Day One begins aboard the twin-masted schooner, the Rembrandt von
Rhine, making good headway off the coast of Panama City.  As the ship
approaches an island with a small fishing village, our host with the most,
Jeff Probst, gathers our new band of this season's contestants.  They think
they are going to have a party and are dressed appropriately (at least most
of them are).  But instead, Jeff announces that The Game is about to start.
Unlike in previous seasons, the contestants will only have the clothes they
are wearing, except for their sneakers, which Jeff has ready. 

The two tribes are formed, named after the famous pirates who once worked
the Caribbean, Drake and Morgan.  Drake consists of Shawn, Christa, Rupert,
Trish, Burton, Michelle, Jon, and Sandra.  Morgan is made up of the rest,
Darrah, Osten, Lil, Ryan S., Ryan O., Tijuana, Nicole, and Andrew.  They will
not be given any food or supplies at the start of The Game.  Instead, Jeff
gives each tribe a sack of Balboas, the local currency, and instructs them to
purchase whatever they'll need for 39 days from the village.  Both tribes
must also arrange transport to their camps, each on a separate island in the
Pearl Island chain by sundown.

With that, Jeff tosses two small rafts over board to hold the sneakers and
cash.  The players then dive off and The Game begins.  It's a long swim to
shore and all are exhausted.  Morgan arrives first and in a disorganized
fashion, everybody heads off on their own.  Osten readily admits that he is
not a "water person", which is bad news since most of this season's com-
petitions are to be played in the water.  Hmmmm.  Drake tribe arrives and
quickly details assignments.  Sandra, who speaks Spanish, wheels and
deals with the locals. 

Rupert is spent after the long swim and drags the Drake raft ashore and
takes a breather.  Osten and a couple of the Morgans stop by and leave their
raft next to Rupert, then head off to shop.  Rupert, in keeping with the theme
of this season, pirates, decides to join in the spirit and steals all of the
items left in the Morgan raft, then scampers off to barter his booty.  Kudos
to Rupert!  With his large frame and scruffy black beard, he truly looks like
a pirate of olde.

The Morgan tribe begins their shopping spree.  Osten decides to trade most
of his clothing for needed goods.  He then tries to talk the ladies into flash-
ing their breasts for bargains, but they are not agreeing.  The Morgans run
into more trouble at one shop with a disputed purchase and waste time
arguing.  Despite these setbacks, they have plenty of cash left and are first
to hire a boat to take them to their new island camp.  Meanwhile, Sandra
continues to get the Drake team great bargains.  At one point, she strips off
a gold chain she is wearing and buys a huge dinner of barbequed chicken,
including condiments and even the foil.  Drake spend all their money and
then depart for their island.

The Morgans arrive at their island and Osten tries to take charge.  He runs
up and down the beach looking for the perfect spot to build a shelter.  They
settle for devising a lean-two against an out-cropping of rocks.  Lil, who is
a scout master (and in full uniform), shows the gang the right way to build
a fire.  When the Drakes arrive at their island, they first do a team-cheer. 
Then, they organize and each goes off doing separate tasks in a rather
organized manner.  Shawn and Burton, the two suited-yuppies of the tribe,
attempt to assume a leadership role and quickly make some enemies.  With
a shelter built, they use their map to find their water hole, which is home to
a zillion mosquitoes. 

Night One brings visitors to the Morgan camp.  It seems they built their
shelter right at the home for the island's crabs.  All night long, crabs are
milling about, pinching the contestants, knocking rocks on them, etc.  Then
Osten, who knows absolutely nothing about the wilderness, thinks he sees
a large snake.  It turns out to be a palm frown.  Hmmmm.  Meanwhile, the
gang on Drake Island are having a party.  Jon traded for some sort of home
brew and everybody, especially him, got sloshed.  A few people, especially
Sandra, found Jon's drunken behavior annoying.

Day Two and the Morgans are tired and thirsty.  They have yet to locate their
water hole.  While Osten tries to organize another of his wild goose chases,
two of the ladies decide to examine the map provided to them.  Sure enough
it shows exactly where it is in plain English.  Hmmmm.  Lil and Ryan S. go
for water while the others start working on a new shelter with a raised floor.
Over at Drake Island, Burton and Shawn decide to try out the speargun they
bought.  They catch a fish with it and feel proud.  Rupert shakes his head
and takes the speargun.  He goes and catches 7 more fish.  Everyone is
impressed, except Burton and Shawn. 

Day Three and both tribes receive tree-mail, announcing the first Immunity
Challenge.  The Morgans have a pow-wow and elect Andrew as their leader.
Both tribes canoe to Challenge Island where Jeff explains the challenge.
each tribe must move an old fashion naval cannon through an obstacle
course.  At some point, they will have to take the cannon apart to get it
through an obstacle.  The first tribe to cross the finish line with all parts
and tribe members wins.  This season's Immunity Idol is a battle axe with a
skull on top.  Survivors Ready!

Drake jumps off to an early lead, due to the stupidity of the Morgans.  They
had taken apart their cannon at the start.  Drake took their gun apart when
they reached a fence and had to move the cannon through it.  As the race
continued, Osten lost his shorts.  Two of the other Morgan men took theirs'
off as well so Osten wouldn't feel foolish.  Hmmmm.   The Drakes stay in the
lead nearly the whole time till both tribes reach the final stretch along a
beach.  The Drake's gun then got bogged down in the wet sand.  Morgan
catches up and then passes them, but shortly gets bogged down as well.
The Drakes pass them and win by a nose.

Back at camp, the Drakes trash the Morgans, especially the naked men.  At
the Morgan camp, Andrew tries to rally them.  When Lil and Ryan S. go for
another water run, the others plot to boot them.  Andrew wants Ryan S gone
but the others want Lil out.  Later, Nicole tries to get Lil and Ryan S to vote
off Tijuana.  Lil tells Andrew and he tells Tijuana, who goes wild.  She con-
fronts Nicole who says Lil is lying.  Yeah, right, a scout master who lies!

At Tribal Council, Jeff chides the Morgans who losing the race and their
shorts.  Nicole then digs herself into a deeper grave on a question of trust.
Andrew publicly trashes Ryan S for his lack of effort in the race.  It's time
to vote.  Nicole votes to boot Ryan S, but everybody else votes for Nicole.
She becomes the first to have her torch extinguished. 

SPOILERS:  Shawn and Rupert argue with each other on Drake Island, while
at the Morgan tribe, Ryan O has had enough and wants to go home.