two weeks ago. It is a three game series between the Over 30’s and Under 30’s of the Club.
The Under 30’s consisted mainly of Under 19 Players from the previous week as well as a sprinkling of ‘Cayman Emerging Players’. So they were pretty handy.
The over 30’s took it to the young guys up front (scoring the first try) and had their scrum going backwards all day. By half time it was a try apiece. In the second half the young side got a bit more ball as the older team tired and about three tries were put on.
Just before the end the over 30’s showed what a push over try looks like. Dave just happened to be playing at the back of the scrum at that stage and had an easy ride over the line to score the final try and add some respectability to the result.
Dave played in the inaugural Reggie Hannon Memorial game two weeks ago. It is a three game series between the Over 30’s and Under 30’s of the Club.
The Under 30’s consisted mainly of Under 19 Players from the previous week as well as a sprinkling of ‘Cayman Emerging Players’. So they were pretty handy.
The over 30’s took it to the young guys up front (scoring the first try) and had their scrum going backwards all day. By half time it was a try apiece. In the second half the young side got a bit more ball as the older team tired and about three tries were put on.
Just before the end the over 30’s showed what a push over try looks like. Dave just happened to be playing at the back of the scrum at that stage and had an easy ride over the line to score the final try and add some respectability to the result.
Try!
It wasn’t until later on that Dave learned that ‘Reggie’ was in fact, a Dog. He couldn't believe he'd just played a game of Rugby in memory of a Dog. It belonged to one of the club members and for years used to wander into the Rugby club as well as several pubs around town and get given a beer or two.
More Rugby pics:
The official match report from the Jamaica Tour:
The Cayman Tarnished Turtles national Oldies Squad recently made a trip to Jamaica for a gruelling six game weekend long competition ...
Imagine if you will an ad for Appleton Rum ..., Green fields and the mountains beyond, a Mahogany table, the sun shining on a crystal glass, 4 cubes of ice and the golden rum caressing the light and the glass. The glass calls your name, the bottle beside it says its your friend, there’s a case of his friends just out of sight all wanting to know your name ... They’re calling you Waggers or Johnny and so you feel they must love you!
And the rest becomes kind of blurry ...
3pm Friday saw the kick off of the first game in the series at Devon House for Duppies vs 21's, Campbell, Johnny, Ron, Mark, Richard all driving hard forward, knowing that the only way to meet the Palais Royale team in the next match up was a hard fought win here. Twenty minutes in Waggers has fallen in luv with the left side of the house but Ron and Richard hold steady in the center ably aided by an unrelenting Vaughn Morris for the Jamaicans and so the first game came to a close with Devon House over Duppies 6 to 1 and Campbell limping off the field.
Mick files a grievance that the first game ran ahead without him and that by IRB rules it shouldn’t count as a win to Devon House!
Waggers insists that Love is the only answer. Richard takes one for England.
William picked up Adrian, Derek, Dave, Mick, Tony & Larreee and set out to join the jamaicans for the 9pm start to the second match of the day at Gloria's. Appleton went ahead early putting a hard six across the table and the Curried Lobsters squeaked in a couple from the corner just before the last part of the game when Palais Royale took the lead with their cheerleaders hanging from the rafters and Red Stripe went down heavily taking Cayman with them as they went.
Mick insists the Lobster was offside in the corner and that there’s no way that that Palais Royale cheerleader could have done that without the aide of mirrors calls for an instant replay!
Waggers loves everybody, checks very closely for mirrors. Adrian stands around and looks good! Dave Bailey smiling brightly from the corner of the room took on Red Stripe head to head with Red Stripe falling behind.
William picked up Grizz on Saturday morning and before game three of the series had even really gotten started Cayman was down 1,000 points to the Pegasus bar squad but fighting back hard. Waggers hates himself, but begins to feel warmly toward others.
Mick feel
s that the Pegasus Bar squad was unfairly doubling up on Cayman and calls for the opinion of the fourth official ... Larree calls for the Red Stripe to meet him on the sidelines and after sending two away the game recommenced. Richard takes one for England while Adrian, still looking good, stands there.Game Four of the gruelling schedule had to be broken down into 25 min thirds to make room for the Red Stripe squad which was both plentiful and eager to test the resilience of Appleton against the field.
Luckily Willo and Sammy had joined in the fray with fresh legs and sober heads. Larree taking advantage of a hospital pass to Pragnell, puts Cayman ahead by 3 points early. A back and forth for control of the field and the ball and the Red Stripe at which Cayman, despite years of training in the Heineken method close the second 25 min ahead by 2 points on the back of Adrian’s good looks and Gibson’s stealthy foot work.
Mick Suggests that the ref go drink an effing Red Stripe to clear up his effing dehydration which may be clouding his effing vision! Jamaica puts 15 points on the board while the Ref is doing just that! But while this was going on, Adrian, was looking good by just standing next to Shep!
Final score 15 cases of Red Stripe 50 lbs Jerk Pork 1 case Appleton Rum, Cayman all in!
Mick complains that no way was that 50lbs of Jerk Pork! Tony Kehoe patting his stomach suggests differently.
Waggers is back to hating himself. Dave Bailey is still smiling while Richard Ellison takes one more for England, Campbell goes straight to bed and Omar the Dread wonders if either Captain Ron, Laree, Lord Gibbo or the Presidente might have been his father; rugby after all is in his blood!
Game five sees Mick taking a hit from the Referee while the Latinas score 9 on Mark "Papi" Wollard round the edges. Mark says it “looks like if I don’t get their measure they’ll be doing that to me all night long!”. Derek and Ron (although some say that Ron was just a ghost of his former self at this point) swing into action like Firemen on a brass pole with Grizz coming in hard from behind all to Mark’s rescue; Mark insists that he needs no help, but it seems a little too late as the Latinas take it all, leaving Cayman spent and Adrian still looking good.
Game six early Sunday morning the Pegasus bar squad puts another harsh 1000 points on the Caymanians with Tony Kehoe still cheering from the sidelines. Richard Ellison takes one for Scotland this time. Mark becomes disoriented after a massive run by Appleton with Grizz, Presidente, Campbell, Waggers and Laree all chasing to catch up.
Mick switches sides and joins Pegasus hoping for a win in the next round; he discusses how to rig the teams to his benefit.
The tournament ends, in the immortal words of Vaughn Morris, as coined by Gavin Clark, “14 All.”
As a further note: It seems that a judicial revue has been called into the conduct of certain members of the oldies squad: Shane and Jerome are to be sanctioned under the laws of the court of no appeal; punishment to be meted out in due course, Shane bearing the brunt of the fault in the proscribed incident. Steve Worthington and Dr. Sean’s cases are under closed door review as we speak.
Dave’s Unofficial Match Report
4:30 on a very hot and dry Saturday afternoon in Kingston. Ground conditions were Dry and Hard with several blades of dried grass still hanging in there. Despite the pre-match planning session, the Cayman side is raring to go (with the addition of a couple of the locals as we were short).
Not exactly flowing rugby but it was serious enough and Jamaica led at half time. The Ref can only be described as an absolute shocker. Cayman were award 4 penalties in the entire match. At one stage Jamaica were awarded 7 in a row!
Despite the Ref, Cayman came back in the second half and ran in a couple of nice tries to be two points up when the referee blew the whistle. Cayman were about to hook into the beers in celebration when they were reminded that in was to be a game of three thirds and not two halves. The heads dropped a bit. The cooler box lid was closed and they trudged back out on the field.
By this time the Ref simply blew his whistle at will, Jamaica scored a try to edge ahead and full time couldn’t come soon enough for the entire Cayman team. It was a shame really as the match had been quite even.
Never mind, there is a rematch planned in November at the Cayman ‘Knackerfest’. Watch this space.
Diving
Michelle and Dave went for a couple of shore dives one morning while the kids were at Football Camp. Lighthouse point was the venue. An American tourist tagged along as well since she had no-one to go with. There was a slight current for the first dive which didn’t really affect anything too much. It was a nice dive with plenty of fish to see. The second dive also seemed to be going fine until they realized that the current had picked up a bit and they had missed the point where they were to turn back towards the shore.
Unsure of the exact location, Dave surfaced and found that they were about 200 m past the exit point and the current was taking them further away.
Michelle and Dave went for a couple of shore dives one morning while the kids were at Football Camp. Lighthouse point was the venue. An American tourist tagged along as well since she had no-one to go with. There was a slight current for the first dive which didn’t really affect anything too much. It was a nice dive with plenty of fish to see. The second dive also seemed to be going fine until they realized that the current had picked up a bit and they had missed the point where they were to turn back towards the shore.
Unsure of the exact location, Dave surfaced and found that they were about 200 m past the exit point and the current was taking them further away.
The current at the bottom was also strong so they all surfaced and headed for shore, finally making it and scrambling up some very sharp rocks with plenty of sea urchins for good measure. So, after a very tiring swim and then having to hobble across the iron sand rocks in bare feet, not to mention the urchin needles, they finally hobbled back to the Dive shop to clean up. Although never in any real danger, it was a good lesson to learn and they’ll take a little more care next time, especially if there is any current about. They don’t think that American tourist will be racing back to go diving with them again either.
Weather Report
Still hot, still sticky with lots of thunder and lightning. Hitting mid 30's most days
Still hot, still sticky with lots of thunder and lightning. Hitting mid 30's most days
More Diving pics:
Next Month
More Touch
More rugby?
Visitors… maybe
