This month, 35 people flew in from all over the world to the small, French island of Saint Barthélemy for the first ever BJJ Globetrotters Caribbean Island camp. Adding in the entire local group of 10 Jiu Jitsu practitioners and a few from the neighbouring Saint Martin, we were around 50 people spending a week of intense training, surfing, party and exploring on the island.
We the camp with a 3 hour outdoor open mat session on the first day. What better way for people to get to know each other than sparring! A few people slept in, but most of us got up early most days to make breakfast and get started with the day. Black belt Nathan Adamson from Seaside, Oregon was doing yoga and mobility classes every morning on the local beach, just a few minutes walk from the newly built dorms we stayed in. Jiu Jitsu classes started at 10 and ran pretty much all day. People would come and go, mixing up their days with training, relaxing, going to the beach or just driving around the island on quad bikes, scooters or in our land rover.
Thursday, we took a much needed break from the mats and had rented three, large catamarans (part of the camp) for an all-day boat trip with swimming, paddle boards, kayaks and of course plenty of food, rum and beer.
It was the first time we attempted a camp in the Caribbean but it surely won’t be the last! Looks like we will be back in Saint Barthélemy November 28th to December 6th next year. For more info, visit www.BJJglobetrotters.com/camps
