4-20 Bermuda

Our favorite island!  We’re very excited to be here – even if we’re working around phone calls all day!  Once again, the weather is cooperating – it’s sunny and warm – but there some threatening black clouds we are trying to ignore.

The captain took forever to dock, so we ended up being very late getting off – we missed the first ferry to St.Georges, which meant we had to totally rearrange our plans.  But we were ok with that – we were waiting to disembark with a couple who were getting married on the island and they were so calm even though they were late and worried about missing the ceremony!  (PS – we ran into them later as we returned and all worked out well – ceremony, pictures on the beach, lunch and then the return to the ship for their formal portrait sitting and special dinner in the OceanLiners specialty restaurant).

After completing the phone calls, we decided to take the next ferry to Hamilton where we walked around staring with gaping mouths at all the empty storefronts.  There are a ton of businesses that are no longer here.  It’s really quite amazing – and probably points more to the state of tourism than anything.  We were pretty shocked.  The Beach ( a great come as you are bar) is no longer –it’s now the Bermuda Bistro.  Bees Knees (a precious little store) is gone.  Goslings – gone.  Wild!

So after our walk down Front street, we headed to the bus depot to catch the St.Georges bus.  Just missed the 11:15, but waiting for the next one turned out well as we got seats for the 40 minute ride.  Fun seeing a different side of the island since we’d never ridden the bus to St.George but usually sailed in.

Walked around town – and again – it’s a ghost town! So many empty shops!  Had lunch at the White Horse, right on the water. Onion soup (good, with cloves we think), fish chowder and a fish sandwich we split.  Then we headed up to the golf course, past the unfinished church to see what was happening with the old Club Med.  Nothing – or less than nothing to be exact – they’ve demolished it – so now there’s a gaping hole on what is probably some of the most valuable real estate in St Georges. We had heard they were going to tear it down and rebuild.   Good luck with that!  What a shame!

Back on the bus, into Hamilton, stocked up on our liquid supplies, completed the last phone call from a park in the middle of town and hopped the ferry back to Dockyards.  Rode back upstairs in the sun and admired all the houses and basked in the sun.  One interesting note –  the pool with the statue of the girl (we have tons of pictures of it from previous trips) on the city side while you sail into Hamilton – is no longer!  The house is still there and the dock, but the pool has been bulldozed.  Wonder what the story behind that is?

Back in Dockyards, we stopped in at the Frog and the Onion for a final Bermudian beer and Italian wine (LOL).  Sat on the patio we didn’t know existed and looked out over the Victualling Garden where they prepared provisions for the troops. It was gorgeous, green and peaceful.  I very nice farewell to Bermuda.

Sat on the fantail with coffee for the sailaway, looking longingly at our aft cabin we won’t have until the next cruise!  Then off to the gym, the hot tub where we met up with a great group of guys, and off to dinner.  Tomorrow is the first in a stretch of 4 sea days.  Won’t report from all of them…..to keep you from dying of boredom.  Will give you the synopsis somewhere later….