06/09/08: Pirates Of the Caribizan Boat Party

Another day, another boat party. We must be in Ibiza indeed…

The invites for today’s Pirates Of The CarIbizan boat party begin by telling the tale of UK party promoters Puscha’s now legendary Shipwrecked cruise back in 2004, when three party ships were sailed down the river Thames in the typical OTT Pushca fashion, in search of a mythical lost party island. Legend – well, some cleverly worded PR material anyway - has it that one of the boats along with its crew and passengers was lost at sea and rumoured to have made its way to Ibiza.

Of course, it would be rude not to join in the search to recover those lost at sea – put on in Ibiza in conjunction with professional party pirates, Los Piratas and their very special sailing yacht - and so Miss W accepted the invite with gusto and began practicing her very best ‘ahoy me hearties’ the night before. Though to be honest, I’ve always fancied myself as more of a Keira Knightley-type character than a Johnny Depp-esque pirate…

Though the 1pm kick-off time was actually quite civilised, Miss W struggled to get to the port of Ibiza Town in time to board, almost missing the boat, quite literally! After what felt like a very long night at Pete Tong’s Wonderland the previous evening, making the right fashion choices for a day on the water proved a little difficult, resulting in the need for a quick shopping excursion in Ibiza for some added inspiration! Eye patches have never really been my thing, however I’ve always wanted an excuse to buy myself one of those Alexander McQueen silk skull and crossbones scarves so after a quick stop off at trendy boutique Mayurka, I was ready to set sail.

With plenty of recognisable Ibiza faces on board, along with a host of fresh faces who were clearly part of the Pushca crew, it was clear from the minute the boat left the harbour that this was indeed a party search and rescue mission. With funky house-favoured music being the order of the day and plenty of icy cold drinks (thankfully not rum or port in true pirate style!) served up, the deck became a dance floor in less than an hour, proving that these two promoters really know what they’re doing when it comes to putting on a party.

While Miss W didn’t spy any Orlando Bloom lookalikes on board, there were still plenty of the obligatory eye patches and bandannas on the boys to keep the pirate theme alive, while the girls opted to steer clear of the swashbuckles and stick with the tried and tested bikini top and shorts/skirt combination. Personally, I preferred to fashion my new skull scarf into a makeshift top.

After all, if you’ve got a McQueen, flaunt it!

THE LOWDOWN
THE GOOD: Getting the chance to be out on open waters without feeling the stress of having to return to the office or get to the next party/dinner/event and the like in a hurry. September in Ibiza means we can actually breathe a sigh of relief as the pressure eases off and the party season slows down – for two weeks at least, before the closing parties arrive!
THE BAD: It seemed like the party was promoted at the proverbial 11th hour, with a flurry of emails, texts, MySpace bulletins and Facebook messages arriving in various islanders’ inboxes right up until a few hours before the scheduled departure time of 1pm Saturday – while the party itself went on to (thankfully) be a success, the slight air-of-desperation created by all the PR-ing just before setting sail didn’t do much to encourage people to join the party.
THE GOSSIP: Miss W had to wonder about the combination of Los Piratas (who declare ‘we love to make a mess’ on their website) and Pushca (who pride themselves on style and glamour) – one underground Ibiza institution and the other a well-established UK brand. While it didn’t seem to fit on the outside, once on the boat it just went to show that even the strangest of pairings work on this island!