Ahoy there me horrors

Duggy celebrating the start of Pirates Week

It's been a busy couple of weeks since my parents flew home.
First there was Halloween, an event that's been growing in popularity in the UK over the last few years. It is a big event out here though with lots of build up.
We couldn't actually resist throwing ourselves into the whole thing and living vicariously through the kids.

We stocked up on sweets (candy as we have to call it), decorated the outside with a scary monster and of course I carved an amazing pumpkin. Ahem.

We stuck to trick or treating around the complex with a group of friends (and their kids!), and I was amazed by the loot our two ended up with. What's more, as we were out collecting, our house remained unmanned, so we ended up with loads of sweets and chocolates left over. Oh well.

Camana Bay put on a special Halloween event and it really was a great atmosphere, the kids loved it. All of the shops gave out sweets, there were stalls, games, a live band and spooky costumes galore!

On to the main event, Pirates Week and our first experience of arguably the Cayman Islands event of the year.

The main focus is the opening weekend which is based in George Town, though what the name doesn't suggest is that it actually goes on for two weeks.
On the Friday night we headed to Paradise, a restaurant on the sea front and grabbed our seats.

The kids eagerly awaiting the fireworks

The Friday is all about the fireworks and I can honestly say I've not seen anything like it. They were absolutely amazing, and even more so that this is a free event. I tried to capture a few shots... We were lucky to have a great view, George Town was packed. Following the fireworks there's a street dance and food stalls until 2am.

The Pirates Landing is on the Saturday and the long held tradition hundreds of pirates docking at George Town, invading the centre and ultimately capturing the Governor. Avast!

Before that though there's a whole host of entertainment including a jetski-off between a pirate and some fella called Jonny, impressive breakdancing, diving into the water from a helicopter

and Jet-Lev which I have neither heard nor seen before, looks a lot of fun.

I must admit to being a little confused by the pirates landing itself, I'm not sure if it was just me, but I don't think even the pirates knew what they were doing. Still, there were photo opportunities galore and lots of pirate talk.

After the pirates had successfully captured the Governor, it was time for the float procession and carnival as 20 odd haulage trucks drove slowly by with imaginatively created décor.

The stand out for me was the St Ignatius School Steel Band, really great fun. I would say that the floats the the 2012 Batabano were better though (in my opinion).

The event continued into the night, though with kids, the crowds and standing for several hours, we returned home. Tip of the day, bring a cooler full of beer - helps soothe those aching feet.

Now comes heritage day, with a strong focus on the food, each of the districts in Grand Cayman have their own heritage day. We gave the North Side Heritage Day a miss as we'd had enough of traffic, but will be sure to try East End Heritage Day when it's on later this week.



The build up for Christmas is swelling, I've noticed a few houses already decking their gardens with gaudy lights. I honestly can't wait!