April 10th, Casa De Campo, 3:35pm
I woke up and was really excited to play some golf today, as it was my last round of golf for this contract. I was in the office by 8am and ready to go at 8:15am. It looked like we were running a little bit late based on the landmarks I use, so that made me a little bit worried. The group was assembled and ready to go by 8:50am, so I went through a couple of things with them and then sent Ed down to the gangway to see where we were. Sorin called me and said we were ready to go at 8:58am which amazed me because normally it takes them 15 minutes to set the gangway.
I lead the group downstairs and outside onto the bus. Max was standing there and he gave me a little wink because he made sure we were on time leaving the ship, I thanked him and hopped on the bus. Maru decided she wanted to come and play some golf this week so I had two lovely assistants this week which was nice.
We got to the golf course and all the rentals were ready to go, so I sent the group to the pro shop to pay for the rentals and had a few minutes to chat with Ernesto. I thanked him for the great job he did all year and then I noticed that Ramon (my caddy) wasn’t around. I asked Ernesto where he was and he said he had to go to the hospital for a checkup because of his motorcycle accident a couple of months ago. I was very sad that I would not get to say goodbye to my friend and caddy, but I did leave a bag for him with Ernesto full of some things from Squamish so he has something to remember me by.
Everybody got off right on schedule so I headed for the 10th tee with Ed, Maru, Don and his wife who was riding along. I finally had everything working today, the driver was working, I was hitting greens, and I even made some putts on the front nine. I went out in 35 with two birdies and 8 of 9 greens hit. It was probably the best nine holes I have played in a long time.
The back nine did not go as well; I made some silly mistakes and got on the bogey train for three holes. I still hit some really good shots, including the drive on 17 that was over 3000 yards, and the 8 iron on 18 I hit to 5 feet. I finished with a 74 and was very happy with my game.
Ed also had a fantastic day as he shot his career low with a 92! He hit some really good shots but his short game was fantastic on the front nine. He almost chipped in twice and made three putts over 15 feet to save par! He was very happy!
Maru had never played golf before and had some troubles but overall had a really enjoyable afternoon. She had never been to the golf course before and was amazed at how beautiful it was.
All the guests seemed to have a really fun day as well. The pace was very good and we were done by 2:30pm which left some time to have a beer or three and watch the masters in the bar.
We were back at the ship by 3:15pm which means I didn’t get yelled at and I have time for a nap before I have to go to work tonight.
10:19pm
Well work isn’t officially over yet but it felt like it when I closed the desk tonight, mainly because I only have two hours of desk time on the last sea day and that will be a breeze. There is a British party tonight in the crew bar that I have to go to say goodbye to some people but it has the makings of a late night so we will have to see how that turns out.
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