By Kristen Wills From Addison Magazine

The Cayman Islands will celebrate the 36th Annual Pirates Week starting Nov. 7. Photo by Juan Jose Marroquin for Red Bull Cayman Islands.

Ahoy scallywags, it’s time t’ celebrate! Grab your sword, your tri-cornered hat and hop a ship headed south – the 36th annual Cayman Islands Pirates Week has begun.

“Pirates Week National Festival,” as the event is officially known, attracts thousands of pirates and landlubbers alike to the Cayman’s each year, and the almost-month-long event celebrates the Island’s history, culture and life.

This year’s Festival officially kicks-off on Nov. 7, continuing to Nov. 17. The schedule consists of more than 30 events spread out across the 10 days of the festival and includes float parades, cardboard boat races, sea swims and turtle releases, among other things.

Plan on wearing your fanciest ruffled shirt and pantaloons for the opening weekend kick-off party, which will feature a steel pan competition, a spectacular fireworks display, the crowning of the Festival Queen and the opening Street Dance and Food Festival.

Visitors will also get a chance to watch a mock ‘pirate invasion,’ as two old-time sailing vessels, loaded with pirates, will make a surprise landing at the George Town harbor with hopes of capturing the Governor.

District Heritage Days, which take place throughout different towns throughout the Islands, provide both visitors and Caymanians a chance to re-connect with the Islands past. They give folks the opportunity to see what life was like a hundred years ago, including how people worked, played and worshiped.

Heritage Days also offer great opportunities to see Caymanian craft work, taste traditional foods and, of course, party to Caribbean music.

The mind behind Pirates Week, former Executive Council Member for Tourism, the Honorable James Bodden, didn’t actually start the Festival as a celebration of the Island’s pirate history, but to boost tourism during the country’s slow season.

Began in 1977 as a singular pirate-themed street party, the Festival has expanded into a multifaceted jamboree, with music, street dances, costumes, games, parades, sporting events and firework displays.

Festivities begin each year on either of the Sister Islands (rotated annually), move to Grand Cayman in mid-November then move back to one of the Sister Islands for the close of the event. Pirates Week 2013 marks the 36th annual occurrence of the National Festival.

While the heyday of Caribbean pirates has long since passed, the romanticism and allure surrounding the unsavory characters provides an excellent milieu for the Festival.

For more information about Pirates Week, visit www.piratesweekfestival.com.

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http://www.addisonmagazine.com/2013/11/the-cayman-islands-celebrate-pirates-week-2013/