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Sask. man among leap year babies celebrating with Caribbean birthday cruise

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When your birthday is only on the calendar every four years, it’s understandable you would want to make every one count.

That’s the sentiment that drew dozens of leap year babies to Miami this week, to embark on a cruise to the Bahamas.

"We have this opportunity. We're going to celebrate a unique birthday with 69 or 70 other people all celebrating on the same day, so this is going to be fun," Humbodlt’s Mike Yager told CTV News.

Yager is a “leaper.” Born on Feb. 29, 1968. In 2024, he’ll celebrate his 14th birthday on the cruise. He and his wife Shannon made the trip from Saskatchewan to Florida.

Once in the sunshine state, they’ll be joined by other leap year babies from the United Kingdom, Hungary, Switzerland, Sweden, Egypt and Australia.

"There seems to be a similarity of personality of ‘leapers’ and I'm starting to see that,” Yager explained.

“They're happier … they love life and they seem to embrace it a bit more.”

The plight of leap year babies is well known – even inspiring its own song – 2/29 by Rookie Card.

In 2020, a group of leap year babies embarked on a similar cruise, and this year’s installment promises to be a success as well.

The journey culminates with a birthday bash party on February 29th, where those celebrating hope to make enough memories to tide them over for the next four years.

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