Bermuda

15th February 2016

After two fairly rough days we arrived in Bermuda "after crossing the Bermuda Triangle", to be greeted with sunshine and temperatures up into 15 degrees.  We had decided to do a tour of the island by a six seater taxi.  The island, which is approximately 22 miles long and only one mile wide had one road running the length of the island, which we travelled along at 35 miles an hour (the maximum speed limit for the island), with our driver Leo watching out for the landmarks and giving us the history of this British Colony.  Our first stop was the capital, Hamilton, where we had an hour to walk around the centre visiting the local Marks and Spencers and other shops, including a perfume shop selling Lili Bermuda perfume, which is not exported and only sold on the island, where we bought a small sampler of all the various fragrances.  

We then found Leo, who drove us around the very clean town full of typical colonial buildings, including City Hall and the Premiers official residence situated inside the Botanical Gardens.  En route Leo answered all our various questions regarding history, politics, schooling and crime, where he stated that crime rates go up and down year on year as when the crime rate goes up they arrest all the known criminals and put them in prison and then the crime rate goes down.  

We stopped at many viewing points around the island to see the beautiful beaches and bays situated along the south of the island, where there are numerous exotic holiday resorts, tucked away in the bays.

We stopped for ten minutes at Gibbs Hill lighthouse built in 1846 where Geoffrey rashly said he would walk up to the top, 185 steps later he arrived rather puffed at the top but the views around the island were spectacular, so it was well worth the climb.  After taking photographs Geoffrey was back in the taxi after only ten minutes (not bad for an old-en).

We continued our drive around this picturesque island back to the old Royal Naval Dockyard, where our ship was berthed.  We then walked out the old dockyard visiting shops and craft market, before returning to our ship, which was due to said at 4.00pm.  We both enjoyed Bermuda very much and would even consider returning  for a holiday one day, perhaps an alternative to Madeira!!!

Next year Bermuda is hosting the "Americas Cup" and the USA team was already based in the port and testing their new boat the Oracle.  The Japanese and New Zealand teams were also in town.

We then joined the sail away party as we set sail east across the Atlantic to our last destination, Madeira, before arriving home.