11/16–Land Ahoy–Bermuda a day early

We’ve been literally going full steam ahead across the entire Atlantic, and our speed has paid off in a number of ways.  1) We avoided the worst of the weather and seas, and 2) we sail into Bermuda a half a day early!  Yay.  Not only will this get us on to dry land (sort of dry – it’s raining) sooner, it also allows us to watch the sail in, which is always so great once we enter the reef and sail around the island.

Because this is a small ship, another bonus is that we dock right in Hamilton.  City centre.  It’s great to be able to walk right off the ship and be dead smack in the middle of Front Street! And it makes for a fantastic view from our balcony overlooking the Hamilton harbor.

It takes a while to dock and figure out the gangway, but once its all done, we are out in the street in no time.  We have absolutely no specific plans, just want to stretch our legs for a bit. Unfortunately, it is raining, and windy (which is why we are in early, because a storm is rolling in tonight with high winds and strong thunderstorms, and better to be at dock than on the open sea in it).  Which makes meandering around aimlessly unpleasant.  It is almost 5pm, so it is too late to go to any museums – even most of the shops are closing soon (not that we care, but we heard people rushing saying the stores closed at 5:30 – horrors!) – so we walk around the block, get a little wet, then duck into The Beach (now called Bermuda Bistro at the Beach) for a quick drink  We’ve been here before when we docked in Hamilton, and have always enjoyed the place.  It’s a little sports type bar, frequented by locals, and is just sort of our kind of place.  We’re lucky it is happy hour, so the drinks are a little (truly just a little) less!  We debate having an appetizer of fried calamari (also happy hour priced), but we had already looked at tonight’s menu, and there are tons of things we want on it, so we aren’t going to spoil our appetite.  One round is enough (at $20 Happy Hour prices) and we walk back across the street to the ship to stay dry aboard the rest of the evening.