Fun & Games - No Clothes please!

It’s been a mightily frustrating time here at good old Punta Gruesa, with just one Rescue Diver training dive going out in over a week and a half – and even that only made it to the dizzying depths of 3 metres! We’ve been trying to keep ourselves busy; there’s been a trip or 3 to Laguna Azul, about an hour and a half south of base, for more Rescue training, interns have completed the DAN (Divers Alert Network) Oxygen Provider course and there have been various bits of DIY improvements going on around base.

Most excitingly, though, was the - da da da da da da daaaaaa – PUNTA GRUESA BEACH OLYMPICS 2010! These prestigious games took place on Friday and each hut was transformed into a country of their own creation: Tiburon became Pantalon (as the young’uns they still need nappies), Caballito del Mar, the oldest group, became Geriatrica, Tortuga transformed into Deathanadia, having found many a dead scorpion in their confines, and Delfin, in honour of possibly the greatest man ever to walk the Earth, were Jimnasia.

We kicked off with the epic opening ceremony, where each of the four huts displayed their own flag, uniform and even an anthem! The games themselves consisted of several events; in-water sumo wrestling, a two-legged-two-finned race, a kitting up race and a very elegant display of shallow water synchronised swimming. The highlight was probably our gentle giant Orion’s complete domination of the sumo-wrestling.

The awards ceremony was held that evening, during our ‘No Clothes’ party (not as raunchy as it sounds unfortunately), where the display of imaginative outfits made from bed sheets, mosquito nets, duct tape, cardboard boxes, leaves, foam, life-jackets and even a ballgown made from an old tent boggled the mind and tantalised the eyeballs. The overall winners of the games, proving you should always respect your elders, were Geriatrica, who received their ‘gold’ medal with characteristic grace & charm.

Fun & Games - No Clothes please!