Rooftop

Knowing it was our last day, we got up early, grabbed some food from the breakfast buffet and headed back to Tobacco Bay for a last bit of snorkeling. The beach was empty at 8am, but the sun was out, the water was calm, and the water wasn’t that cold once you got acclimated.

Michelle’s snorkel was acting up again so she returned to the beach and her book. I venture further and discovered a number of sea slugs, brilliant cobalt blue and yellow fish, and even some crabs. The fish were much more plentiful than before, so I waved Michelle back in. She wasn’t to happy having just dried off and settled in, but she came back out and swam around with just her mask on. After a while she headed back in and I ventured further down the coast. I found several golf balls since we were near a course. I kept an faded orange one because it had Japanese characters on it. I swallowed a few mouthfuls of sea water (accidentily) and decided to head back in. We relaxed on the beach for a while before strolling back into town and on to the boat. We boarded around 11:00am, showered and found some good spots topside for watching the departure.

Departure was a little after noon, and we soaked up some sun until heading through “The Cut” and back towards Boston. Leaving the island was kind of sad. Its such a gorgeous place, and the white roofed houses (they collect rainwater for drinking water) were visible as we sailed away.

Back at sea (and Michelle’s birthday – I didn’t remember until mid-afternoon), we read a bit, played some cards, and relaxed. After beating her badly at two games, she returned to beat me at two. Dinner was horrible, service wise. There was at least a 30 minute delay between courses, and my meal was improperly prepared. We left without desert. I didn’t dare point out that it was Michelle’s birthday. She’s got some being-sung-to-in-public-phobia. I think I do too.

Fortunately, there was a midnight chocolate bar, so we ventured up and feasted on fruits dipped in chocolate, cakes of chocolate, and even my leftover dinner dipped in chocolate. We ate quickly because the two couples we were seated at weren’t happy people.

Today we had big plans to it the western parishes again for some snorkeling and pick up some gifts. We caught the #10 to Hamilton earlier than usual but were unaware that it was on a school run. This means that it winded its way through several small neighborhoods we’d not seen yet. It extended the ride by at least 20 minutes, but I’m really glad we happened upon the bus. The interaction between the pedestrians and the bus drivers, and even the interaction between all motorists is very friendly. There seems to be a custom where you honk at people you know, and they honk back. All the car horns are the “meep” type found on Japanese cars. Even the busses had benign horns.

Most of the honking was a single sounding, though sometimes people would honk twice, or even three times on a rare occasion. I never figured out what the differences were. The seemed to relate to traffic issues like right of way and such, but I’m not sure. The honking was both annoying and cute at the same time.

Anyway, we got to Hamilton, and then took the Ferry across the great sound to the Dockyard again, did some shopping, then took the #7 down to Somerset Village. There’s not much there, but we were looking for snorkeling. We ended up doing some walking to get to the Somerset Long Beach, which turned out to be a lame snorkeling site. However, the walk, like the bus ride, was very enjoyable. We got to see some out of the way houses and the “impoverished” part of the island. Considering the mean per capita income is $68k, (among the highest in the world) poverty has a very different face in Bermuda than in less fortunate countries like the Bahamas, Jamaica, Haiti, and the United States.

The two places we had looked at snorkeling were a bust, so we headed back to grab some lunch then try some spots on St. David’s Island (including a shipwreck). Sadly, while we were on the boat for lunch, it had to change its mooring, which took nearly 2 hours, and we missed our bus rides to St. Davids. We watched some shore hands struggle with the lines for so long that it was painful. They appeared so inept that it really made us wonder where the extra $200 in port fees that every cruise ship docking in Bermuda was going.

We looked around St. George for a while, winded through some alleyways, and spent some time at Tobacco Bay. While there, we watched an entourage of around 60 cars and scooters packed with teens tooled around looking for a party.

Since the boat was leaving Bermuda in the morning, we went to bed a little early so we could fit some more snorkeling in before leaving.

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.