PLUNGE..... THE AFTERMATH

PLUUUUUUUNGE

Plunge baby, Hurricane Matthew tried to stop you?  Like they didn't know how serious this thing called carnival is to we as a Caribbean people?  Despite all the warnings and category 4 they claimed on you; you didn't expect for the locals to secure their homes, buy their water, then dress an come to the fete anyway?! 

Everyone held their breath, glued to television sets just waiting to be updated hourly on the status of Hurricane Matthew.  After all, Plunge was an advertised outdoor event.  Up until Wednesday evening flights were delayed and cancelled coming into Fort Lauderdale and Miami International Airports.  People were doing everything short of selling body parts to fly standby on Wednesday.  The urgency to get here by Wednesday was put in place by the news/media outlets as they scheduled to close all South Florida airports on Thursday. GASP! 

While every carnival junkie watched the weather, I was smiling. Call it what you want, gut or intuition, I was right. I've said it repeatedly over the carnival season that I believe firmly in what David Rudder said about God being a Trini and he wasn't going to allow a total shut down of the Miami Carnival nor all the fetes associated with it.  When Thursday morning approached. as expected the airports closed and all flights coming in and out of Fort Lauderdale, Miami and West Palm Beach were cancelled.  It didn't stop my momentum or discourage me, I got dressed as if it were a regular Thursday morning.

My guests from Trinidad, along with my husband were hesitant but they trusted my judgement and we were off. We drove from Broward County to the venue (Miami) with NO TRAFFIC, it was wonderful.  When we got to the venue and saw all the cars parked outside we felt better.  It was confirmation that we were not the only crazy people attempting to party with a category 4 hurricane at our doorstep.

Again, no line.

Winning!

Upon entry, we were given our signature Plunge cups and were on our way.

Once 'inside' (because the fete was outdoors), I started looking for my curry crab and dumplin' as that was more than half the reason I purchased a ticket! *If you haven't figured it out by now, I absolutely LOVE MY BELLY! Anyways, I didn't see any. Off in the distance I did see some food set up but the rain was falling off and on and didn't want to venture in it to be disappointed and the liquor was sharing where I was so.... the liquor won, I stayed put.

I saw many familiar faces as well as some new ones which is always good.  The crowd wasn't thick but there were way more people than expected considering the circumstance.  Again, I didn't pay much attention to who played what or when but I do remember Eruption High Power and Eternal Vibes.  

Army Boyz Clem (WFYG Bandit)

DCARNIVALBABY, Josya and Sue (WFYG Bandits)

The rain.

Water fell from the sky but it was a mere drizzle.  It drizzled off and on and because I was prepared for it, didn't mind getting wet.  The rainfall actually added to the excitement and the majority of the attendees enjoyed it.  There were the few that hid under the shelter but the majority handled the rain like bosses. 

The bottle service was a nice touch.  Along with purchasing bottles, sexy bartenders stayed for a while and mixed drinks.  I don't know if this service would have been any different with a larger crowd but it was certainly a nice touch and I appreciated it.

While inside the fete, the news spread quickly that Broward County had closed all roads....

Wait. 

What?

Broward County officially closed ALL ROADS AND MAJOR HIGHWAYS in Broward County!

Do you remember where I said we drove from?

We needed to get home! 

When the news got to me, I decided to stay.  I mean, whether I left now or in the next hour the roads would have still been "closed" and I would just have to take my chances with the law.  What's done is done, the roads were already closed so whether we stayed or left at that point we were already defying the law and hell, the vibes were nice so......we stayed.  

When we did leave, we were adrenaline filled so I recorded a Facebook Live! In the live feed our vibes can be seen, I briefly showed the 'closed roads' as we drove through them and there was definitely some crazy commentary.   Plunge had a vibe that we didn't want to end so (as stated in the video) we headed to Joy's Roti shop to continue the bacchanal. 

All in all, I'd definitely do Plunge again.  So far, I was having a wonderful Miami carnival season and my fete/party choices were the right ones!  To watch our Facebook Live video, you can click 

HERE!