North America

Friday 9th September 2016 – Dunc managed to take the day off work so it was time for some more high adrenaline activities on the lake. This time we took the jet surf with us- a motorised carbon fibre surfboard that no doubt offered new and interesting ways for us to plant our faces in the water. Dunc went first, making it look easy as he sped around like the Silver Surfer, a big grin plastered across his face. Alysa didn’t like the look of it and declined to partake. After a few tries getting used to the controls I was off across the lake, first kneeling and eventually managing to stand- it was great fun and you really felt very cool bombing along at 35mph on a powered surfboard. A couple of hours later the board was out of petrol and we spent the rest of the day on the wakeboard. Under instruction from Dunc I was soon having fun and even came close to surfing without a rope. Back home, Kee, who hadn’t been well enough to join us that day was still feeling poorly. After being put through our paces with another 7 minute workout, we cooked dinner and relaxed in front of the TV.

Saturday 10th September 2016 – Dunc’s company was entered in a corporate day of dragon boat racing on Lake Lanier and we went along to watch. Teams of twenty raced over a 500m course as the sun beat down above. The Scuf team, incentivised by the possibility of an extra days holiday won their division. While corporate events are hardly the most riveting experiences we still had a good day and were chuffed when, in a ‘Dream Team’ line up, Alysa, Dunc and I got a massive score on Spelltower. On the way home we stopped off at Stone Mountain, a huge piece of exposed granite protruding from the surrounding landscape. When we got home Kee was feeling a bit better so that evening we played ‘Cards Against Humanity’ and watched a comedy about being British.

Sunday 11th September 2016 – After enduring another 7 minute workout (I’m sure Dunc likes seeing me suffer) we took the Aston Martin for a spin. We found a quiet road, stuck it in launch control and floored it like a couple of boy racers. On the way home we stopped off at a luxury car dealer. It was closed which gave us the chance to browse the assorted Lamborghinis, McClarens and Aston Martins at our leisure. In the afternoon we all sunbathed and played bouncing bomb in the pool, the rather violent aim of which is to score a direct hit on your stationary foe by bouncing a water polo ball off the water at them. Kee was feeling better now and we ate sausages, mash, broccoli, roasted veg and bbq chicken for dinner. Alysa and Kee watched TV whilst I was nearly hustled into destitution playing shuffle board with Dunc.

Monday 12th September 2016 – Today we would fly to Mexico. We weren’t sure how strict the Mexican authorities were about having onward flights so we tried to book some cheap flights with our remaining voucher credit. We battled valiantly with the Delta online booking process but were ultimately locked out so we decided to get to the airport early and sort things out there if we needed to. As it happened our flights out of Panama were fine as evidence of onward travel. We marked time at the airport until our flight left around 6pm. By 8pm we had arrived in Cancun where we took a shuttle from the airport to Hostel Las Orcheadas. Tomorrow we would explore the town.