Beautiful, Blue Bermuda

We spent over two weeks in Bermuda. It was an easy place to be with a totally different flavour to the Carribean.  “Yachting” is huge.  Enormous mega yachts are in harbour waiting for the America’s Cup and provide great entertainment and eye candy for boat lovers.

The glam boats

The racing boats

The tall boats

The sensational boats

The sailing tender to the mother ship

Even the city hall has a sailboat as wind vane - the first settlers on the island as a result of the shipwreck of the said model boat. The "clock" on the tower is actually a compass that tells wind direction.  This island is a boater's dream.

The cruising boats at anchor in St George harbour, all on their way across the ocean.

The spacey eco motor boat run solely on solar and hydrogen power.

And my favourite, the teeny tiny boats - a serious fleet in Bermuda

Bermuda is highly developed but the buildings and homes dotting the island are sweet, pastel with pure white roofs.

These guys are whitewashing the roofs with a special paint.  The roofs are used to collect rain, filling cisterns a providing the individual buildings with water.

The sea is a beautiful clear blue  The people are incredibly friendly and helpful - probably the friendliest we’ve encountered.  “Good Afternoon” as entering, announced to the whole sorry lineup of people waiting at the mobility store with all responding equally brightly, kept a smile on my face for nearly an hour.  And, unique to any place we have been, including Florida, there is hardly a speck of litter on land or sea - goes along with pride of place and history.  Great place to hang out with my big brother and watch America’s Cup boats practicing. 

Beautiful, Blue Highlights:

America’s Cup - we were able to take Milly out three times to view the boats in action.  We also viewed a close up anchored at the windward mark on a motor yacht of another Antares owner who happens to live in Bermuda.  Thanks for including us, George and Melanie, s/v Carefree

As it turns out, not the winning boat!  We were secretly cheering for NZ.

Tall Ships - Twenty-one registered tall ships paraded by us.  A sight from yesteryear.  They are on their way to Canada to celebrate 150 years.

Crew changeover - We said good-bye to new friends, Randy and Michele, and gave dear Lee a big, welcoming hug.

Friendly people - probably the friendliest we’ve met.  Everyone greeted us on the sidewalk except in the big city of Hamilton where only some did - the others were probably tourists.

We happened to see the Independence Day Parade.  Each neighbourhood or extended family staked out a part of the sidewalk, set up chairs, grills, tables with buffet, drinks and watched the parade that took the entire day - slow motion.  Bermuda has it's own island time.

Surprising number of great anchorages in gorgeous blue water - we hadn’t expected to be able to sail as much as we did.  Other islands of similar size have one or two anchorages but you can actually cruise Bermuda for a week.  Charter boats must be coming soon!

Pride of place and history - Museums, cemeteries, churches are all worth a visit.

History in the foreground and the AC village in the background.  Great juxtaposition
They did it so well.

We often check out cemeteries.  This naval cemetery was unique.  In many cases, the headstone reported how the person had died.  "Falling from aloft" was unfortunately common.  Cholera another taker of families.  Another unique feature told of the sponsor of the stone "his ship's mates" being a repeated one.

And you have to read this one that was in the church below.

St Peter's Church in St George - just a sweet on the inside.

Best of all - a visit with my big brother, Tim, who is the general manager at one of the island’s high end resorts.  He attempted to spend each of his days off with us but with all the activity on the island, he was often called in to work.  So great to see you and introduce you to Milly, Tim! xo

After a good rest, a little more very expensive provisioning, walking and sightseeing, it’s time for leg two of our TransAtlantic!