May'd it Up!

. Blog Update # 33 – May 2010 .

Hello again!

Well, that's May done and dusted. As usual, the days and weeks seem to fly by. We managed to squeeze a little trip in this month. Also some swimming, some Touch Rugby, some more swimming, and a few other items of note that should keep you riveted to your chair until well into morning tea time...

Travel Report – Cayman Brac
It was a long weekend here a couple of weeks back – Discovery Day (The Day the Cayman Islands were discovered – well, one of them anyway).
We decided to head over to Cayman Brac for the weekend. We did Little Cayman last Easter, so now it was the Brac’s turn. The Brac has only recently re-opened after being bashed about by Hurricane Paloma (yep, the one that narrowly missed the BVI) about 18 months back. Brac is right next to Little Cayman but both are about 90 miles from Grand Cayman. Brac means ‘Bluff’ apparently in Gaelic.
We packed up some essential supplies, some clothes and some dive kit and flew on over.
Upon arrival our Chillybin was searched by customs as they don’t want any locally grown fruit or veges brought over from Grand Cayman as they may carry some bugs or disease not yet established on the Brac. But they need not have worried about the contents of ours – it was mostly bottled stuff!
We stayed in the recently rebuilt Alexander Brac Hotel, which was quite nice with big rooms etc. Our rental car was a bit of a heap but the AC worked and it went forward and back so that was fine.
Exploring was the first thing we did. OK, it was actually the second, as we had to check out the local Bottle shop.
We took off and attempted to do one side of the island, checking out the beaches, the wildlife and some of the caves that are to be found. Some interesting caves too!

There are quite a few caves and many have been used in the past during hurricanes and bad storms. One even had a Dunnie in it! Most had crabs and the odd frog hopping about. We did search for bats, but only saw one very briefly as it flew past.

We also went for a walk along the South Coast and found out something very interesting. If you have ever lost a Jandal/flipflop/thong/croc in the sea, we now know where they end up. This beach was absolutely covered in them. Literally thousands of jandals etc were strewn along the beach (most of them the left foot!).

We also found a blow hole and a little cave up a small cliff.
The day ended with a refreshing beer (or cider) and a cool off in the pool.
The next day Dave was dropped off at the Dive boat and went out for two dives while Michelle nursed a hangover (how did that happen?!) and the kids ran about playing on the beach or in the pool.
See the Dive Report, below.
After lunch we headed up onto the bluff to check out the cliffs and see if we could spot any Boobies. Before some of you get your hopes up, a Booby is a bird that lives there. We drove up to the bluff and found a little lighthouse, which we had to climb of course to get a better view of the surroundings. It didn’t make that much difference, but certainly got Michelle’s heart rate up!
After that we walked along the cliff with an impressive 140 foot drop, straight down to the sea – more heart attacks as Jake and Sam start throwing rocks over the side and watching them splash in the sea. There were a few Boobies soaring about and we also spotted a young one on the edge of the cliff waiting for its wings to develop.

A little Booby

Michelle’s turn for diving and, since there was room on the boat for Dave and the kids, they went along as well.
Diving (see Dive report)

The rest of the weekend involved more exploring, caving, snorkeling and the like. We found a place where someone was in the process of building an underwater city. A bit like Atlantis maybe... Anyway, there were a bunch of statues sitting on the shore, ready to be placed in the sea. We hoped that the site would be reachable from the shore so Michelle was sent out to reconnoitre the immediate area and the boat moorings that were dotted along the coast about 100metres out. On the second mooring ball (a red one!) we got the thumbs up and Dave and the kids set out to swim out to the bouy (with Snorkeling gear of course). There were quite a few statues and things on the sea bed but it was too deep to snorkel down so we took a few pics as best we could and moved on.

Our plane back took us via Little Cayman and we flew over a few of the spots we had visited a year ago. After a 40 min flight we were back in Grand Cayman, our little holiday over. But a nice time was had by all over there and we would recommend it to anyone.

More pics for you!:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=167613&id=766998601&l=60c821cce6

Swimming
The 800m sea swim
Michelle and Sam were doing the 800m (Half Mile) sea swim in May and Jake and Dave decided to as well. Michelle and Sam were veterans while Jake and Dave were nervous first timers.
The sea was calm and the 184 swimmers entered the water and got underway. Michelle and Sam had already decided they were swimming their own races and off they went leaving Jake and Dave in their wake as well as the wake of about 175 others. They decided to stick together and take it easy, which worked fine for the first 200m.

Some swam faster than others...

Jake started to do some backstroke and ended up beaching himself at one point. Then a little later he started heading towards Honduras. Dave managed to get him to straighten up and then he was off like a rocket to the finish. Dave struggled to keep up and Jake finished about 50m ahead in 149th place. Dave came in at 154th. Sam finished in a relatively slow time for her in 121st with Michelle coming in at 35th to gain a 2nd placing in her age group. Sam was a little disappointed in her time but will be better prepared next time. Jake didn’t care. He’d finished and there was free pizza at the end. Dave was happy just to complete it… and even happier to beat about 30 other swimmers… even if they were blind and missing limbs.

Gotta love those hats...

Sprint Meet

The kids competed in the Annual Lion's Meet last weekend. Again, they both swam well and their training with the club seems to be paying off. Both placed highly in their races but due to the electronic timer being a bit sad, all the results had to be recorded manually so we are still waiting to see if any medals are forthcoming. Both did PB's in almost all races, so that's pretty good.

NCFA

Sam is in there somewhere!

Sam sang in the School Choir in the National Children's Festival of the Arts. They were awarded Gold medals for their two songs.

The school before them sang an interesting piece. We think it was called "Island Girls" but couldn't find the lyrics on the internet. Anyway, picture a bunch of 8 - 10 year olds singing this.

It was about what to look for in a girlfriend and talked about staying away from the 'pretty cuties' and what you really want is:

"Black like Ching-Ching, Round like a breadfruit, with Plenty of Jamaican fat and curlers in she hair."

A ching ching is a bit like a Blackbird in NZ. Breadfruit is very round...
Apologies for not being able to find the lyrics but we did think the song was of note, especially since it was performed in a Church.

Corporate Touch
The annual Corporate Touch Rugby day was held at the club last Saturday. 15 teams participated. At the start of the day, each team was issued with their shirts, lunch tickets, a box of water and a carton of Heineken to get the day going. Several teams had finished their Heineken by the end of the first match and were busily running back and forth from the bar with more refreshments under the hot blazing sun.
Each player was given a rating depending on their experience; 0 for being a regular player, 1 for having played a bit, and 2 for being new to the game.
Michelle wasn’t quite up to playing again yet, so elected to act as Manager/Coach and also reffed a game or two as well.

Directing traffic

Dave played for Michelle’s work team and they had a handicap rating of 7 (max 10), meaning that they didn’t have a lot of experience in the side. This was proven after the first game, and the second, and even the third. However in the third game they actually managed to score a try, much to the delight of the new players and much to the relief of Dave and ‘the’ other regular player. The team was leaping about and cheering and hugging and screaming. It was like they’d won the world cup! The opposition didn’t know what to think, and Dave had to go over to explain it all.

Michelle performed admirably... off the field...

But what they were good at was the Boat races. Those teams that had a low handicap score needed maximum points to get through to the next round. If you challenged the next team you played to a boat race and won the boat race and the game, then you got double points.
Dave’s team won both of their boat races without too much trouble, which might also account for their performance on the field - shame they didn't win their games (so no extra, or any for that matter, points). But they all had fun and are now keen to enter a team in the Summer League, so we’ll see how that goes.
The tournament started at about 10:30 am and finished at about 6pm. We can report that there were a few wayward passes and dropped balls by the end of the day… But everyone had fun!
More Touch footy pics:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=168480&id=766998601&l=259cdce048

Gaelic
Dave’s team won the 2010 league – without much help from Dave since he’s been on the injured list for the majority of games. They have also won every game since Dave stopped playing which just shows how valuable a team member he actually is. There is a finals day coming up this weekend and Dave might make an appearance at that… that’s if they want him! Unfortunately the Gaelic finals are the day after the rugby dinner. The Rugby players in Dave's Gaelic team are under strict instructions to cease drinking by 7am on the day of the game...

Rugby
A busy first half of the month rugby-wise.

Looking good mate


Jake in action against Bermuda

On 1 - 2 May there was the Annual tournament between Cayman and Bermuda. This year Bermuda chartered a jet and came down with their five teams, plus supporters. The teams were Under 10, Under 12, Under 14, Under 16 and the men's National sides in a full IRB International. On the Saturday there were 10 a side warm up matches in the kids grades.

Post match debrief

Jake got to make his debut for Cayman against Bermuda, although this was the full international. He didn't make the 'test' team that played on the Sunday but enjoyed the games on the Saturday and proudly wore his shirt on the Sunday as well in support of his team.

Dave was coaching the Cayman Under 14's. They cleaned up in the 10 a side on the Saturday but had run out of gas for the Sunday match, going down 14 - 5 in a very tough encounter.

On the burst!
The only Cayman team to win on the sunday was the Under 16's who are by far the best team in the Caribbean and possibly East Coast US as well having been unbeaten in several tournaments over that way.

Dave also undertook the IRB Level Two Coaching Course in May. That was a bit of an eye opener for him and maybe he can use some of this new found knowledge on next year's unsuspecting Under 14 side in their quest to beat Bermuda.

The following weekend Jake's team had an end of season friendly where the two 10 a side teams from the week before played off. It ended up being a draw, four tries each. Jake played in that (on the wing mainly) and enjoyed it. He even made a tackle or two and had a few runs with the ball.

Dive Report.
Dave’s exciting find on the Brac dive was the “Flying Gurnard” which was signaled under the water with one hand gripping the crutch, and then flapping both arms slowly like a large bird.
Upon further investigation back on the boat it was discovered that one of the Dive Boat staff was not that great an English speaker, and thought the name of the fish was “Flying Gonad” – hence the hand signals.

The Flying Gurnard
There were an abundance of Lion Fish in the area. Lionfish are an invasive species that have no known natural predators, and feed heavily on native reef species, which isn’t good for the reefs or the fish that live there, not to mention the dive industry. Spear guns are illegal here and the suggested way to get rid of them is catch them in a net!

Lionfish

But this will never do the trick, and it may already be too late. On one dive, they tagged the location of 18 of the little critters!

The next day Michelle dived while Dave, Sam and Jake snorkeled about above her.
The first dive was the Wreck of the Captain Keith Tibbetts, a 330 foot long Russian Brigadier Type II Class frigate that was scuttled on the north shore of Cayman Brac in September 1996. It wasn’t too deep and Dave and the kids could see most of it from the surface. Michelle got a much better view and was able to go inside a couple of sections of it.

Her next dive was a Reef dive where she found some Spotted Drums (Big and Small) as well as a baby Octopus and its mum, although, unfortunately, the photos of this didn’t come out too well. Check out the link though as there are some nice pics there too.

Funny looking rock

Dive and Brac Pics
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=168035&id=766998601&l=7051f241b0

Ready to go into the water.

The undersea city

R.I.P. - Plum
Our little cat, Plum, disappeared during the month. After a lot of searching one of the neighbours tactfully spoke with Dave and told him they’d found Plum on the side of the main road the day before, having been hit by a car. The kids, especially Sam, were upset, but kids being kids, bounced back and are now keen to have another one. Watch this space.

New Additions

Well, in fact the space you want to watch is this one. The kids picked up not one, but two kittens on the weekend. Harry (the black one) and Dasher (the other one) are currently getting used to their new home with us, and they seem pretty happy with it so far!

Dasher

Harry

Some more pics:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=170403&id=766998601&l=4912b8613d

Car Rego
Dave’s car was due for it’s annual Registration inspection (a bit like a W.O.F.). He duly took the car in to the inspection place and inched his way along in the queue until it was his turn. The inspection involves a check of the indicators, lights, horn, wipers, wheels, steering and a few other bits from the inspection pit. This inspection is fairly rigorous when compared the BVI version where they check the indicators and the horn and that’s about it.
Anyway, the inspection dude reappeared at the driver’s window and informed Dave that his front indicator bulbs weren’t amber enough and the car had failed the inspection. Dave thought he was having him on and laughed. “Yeah, good one, Mate.”
But apparently not. Dave got out to have a look. The indicator lenses themselves were clear and not tinted, but they had always been like that. The dude was adamant. They needed to have amber bulbs. Dave wasn’t even sure if amber bulbs existed and still wondered if this was part of some elaborate joke. Anyway, off he went to the garage and asked them to check out the bulbs. They installed ‘amber’ bulbs which looked suspiciously like clear ones to Dave, but they also signed off the Inspection so the car lives for another year. Before next year’s inspection Dave might get an orange marker pen to colour the bulb, just in case.

Sam’s Dolphin Cove Visit

Sam's class are doing a project about whether they think Dolphins should be kept in captivity or not. Part of this involved a trip to Dolphin Discovery. Part involved an animal rights crusader, coming into speak to the class, which she did. The kids thought she was a little strange as she told them no animals should be kept away from their natural habitat. Things went a little pear shaped for her when one of the kids pointed out that she had a parrot in a cage in her shop...

Dolphin trip pics:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=169108&id=766998601&l=60056bd3f8

The kids had their visit with the dolphins but unfortunately no-one had informed the Dolphin place about the Porpoise (Tee hee! Chortle, chortle!) of their visit and therefore, they did nothing to convince the kids that the dolphins in captivity are just fine, or otherwise. So, we are unsure as to whether the kids will be able to make an informed decision on this.

Weather Report
A few big downpours of late. The wet season is upon us. But with the rain comes the humidity. Some very hot days coming up it seems.

More pics for you to look at:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=157621&id=766998601&l=7e891a18cc

Next Month:
Rugby Dinner!
Gaelic Finals Day

Gaelic Dinner!
End of School year activities

1 Mile Sea swim - who does it....

The April Sun in Cayman

. Blog Update # 32 – April 2010


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!

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.

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!

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.

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.

Next Month:

Conyer's Cup Report

Maybe a little travel report?

Any other goss that we might make up

March to Read About

. Blog Update # 31 – March 2010 .

Greetings Readers!
Here we go again. Our 31st fun filled and factless issue. In fact if you want to get technical, it's really our 32nd. That's if you count the Special Movember Edition 3.5 of November 07.
Anyway, back to now. The kids are now on a break for two weeks over Easter before returning for their final term of the year. Dave is busy keeping them entertained as they eagerly await the arrival of the Easter Bunny. Happy Easter Everyone!

We would like to take a moment to make a special mention of our very good friend Kath who, sadly, passed away recently in New Zealand. Our thoughts are with you and we send our love, condolences and best wishes to Darrell, Rhys, Wade and Quinn.

.

Swimming
Swimming continues at the Lions Pool with another meet planned for the near future. There was an 800m sea swim scheduled for last weekend, but it was postponed due to expected high seas at the time – it turned out flat as a pancake!
It has been rescheduled for April, so we’ll see who does that!

International Beach Volleyball
Once again the circuit descended on Cayman’s Public beach for a weekend of quality sport in brief beachwear. Dave just happened to find himself down there at the bar on the Friday afternoon, partaking in some refreshments while pointing out the finer points of beach Volleyball to Sam and Jake. A very pleasant afternoon on the beach with the setting sun on one side, a bar (Yes, I meant "Bar") behind and some Pro beach Volleyballers bouncing about on the other.

St Patrick’s Day
Another big day at the SSG (South Sound Ground) as the Irish took over the Rugby club for the day. They played Gaelic Football, Hurling, a mix of Aussie Rules/Gaelic Footy (Called “Compromised Rules”), “Welly” throwing (that’s a Gumboot Toss to those of superior breeding), Tug O War, Boat races and a few other tests of skill and endurance.
Sam and Jake got involved with the kid’s games and then took great delight in retrieving the Gumboot (at pace!) during that prestigious event, which was fairly late in the day with some wayward throws coming close to causing injury to unsuspecting passers by. As expected, a good day was had by all.

There was also the annual St Paddies Day 5k jog, but Dave didn't partake this year due to his body falling to bits.

RATS!
No we haven’t had the onslaught of rats like we did in the BVI – Michelle & Sam went to see the Prep High School's musical production called Rats, based on the story of the Pied Piper. For a school of about 200 kids they did a great job – we thoroughly enjoyed it all. The only negative was that although Michelle thought it would be nice to be a Mother/Daughter outing, she was shunned when Sam found her mates there and preferred to sit with them – hard to believe that it’s starting already!

Eggmania
Jake chose to go to the school’s Easter egg fun day, rather than the Rats show – he got to hunt for eggs, jump around in the bouncy castle, throw a ball to drop teachers in a tub of water, eat candy floss and sno cones, and have a great time with his mates. He had a ball while Dave had a job serving sno cones!

National Gallery of the Cayman Islands
Michelle went on one of Jake’s school trips to the National Gallery – which was a very small gallery, showing a number of pieces that related to Cayman’s history but in a modern format ie. Pieces that were based on something from the past but made with modern materials. The kids learnt about Cat boats, weaving, spinning tops, cooking and games in the olden days. It was very well done and quite interesting. The kids drew a picture of one of their favourite pieces – some of them were very good.



Speaking of Art, here's one of Sam's recent creations for a school project



Big Seas
The Norwest winds arrived and brought some high seas to Cayman. The cruise ships had to berth a bit further down in South Sound while George Town got pounded again by some huge waves. Roads had to be closed off, and business would have been tough in the retail shops.


A Night at the Ritz!
A few weeks ago there was a big fundraising bash for the Olympic committee at the Ritz-Carlton. One of our friends sent an e-mail out to the girls advising that their firm had purchased a table of 10 for the do (at $2500), but no-one wanted to go so they were giving it away. Who would be interested? So, in about 15 seconds flat a table of 10 freeloading women (including Michelle) were panicking about what to wear.
Off they went and had a fun night with plenty of champagne and entertainment. They rubbed shoulders with Willie Nelson, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston, Tammy Wynette and Hugh Heffner (yes, they only rubbed his shoulder)!
They had prime seats in the middle at the front and made the most of it – not too many people did not notice them having a ball! A Reporter even snapped them at one stage doing an impromptu can-can on the stage. They ended up at one of the popular bars afterwards, dancing up a storm all around – some of them had sore heads the next day but it was worth it!

Dave’s Birthday
This must have been Dave’s best birthday ever (not!). He spent a relaxing morning in bed while Michelle took the kids to rugby for a change but then he had to go and coach his U14 team later that morning. He had time to come home for some lunch, then back to the club for his rugby game for the Iguanas v The Pigs. He was a little nervous - not so much about the game but about what he might be forced to drink afterwards as Michelle had foolishly advised his team captain that it was his birthday, and there seems to be a strange habit of forcing birthday boys to drink something very horrible – usually in a glass receptacle of about 3 feet in length. Anyway, he figured out a great way to avoid this – he managed to break his index finger during his game – unfortunately it was in the first half so he missed quite a bit of the game, and the team paid for his early departure – they lost. We then spent the next 2 ½ hours at the hospital waiting to be seen and have x-rays, and be seen again. He was able to have a couple of beers when we got home afterwards (at about 9 pm) but it just wasn’t the same!



Sunset Yacht Cruise



You may recall that Michelle and a mate managed to win a sunset sail for 10 at the Casino evening in February. Well, they managed to get a booking and ditch the kids and away they went on a Sunday afternoon/evening (the day after Dave’s birthday) with four other couples. It was quite entertaining watching Dave hold his drink with his finger bandaged – it looked like he was pointing all the time... but he was simply indicating that it was time for another beer!


The good hand is kept busy!

It was very pleasant sailing out in the open seas (although a bit cool in the wind), with not a care in the world (until a wave came over the side and soaked some of the passengers from head to foot!) – the two hours went by very quickly, so we all came back to our house for a bite to eat and another bevvie. Dave enjoyed that day a lot better than the day before!

A Night at the Races
Another fundraiser at the rugby club. This time it was horse racing where they had purchased a purpose built DVD game complete with 15 races, Odds, commentary etc that was simple to use for organizers and players alike. It was a fun night. The kids enjoyed picking the horses and running back and forth from the Tote. Unfortunately we didn’t make a fortune, but had fun all the same.

Knee Report
As you can see from the night at the Ritz (above), Michelle’s knee continues to improve. This column may be replaced next month with a new medical file – The Finger Report as we chart Dave’s recovery progress.


The Damaged Digit


As a start, so far this month, Dave has been to:
The Hospital
The Physio (Multiple Visits)
The Orthopaedic Specialist (Twice)
The X-Ray Clinic
The GP
The Chiropractor (Multiple visits)
The Pharmacy, and
The Dentist (although the Dentist was for the Six monthly check up and no injuries were sustained during that visit).


Ballet

Michelle and Sam went off for a bit of 'culture' the other night. A Ballet company was touring from the US so they thought they'd pop along. It was being shown at one of the many Baptist Churches here and, believe it or not, was free.

They enjoyed the show - the dancing was excellent and it was very professionally done. The lead dancer was a previous silver medallist (about 25 years ago) in the ballet equivalent of the Olympics - she was amazing, and we worked out she must have been at least 50. It was quite late when it finished but the narrator mentioned the 'Finale' so we decided to wait for it, only to find that the finale involved quite a bit of singing, waving your arms and carrying on which was led most vigorously by the narrator. Michelle and Sam exchanged glances, "Exit stage left!" Not quite the finale Sam (or Michelle) were expecting but it was still worth going to!

RUGBY
AA Cup – Round Four
This week it was the Iguanas v the Pigs Trotters. The Iguana beat the Pigs in the first round and went into this game fairly confident. The Iguanas made their best start of the season and opened the scoring with a try from Dave after a spell of intense forward play found then close to the line.
The Pigs struck back however and the game was fairly tight for the rest of the half. Dave took a knock to his index finger at about the twenty five minute mark which slowed him down a bit. After playing on for a bit he had to leave the field with a suspected break in the finger. This was confirmed later in the day. Not a happy camper.
The game carried on with some slack defence from the Iguanas letting in a couple of soft tries. They fought back towards the end of the match but it wasn’t to be. The first loss of the season for the Iguanas 33 - 17 to the Pigs.

AA Cup – Round Five
This week was Iguanas v The Buccaneers. The Buccaneers had struggled so far this season but were now starting to improve as their star players returned from injury. Dave was out for this game, and probably several more as his finger recovers. He also developed sciatica in his left leg which has really slowed him down. Knackers yard for him!
The Iguanas stacked their midfield defence and this helped with some of the problems experienced the previous week. The Iguana pack as always dominated the scrums and forward play and they built a good platform to come away with a solid 37 – 17 win over the Buccs.

AA Cup – Round Six
The big match up of the season. Iguanas v The Storm. The Storm had talked themselves up all season and on paper had a pretty handy side. All the local experts had their money on the Storm as well, despite the Iguanas already beating them once and having only suffered the one defeat so far in the season (to the Pigs).
This game would decide who would walk away with the Alex Alexander Cup for the season.
The Iguanas started pretty solidly with their defence looking much improved from previous games but some quick thinking saw the Storm scamper off for a try under the posts after a quick penalty. One of their Fijian flyers thought he would make a big hit on one of the Iguanas but came of second best. In fact he managed to knock himself out cold, which wasn’t a pretty sight.
The Iguanas then struck back with a try at the other end. The Iguanas muscled their way through the game and from a half time lead of 17 -14, and although the lead changed a couple of times they pretty much controlled the whole affair from start to finish, much to the despair of some fanatical (yet uneducated) Storm supporters. The Storm kept in touch with a few break out individual tries, but it was never going to be enough.
The Iguanas walked off the field victorious and very happy, having beaten the more favoured opposition fair and square by 33 - 26. The Iguanas are now the official AA Cup Champions of Cayman Rugby in 2010. The celebrations started immediately, and many were not walking so well by the end of the night and many a sore head was throbbing the following day.

Cayman Rugby TV!
You can now watch the Rugby from Cayman on the Internet (Free!). It just depends how good the Broadband service is near you. Log onto www.caymanrugbyTV.com and check it out. There are archived games from this season and previous matches. You can also watch games live! The site is still under construction but working OK so far. Official launch is in May supposedly.

Since he’s had nothing better to do, Dave has been the Camera man for a few of these games - if you watch you'll be able to tell his superior skills with the camera. A couple of games were shot from some dodgy scaffolding on the side of the pitch and others (more recently) from the roof of the clubhouse, which does offer an excellent view, but access and situation might get a wee frown from the Health and Safety dude. Especially after a few beers up there in the hot sun!


Kids Rugby
Jake continues to train with the Under 10 squad for the Bermuda Cup. In all likelihood, he will most probably just play in the round robin games on the first day of this tournament and an “A” team will then be selected to play the “Test” on the Sunday. But don’t write him off. He’s keen, despite walking around with a bruised finger… a bit like his Dad.

Dave’s Under 14’s are starting to come together. With only a month before the tournament, they’ll have their work cut out.

Tag Tournament
As you may be aware, Dave has been coaching Tag Rugby in schools for the last few months. Last week it all culminated with a mini Tag Tournament for the School Dave was at (Grace Christian Academy), Montessori and Dave’s previous charges (Cayman Prep) also got an invite to make up the numbers. Sam was selected in that group and enjoyed her time with a couple of tries and some good defensive play. Although some of the boys in that team weren’t happy when Dave changed the rules so only girls in the Prep team could score. This was in an effort to allow the two newer schools to stay in the games and actually have some fun, which they did.

On the last day of March, Dave was helping out at the Club with a Seven's Tournament for one of the local High Schools. He ended up Refereeing a few games (yes, Dave with a whistle) which he found to be an enlightening experience.
Half of the kids had boots, the other half were in bare feet. But they didn't hold back and there were some massive hits being put in. All bodes well for the future of Cayman Rugby.


Dive Report.
Since Dave was out of action and able to mind the kids, Michelle got out for a Dive recently. She even remembered to put all her gear on right this time, and to take the camera with her when she entered the water. This time she saw two impressive lion fish, pictured below (which are sought and killed here as they wreck the coral reef), and a spotted eel, as well as the usual angelfish, parrot fish, tarpon etc. It was very nice – we really must organize ourselves better and do it more often.



More Dive pics:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=141009&id=766998601&l=cc10c479bf


Weather Report
Hot, dry and windy of late. More occasional high seas from the Nor Westerly wind with lots of foliage around the place suffering as a result of the salt and lack of rain to rinse it off. Days are warming up and Michelle is finding that she doesn't need the duvet at night any more!



The Dive shop across the road. Not much doing today!





View more pics:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=135944&id=766998601&l=da5db89bbe

Next Month:





Rugby – The Waterford Trophy
Some Diving – hopefully
800m Sea swim – weather permitting
Easter
Back to School