Stuck in Jamaica

5:30 wake up for all the right reasons! The promise of sun, natural sand and beautiful turquoise oceans will wake me no matter the time!! I packed evening last night and had an early subway commute to check in at 7. I met Ray at the entrance of departures at the Toronto Pearson airport and as we walked to check in I couldn't help but go up to the TV crews (there to document the expected spring break rush) and ask them if they wanted a story! Ray and I stepped in for two television bits on channel CP24 and Global! Great times promoting our quest and getting some face time on air! I also had the chance to plug my youtube videos so hopefully I get some more hits and fans

Now for the lame part. We have been stranded in Jamaica for 7 hours and will have to deal with it for another 3. After a short trip from Toronto to Kingston, Jamaica we unfortunately had a long layover and our flight has been postponed by 3 hours. We were stuck with our bags inside the airport (minutes from a beach) and now that we checked into our flight, we are stuck on the other side of security so we can't head into town for a bite!

Being immobile in such an amazing place is frustrating. Jamaican "jerk" food is incredible and unfortunately there isn't much for us to experience in the airport aside from a stale BBQ chicken joint and burger king. We dined on both to pass the time and the experiences didn't do this country justice. That being said, once we made it through the security/passport checkpoint we rolled upstairs to find a cute little vegetarian/fruit based stand. We chatted with the owner and upon our request, she put together the most "in season" fruits to create a delicious smoothie that will certainly sustain me for the next few hours! She blended a mixture of guava, pineapple, banana and june plum juice over ice and it was super tasty. Then, she added some ginger to it after a small discussion on immune function inspired by an old man from our flight who came close to coughing up one of his lungs. He was concerning and I am happy to be free of the recycled air full of nasties.

We now await to board the airplane and hit the Caymans far later than expected. Hopefully our ride got the message and hasn't been waiting for 3 hours, but I assume the island is small enough that it wasn't a big deal had he not heard.

We are looking forward to sand and sun tomorrow and the potential to kiss stingrays, swim with dolphins or scuba dive the wonderful local waters. Tough choices all round!!

Cheers,

Martin

Just a beauty weekend

This weekend was a peach! Amazing weather, incredible times and wonderful company. It was so glorious shopping and browsing on Queen St. West Saturday afternoon. Julia and I enjoyed the beauty temperature while watching people skate on the public outdoor rink downtown! Such a neat thing to do on a weekend, especially considering it was over 10 degrees in March! I then then I had an amazing turkey dinner with Julia's family! Turkey with all the trimmings for no other reason than to have it was such a great idea, I FEASTED!! As some of you may know, family is very important to me and I always looked forward to family dinners, breakfasts and gatherings. I had a lot of fun improving my relationship with her parents as they told stories of their own lives and of course, embarrassing ones of Julia's childhood. Good times all round!

Leading up to the weekend I had to make a few decisions about partnerships and trip itineraries. It is now official that I will be playing with Ray Sewell for the first 3 NORCECA beach volleyball tournaments (Grand Cayman's, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic) before returning to Toronto for Ray's impending knee surgery. He has a torn meniscus (seems like a popular beach volley injury) and will be going under the knife on April 12th. Upon our return to Canada, I will commence training with Chaim again as he will be two weeks out of his sling and hopefully back in passing/setting and potentially hitting action. We will do our best to prepare and if Chaim feels confident about his shoulder, we will look into flying to Brasilia, Brazil on April 18th to compete in the first FIVB tournament of 2010.

Right now I am six days away from sun, wind, tropical oceans and what I have been told is some of the nicest sand in the world! We were given a contact there by Chris Densmore and this fellow Canadian will be picking us up, hosting us and training with us on the lovely local beaches. Carl Brenton is his name and apparently there will be a fun king of the beach tournament on Sunday to prepare the refs and line judges for our level of play! I am so excited to start playing outdoors and start the 2010 season with a bang. We have been told the Cayman Islands are very supportive of Canadians so I can't wait to play for what will feel like a home crowd!

Well I am off to work on a new video I shot at the Canadian Sports Centre this past Thursday. I had a physical test called a "Functional Movement Screen" and I look forward to showing you what it consisted of and the purpose behind it.

You are as strong as your drive.

Martin