My first day was spent driving around pretty much the whole island – I drove all the way to Rum Point stopping occasionally along the way and then back through the island to West Bay before meeting my mate and heading out for a few drinks at Rackams.
First impressions of the island were allgood so far – well what could be so bad about living on an island in the Caribbean?! Tropical heat and sunshine all year round?! Yes please!
After my first week of orientation at work I started to get myself back into a routine again. I joined the gym, got a yoga pass and started getting my sh*t together. I even had my first visitor booked to come over in March. Very excited.
The next couple of months consisted of a legends tennis match (players included Jim Courier, Andy Roddick and Anna Kournikova), my first visit to Stingray City, plenty of diving, NORCECA volleyball tournament, and some incredible Caribbean sunsets.
I was also lucky enough to have a go at parasailing (incredible views of the whole island), wake boarding, diving and also ride a jetski for the first time! I was enjoying this Caribbean island lifestyle.
I met my mate from Australia, Alice, for a bit of a shopping trip in Miami (my apartment was broken into and laptop and camera etc were stolen!) and actually get some new clothes. It was time to upgrade from wearing the same ones I had been backpacking with for the last six months. I was also very lucky and had a lot of donations from people on the island of work clothes which helped out a lot. Shopping on island was pretty much nonexistence especially reasonably priced clothing and goods.
Miami was good fun and we met up with some other mates for a night out and walked along Ocean Drive during Spring Break, now this was eye opening. As was the Calle Ocho festival…
Alice came back with me to the island for a while and we explored as much as we could (with me still working the weekdays) snorkeling and enjoying a few happy hour sessions on the beach.
Easter marked by birthday and as per my tradition of exploring a new country for each birthday, Alice and I headed to Cuba for the long weekend…
