Avast, me proud beauty! Wanna know why my Roger is so Jolly? You might be one of those who wait in anticipation for Sept. 19 each year – International Talk Like a Pirate Day – but why limit this holiday to one day when you can visit Grand Cayman and speak Pirate for a five days this November!
Scuba Shack’s trip during Pirate Week 2011 was a limited success, but if you ask anyone who went on the trip it wasn’t just a group dive trip, it was the Full Caribbean Experience. Of course, Grand Cayman has always been a top diving destination, but when you can party with the locals and tourists during Pirate Week … in full costume … you’ve got to jump into the water as they say.
For more than 10 years, we’ve been staying at Cobalt Coast and diving with Divetech and this year will be no different. The trip includes four nights and three days of two boat dives each day. Unlimited shore diving is also available.
You can get some good information from our 2011 trip report posted by Scuba Shack instructor Peter Katz, and there is a full photo gallery with pictures in that post.
One of the highlights was the treasure hunt shore dive. In conjunction with Pirates Week, Divetech and Cobalt Coast sponsor an underwater treasure hunt as a charity fund raiser. Participation is an extra $25, Divetech provided us with transportation to Light House Point, their second shore dive site, as well as nitrox and weights. Approximately 70 divers participated, searching for metal disks with numbers written on them that ended up corresponding to prizes. This was shore diving at its finest, no need to trudge across sand and rocks. Benches under a protective covering provided a stable area to set up our gear and access to the water was via a giant stride from a concrete pier. Exiting the water was no problem due to the large, stable ladder provided at the end of the pier. The dive was in 30-60 feet of water to a mini wall where I was more distracted by the variety of sea life than the task of finding the prize disks. We were allowed to take two disks each thereby allowing others to also reap rewards. Needless to say, there were many more disks than divers/snorkelers and those of us who collected more than the allotted two were more than willing to share with those who couldn’t find any. The treasure hunt ended up at Cobalt Coast with the awarding of the prizes, no disappointments, everyone was a winner.
Study Up …
You can learn more about Talking Like a Pirate online.
Pirate lingo is rich and complicated, sort of like a good stew. There are several other sites that offer glossaries that are pretty good, and you can find some of them on our links page.
But if you just want a quick fix, a surface gloss, a “pirate patina,” if you will, here are the five basic words that you cannot live without. Master them, and you can face Talk Like a Pirate Day with a smile on your face and a parrot on your shoulder, if that’s your thing.
Ahoy! - “Hello!”
Avast! - Stop and give attention. It can be used in a sense of surprise, “Whoa! Get a load of that!” which today makes it more of a “Check it out” or“No way!” or ”Get off!”
Aye! - “Why yes, I agree most heartily with everything you just said or did.”
Aye aye! - “I’ll get right on that sir, as soon as my break is over.”
Arrr! - This one is often confused with arrrgh, which is of course the sound you make when you sit on a belaying pin. “Arrr!” can mean, variously,“yes,” “I agree,” “I’m happy,” “I’m enjoying this beer,” “My team is going to win it all,” “I saw that television show, it sucked!” and “That was a clever remark you or I just made.” And those are just a few of the myriad possibilities of Arrr!
