Category: photos

Today we hit up Hamilton, the largest city and capitol of Bermuda. Getting there from St. George required us to once again hop on the #10. After 40 minutes, we were on Front Street. After a quick stop at Albuoy’s Point (see panorama), we did a walking tour that mixed points of interest with shopping. Hamilton is where you’ll find high fashion, cheap gemstones, and criminal corporations avoiding taxes (see Tyco).

We included several gardens, like Par La Ville Park, the city hall/art gallery, Anglican and Catholic churches, state houses, and other small attractions. The parks are well kept, and are the very same that Mark Twain visited while he was enjoying Bermuda. St. Theresa’s Catholic Church was an impressive building, as was the Anglican cathedral. These two were among the dozen or so religious offices within a few blocks. St. Theresa’s was on a corner by with a mosque, a bahai temple, and First Church of Christ, Scientist. I guess harmony is in the air.

After catching the bus (yup, the #10) back to St. George, and grabbing some lunch, we walked over the island to Tobacco Bay for some snorkeling. It was crawling with cruisers and locals, and the small bay was cloudy and barren. So many feet created very turbid water that was bad for animals and visibility. However, just outside the small bay was some great snorkeling. Plenty of reefs and interesting rocks, as well as a good variety of fish. I even encountered a gang of 8 spiny lobsters.

Michelle’s snorkel tube crapped out, so she enjoyed the sun and a book while I ventured up the coast. I probably went further than was wise, but it was gorgeous, the water was calm, and I wanted to see some fish.

We took our time at the beach then meandered back to town through small alleyways. St. George is a beautiful town whose charm only increases with the setting sun. Even into darkness, the streets are welcoming. We walked for a while after dinner then enjoyed some Guinness Foreign Exports on the top deck, overlooking the city. We tried to find a good tap in town, but didn’t have much luck.

This morning we woke up early (7am), ate breakfast, and went to the deck to watch our arrival to Bermuda. We stopped briefly to allow a local pilot on board to assist us into port. The massive ship passed easily through The Cut into St. George’s Harbour, and docked in the town of St. George.

Michelle and I were some of the first off the boat and quickly hopped the #10 to Hamilton, then the #7 to Warwick Long Bay. We had a couple snorkel sites lined up along the southern end of the island. Warick Long Bay was dismal snorkeling, and as we were leaving for the next site, we noticed a sign explaining that it was an Unsafe Area.

Church Bay was much better snorkeling, and we saw a variety of corals, fish, and I even got inked by an unknown animal. (I’ve added a panorama too) There was a german couple on the beech too who pointed out a Portuguese Man-of-war that had washed up. We swapped snorkeling stories and tried to distance ourselves from the other cruisers once we saw the crestfallen look they gave us when we told them where we were staying. The were nice to us anyway, but we moved on because it was cloudy and the water was rough. Plus, we were hungry.

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Continue reading Bermuda – Day 3

Monday is a full day at sea. We slept in as best we could, missing breakfast by a long shot. We didn’t need to wait long until lunch was served, partly because of the time-zone change. Lunch was good; its not every day that you get curried lamb shank as a mid-day meal.

We spent a fair amount of time up on the deck, resting in the sun, watching the expansive ocean. The Horizon is an incredible horizontal line around you. Someone noticed a shark near the boat. I saw it, but it looked like it was dead or something. A couple flying fish skimming above the waves and a solitary sparrow that forgot to disembark before departure were about the only signs of life.

Its becoming increasingly obvious that the number of New England accents we heard in the embarkation line wasn’t an anomaly. It appears that a fair number of people are from the Boston area. You can tell from across the boat. It seems that in order to misshape words in the cambridge fashion, you need to apply a fair amount of force.

I’m not able to read much because the ocean is hypnotizing. Its rather smooth too, and the boat seems to move through the water with some urgency. That’s fine with me because I’m ready to snorkel.

These entries are appearing a week late – internet access was too pricey on the boat.

To celebrate Michelle finishing law school, and to some extent, my survival, we cruised from Boston to Bermuda. The draw to this cruise was the long period of time spent in port, which is one of the main complaints I’ve got with cruises. We took the red-eye to avoid having to get a hotel, and were quite pleased with how easily the whole process went.

I’m not sure how people sleep on planes, even without an entire middle school class on their way to see government in action. Poor chaperones. We did get to Boston on time, and quickly sired a cab to the cruise terminal. We got there a little early, and I called Apple tech support on my dad’s behalf regarding an upset iBook. They couldn’t help me since I didn’t have the laptop, and he doesn’t have phone access. It was somewhat confusing to explain to the support guy. I’m calling from a pay phone in Boston on my father’s behalf, who is in the cascade mountains, and his iBook is having the same display problem that hundreds of others have, and he doesn’t have phone access, and he needs it for his daily work, and on and on. It didn’t go well.

Waiting to board, it seemed that most of the people were from New England. We set sail at 4 p.m., the harbor and airways around Boston busy with traffic, and quickly entered the Atlantic Ocean. Our first journey into the Atlantic.

For dinner, we dined in a small French-ish restaurant on the boat. We decided not to worry where the food came from and take a hiatus from our normal dietary conscience. Michelle gets the french version of surf & turf; its the first beef she’s eaten in months. She was in heaven when the waitress removed the lobster from the tail. I ordered filet mignon. It had a glazing sauce made with veal & fois gras. Its the first and probably last time I’ll have either of those; but it was really, really good.

I must be going image crazy or something, but here’s another. Its just a combination of images from around the yard marking that spring is here. The first one is of a hatched mason bee, the second is of a flower named something like berberia, the third is buttercup barley (yes, they’re daffodils, I know), the fourth is a knap weed shoot, and the fifth is some crocuses.

While looking for bathroom floor towels this weekend at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, I rearanged a pile of towels that were on sale to make a friendly amphibious face. Sadly, its in the back corner, so I doubt anyone will see it. So I took a phone picture. This thing comes in handy.

Anyone have captions for the frog?

My sister’s christmas present is now available for beta testing. I’ve completed with the pages, styles, and even uploaded a few images to make sure things are working correctly. Its built using XHTML and CSS using absolutely no tables! Its also been tested and found to be compliant with both W3C’s XHTML and CSS. Its also using Moveable Type, so she can upload to and manage the site from anywhere. Have a look and see if things look and act alright. Once she starts uploading images, we’ll see how it really works.

When we first started hearing from my parents after they moved up to Holden Village, they sounded like kids at summer camp. They were having a wonderful time, and were enthralled with the people, mountains, community, and spirituality of the place. As time passed, their jobs changed (fewer visitors in winter mean less accidents, less book sales), but they still loved it. Its coming time to decide about staying another year, and they both want to, but feel they’re needed back in the real world.

Our visit was wonderful. The early morning drive over snowy mountain passes, chilly but sunny ride up Lake Chelan, and 10 mile bus ride up the valley to Holden Village was quite fun. My mom drove the bus up the 9 steep switch-backs and across an avalanche field, and we arrived safely. A brief meal and orientation had us on to a bunco game with many of the full time staff and families. It was a fun way to meet my parents friends.

During the winter there aren’t as many visitors, though there is just about as much to do. There was sledding, skiing, snowshoeing and more, plus a great periodical room, library, craft room, common area with games and hot chocolate. My parents were able to take some time off, and we did some skiing and snowshoeing, worked on some puzzles, and just enjoyed each other’s company.

Holden is a religious retreat, and there were evening vespers. I readily left my church (when able) because I was annoyed by so many aspects of the community itself; there was a large break between what Jesus was saying and what we did. I felt my time in the mountains was a better celebration of creation. I found a wonderful meshing of creation, spirituality, and community at Holden that was much more like what I’d expected christianity to resemble. It was easy to see why so many come here.

The trip was amazing, and I look forward to returning. I’ve added some pictures and panoramas.

File under “Work in Progress”:

For my sister’s christmas gift, Michelle and I bought a domain for Hilary and are setting up a website/gallery for her. The domain is http://www.freedlancephoto.com, and though currently loads, the page there is only a mock-up. The final product will look very similar (unless you’re on Windows and using IE, see previous post), and will use Moveable Type as a content management system. Check back next year. And Merry Christmas.