Of course, there were the usual pre-Christmas work drinks and parties, but we have found other ways to occupy ourselves in the build up to the festive season too.
The month opened with a couple of thousand runners descending on the Island for the Cayman Islands Marathon. Barny had signed up to run the half marathon. Not quite the epic 26 miles, but 13 and a bit miles still sounded like a long way in the tropical heat. In order to avoid the worst of the Caribbean sun, the race started at the positively ungodly hour of 5am, and we were both up at the start line well before that, to give Barny sufficient time to fuel up, take on liquids and stretch before the gun went off. Just under 2 hours later, Barny lubmered back down Harbour Drive to finish the race in the respectable time of 1:58.47. The prospect of a cold Caybrew waiting at the finish line certainly helped keep him going.
Our "Christmas campaign" kicked off in earnest at the start of December with the Pink Ladies Christmas Bazaar, where we were gallantly manning the silent auction stand. The Pink Ladies are a local volunteer corps of women who give up their time to do lots of worthy things such as helping out in the hospital (where they also run a cafe for visitors) and the retirement home, and getting involved in community events. Despite their name, most of the ladies are not actually pink, they come from a variety of backgrounds, it's just that they have nice pink polo shirts...
Anyway, Bonnie had signed up with the Pink Ladies earlier in the year, but what with meeting former presidents, international entrepreneurs and world class tennis players, she hadn't managed to find the time to fit anything in. However, with the Cayman AI Conference and Tennis Legends over, Bonnie was able to find a bit more time to help out. And Barny came along to help out.
The Christmas Bazaar was a great event - it was like an English church summer fete. Except in the Caribbean. In December. And without any rain. There were tombolas, stalls selling homemade jam and cake, performances from local music groups. And the man in red even turned up to say hi to the children.
As we were in the festive mood after the Pink Ladies Bazaar, the next evening we decided to head down to our local church of god, which was putting on what it billed as a "Singing Christmas Tree Spectacular". Not ever having seen a singing Christmas tree before, we were both intrigued as to what it was and how it worked (and also looking forward to hearing some Christmas carols being sung). The tree itself was spectacular. It was a multi-tiered structure festooned with lights in the shape of a Christmas tree which was able to accommodate a reasonably sized choir on its many platforms. The effect was stunning. We were rather disappointed with the choice of songs, mainly because we didn't recognise them, but the whole event was definitely very Caribbean, and being able to watch a nativity play in shorts and t-shirts under the stars (and not catching hypothermia) is certainly a first for both of us.
Unfortunately, as always seems to be the way, work got in the way of Christmas planning for both of us. For Barny it was the usual year end antics, but Bonnie was engaged in something much more exciting. The Cayman Islands had been selected to host the 2012 Women's World Squash Open, and Bonnie was suddenly very busy helping the Cayman Islands National Squash Association to put on a world class event that would bring the worlds best female squash players to the island to compete in an international championship.
Although the qualifying rounds were played at South Sound Squash Club, our local squash club, the final rounds were to be played in a court in the middle of the bay at Camana Bay that was to be purpose built for the event, with glass walls on every side so that play could be observed from 360 degrees. As the court was being shipped down from the US there were a nervous few days as Bonnie checked the container's progress, and then checked that all the pieces had arrived safe and sound, but once it was all here it was time for it to be built. Over the next three days the helipad at Camana Bay was converted into an arena for the sport of squash, with the light filled glass box that was the court at its center. (There is a great time lapse of the build for anyone who is interested on youtube, which can be accessed here http://youtu.be/TtDFyvLpth4). And then it was time for the contest to start...
The Squash Open was due to finish on the Friday before Christmas, which did not leave us much time to plan for the big day, our first Christmas in the Cayman Islands, and this was compounded by both of us having worked 16 or 18 hour days for the last couple of weeks running up to then. We did manage to get a real Christmas tree (which we had ordered in November), which was duly erected in the corner of our living room. And we also managed to find some time to pick up Barny's brother and (as they had just announced their engagement, we were happy to say) future sister-in-law from the airport, as they were arriving to spend Christmas with us, just in time for the squash semi-finals!
While Bonnie (accompanied by her handy mini motor scooter) oversaw the last day of play and the winding down of the Squash, Barny took the visitors off sightseeing. The three of them went off jet-skiing to explore the mangroves, visit the stingrays at Stingray City and meet the starfish at Starfish Point (followed by a well earned drink at Kaibo on the way home). They had just enough time to go home, shower and change before heading back over to Camana Bay to watch the finale of the Squash open.
Predictably, Nicole David had made it through to the final, where she met the British player Laura Massaro. Although it was a hard fought game, Massaro was outclassed by David, who went on to win her tenth Cayman open title, and secure her world No.1 ranking for another year.
Over the weekend, Bonnie had to supervise the squash being packed away, and Barny entertained the visitors with trips to the beach. Bonnie even managed to get away to join us at Rum Point for a few hours. Like the little kids at heart that they are, Barny and his brother followed up a game of beach badminton by building a sand castle. Predictably, almost as soon as it was finished a big wave came in and washed most of it away. But it kept them out of trouble for an hour or so...
We were also lucky enough to get tickets for the Turtle Farm and the Dolphin Discovery adventure. After spending Sunday morning on the waterslides at the Turtle Farm, we moved over the road and were introduced to the dolphins, and then invited to join them in the water. We were not entirely sure what to expect, as there is something a bit distasteful about having captive animals trained for our amusement, but we have to say that there is something captivating about spending time with these friendly and highly intelligent creatures. Aside from performing the usual backflips and acrobatics, shaking our hands and dancing with us, we were then directed to swim out into the middle of the pool with a float, to find a dolphin swimming up behind our feet and propelling us forwards at great speed, which was a unique experience.
Barn had to work for the rest of the week, but before our visitors left us we decided to use the proceeds of some of the christmas money we were all very generously given treat ourselves to a nice meal out at Calypso Grill, which we have been wanting to try for ages.
Calypso Grill is at Morgan's Harbour, and is next door to the Morgans Harbour restaurant we love. Calypso Grill specialises in fish, and you know it is fresh because you can see it being landed from the boats on the pier outside. We have heard great things about the restaurant, which seemed to be borne out by the throngs of people inside waiting for a table. Luckily we had taken the precaution of booking, and once we had eventually caught the attention of a waiter were shown to our table. We feasted on a selection which included cracked conch, fresh tuna and wahoo. And a solitary steak. All of which was fantastic. Full from a week of indulging in good food and wine we rolled home, and the next day our visitors rolled onto the plane to take them back to Manchester.
All that was left to do in December was to see in the new year. As usual we were faced with the dilemma of what to do, and whether to have a big night out, have a house party or take up one of the invitations we had recieved. Eventually we opted for a relatively quiet one, joining friends for dinner at Ragazzi, the little Italian "trattoria" style restaurant we love, followed by Champagne and fireworks on the beach. It was a perfect compromise, and we headed home on New Year's day, having completed what has been a fantastic year full of exciting news, intrepid moves and the promise of future adventures! Let's hope 2013 can live up to the standards which have been set by 2012!
A Happy New Year to all our readers!
Barny and Bonnie
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