Pirates Week crews say more planning needed for annual festival

While attendees praised many aspects of the recent Pirates Week activities on Grand Cayman, which wrapped up on 16 Nov., some long-term participants say this year’s festival was rushed and more time should have been given for planning.

“There is room for improvement for the festival,” said veteran pirate Darvin Ebanks, known as Captain Black Terrence of the Bloody Bay Buccaneers. “Four months is simply not enough time to plan and prepare for Pirates Week.”

Orneil Galbraith, who leads the Las Tortugas Pirates crew under the alias Captain Wes, agreed with this assessment.

“I don’t want to talk bad about any of the organisers, because they worked really hard and did a great job, but it really should be more like six months to organise and advertise the festival properly,” he said.

The quartermaster of the International Las Tortugas Pirates, Meena Khela, otherwise known as ‘Lootin’ Lily’, has been participating in Pirates Week for the past 23 years.

“This year I brought down 20 international pirates in my crew and they all had a fantastic time. I saved up all year for this,” Khela said.

“The drone show was amazing, the fireworks were fabulous.”

Despite these high points, Khela noted the absence of some traditional elements.

“I miss how we used to have the parade with the floats, and there is a need for marshals and crowd control after the landing,” she said.

She explained that she was mobbed in the street after coming off the ship.

“There was nothing separating us from the crowds and I was basically attacked by someone who took away all my beads that I brought down to give away to the people in the crowds,” she said.

Ebanks agreed about bringing back the parade.

“I get a lot of feedback, and people said they missed having the floats,” Ebanks said.

“They would compete for first and second place and it was an important part of the heritage celebration. … There were also fewer local bands this year and no Pirates Week song contest.”

Regarding the music, Galbraith said, “The Swanky Kitchen band was great, and they should always be there because that is our culture.”

He added, “I would also like to see less DJs and more local bands and perhaps more focus on nautical themes in the music, things like sea shanties and maritime-themed performances to enhance the festival’s character.”

Both Ebanks and Galbraith were glad, however, to see the return of the district heritage days.

“Unfortunately, Little Cayman was cancelled because they were impacted by Hurricane Rafael, and Bodden Town and West Bay got rained out,” Ebanks said.

“But the North Side and George Town district days were excellent, and Mr. Alvin had a huge display of artefacts in East End, and they put together a really well-organised event up there.”

They also thanked Minister of Culture Dwayne Seymour and festival director Patrice Beersingh for their hard work and success in delivering Pirates Week. However, both Galbraith and Ebanks wondered if it would help improve the national festival if it became a joint project under the Ministry of Culture and Heritage and the Department of Tourism.

“Big thanks to Dwayne Seymour who made Pirates Week possible, and going forward I am willing to work with whoever is in charge to make it bigger and better, but Pirates Week gets bounced around to different ministries. Right now, it’s under Border Control, Culture and Heritage,” Galbraith said.

“Under DOT, there used to be more local and international advertisements and better incentives and more promotion.”

Cost for visitors

Galbraith also worried about hotel costs for visitors.

“We want the world to see and appreciate our culture, and it appears they raised the prices at the hotels for Pirates Week and that shouldn’t be allowed,” Galbraith said.

“The goal should be to encourage more tourists and more international pirates to come down, and the Pirates Week festival was always intended to signal the transition from the low season to the beginning of high season.”

Khela said she used to pay $140 day per night for her hotel room, but the cheapest accommodation she could find this year was over $500.

“I live in Canada, so the exchange rate is not so good,” she said. “For the first time, they [festival organisers] provided us with lunch at the Cayman Cabana on Sunday to acknowledge our contribution to the Pirates Week celebration, but it would be great if we could at least get us a bus for the week, so we could attend the heritage days in our costumes and that might add a little something to those district days.”

She also missed the Pirates Week office, which has closed down.

“Residents and visitors would go down there for pirate knick-knacks, and things like plastic swords, pistols and holsters so they could dress up and feel like they were really taking part in the festivities. It was also where they stored the red coats, which are starting to look a little old and some of the outfits may need replacing soon.”

Ebanks reminisced about the posters, saying he’d like to see the large-size Pirates Week posters again to add to his collection.

Galbraith would also like to see a more of a maritime theme reflected in the harbour area and Hog Sty Bay during the festival.

“I recognise the importance of sponsorship, and I feel grateful for their contributions, but there should be more of a balance between all the advertisements and marketing banners and Cayman history, our maritime culture, pirate themes, schooners, sailboats and things like that,” he said.

Organiser says heritage was focus

Beersingh, the festival director, said there were a number of deliberate adjustments made to improve the festival experience in 2024, with a strong focus on local culture.

She noted, “The new drone show received widespread acclaim, and residents were glad to see the inclusion of ‘Gimistory’ and the resurgence of District Days,” which she said benefited from improved funding and resource allocation.

Each district day had its own fireworks display and a live entertainment show with the international band Fab 5.

Beersingh added that, overall, there was a “greater emphasis on local performers, storytellers, dramatists, student performers, dance companies, steel bands, water shows and cultural elements, such as the Heritage Village”, where people engaged in traditional arts and crafts were paid to display their cultural items, as well as educate the public about the traditional activities like basket-making and rope-making using the native silver thatch palms.

Beersingh thanked the Pirates Week steering committee members, who she said, “were critical to the festival’s success”.

She also thanked Melanie McField, a long-time leader and past executive director from 2013-2019 of the Pirates Week festival, for helping to arrange the pirates’ landing and trial of the pirates show this year.

Galbraith and Ebanks lauded McField’s efforts as well.

Recognising pirate history

Galbraith’s sailboat, ‘Splendour in the Wind’ was used for the pirates’ landing, which he also helps to choreograph.

Galbraith admits there has always been somewhat of an issue with acknowledging that pirates were part of our national heritage.

“While these days the Cayman Islands is better known as a centre for international finance, in the early days, it was pretty much turtling, wrecking, wooding and watering vessels and, for a time, yes, there were pirates here too,” he said.

With the festival in its 47th year, however, he said the celebration of pirate heritage has become an amazing spectacle.

“People love it and they have a great time,” he said. “I want to thank everyone who came out and enjoyed the celebration in Grand Cayman and we look forward to making sure it is another incredible experience next year.”