Day 92 ~ Hello, Old Friend!

If you can laugh at yourself, you’ll never run out of material. ~ David Pengelly, virtuoso ukulele player (I kid you not! He can make that mini-guitar do everything but the laundry.) 

Royal Navy Dockyards and the Commissioner's House

Our last port of call is a familiar one. When we lived in Boston, we used to take a Norwegian ship to the beautiful island of Bermuda and spend a week at a time here. It’s actually 138 islands if you count every islet and rock peeking its head out of the surf. The reef system is extensive and the reason for many shipwrecks over the centuries. 

                                     

The sail in to Hamilton was gorgeous, small islets on either side and lovely homes lining the waterway.

In fact, a shipwreck was why Bermuda was finally colonized. The British ship, the Sea Venture bound for the colony at Jamestown, Virginia, ran aground on the reef with over 100 souls on board. They discovered the hellish sounds that had been reported coming from the island were made by wild pigs that had survived earlier wrecks. There were no indigenous people to displace.

We're definitely in the high rent district! 

But not all the castaways were satisfied to remain there. They built a ship they called Deliverance with native cedar and sailed on to the Americas. One of those who continued on was John Rolfe, who eventually met and married Pocahontas. 

The DH snapped this pic of Captain Slight on the wing bridge from our balcony.

Because we’ve been here several times, we’ve seen most of the sights on Bermuda—the enchanting Crystal Cave, Horseshoe Beach (and yes, the sand really is pink there!), the Royal Navy Dockyard and the 19th century Commissioner’s House, historic St. Georges with its period homes. I love Bermuda so much, I even set one of my novels here. (Lord of Devil Isle in case you’re interested. It’s a book I wrote as Mia Marlowe, in collaboration with NYT bestseller Connie Mason, which means I wrote the book and Ms. Mason allowed our publisher to put her name on the cover with mine. It’s a marketing thing. Any time you have a book with two writers and one of them is much better known than the other, it’s a sure bet the lesser known one is the main, probably only, writer of the book.) 

Our balcony looks down on Front Street--perfect for people watching!

Anyway, I used some of the island’s history as the backbone for part of the story. During the American Revolution, Bermuda was used as a place the Brits sent captured combatants where they were released on parole (their word they would not fight any longer.) The island also had a magazine filled with gun powder, something the Americans were desperately short on. Somehow, someone made a daring run to Bermuda and managed to steal the contents of the entire magazine. No perpetrator was ever caught, so I was free to use a little artistic license and make up my own idea of what happened. 

Flowers everywhere!

On our previous trips here, we always docked by the Royal Naval Dockyards, but today, we were berthed right downtown in Hamilton, on charming Front Street. We decided to explore the town on foot. Because the sidewalks are nice and level, I took Herkimer in his rolling bag to give the DH break from carrying him on his shoulders. However, he donned a backpack anyway because he wanted to bring a spare battery for me in case I needed it. 

This sculpture is title "Against the Tide"

We were delighted to find a little park we’d never seen before. It was dedicated to Queen Elizabeth II in 2012 for her Diamond Jubilee and was filled with statuary, well-tended flower beds, and a koi pond. 

Herkimer and I are dedicated walkers now.

Then we walked up the hill to Church Street and found a mall where they offered free wifi. The DH was able to FB chat with #1 Daughter on his phone. She’ll be picking us up at the airport in St. Louis on Friday. We can’t wait to see her.

We discovered this old wall ringing the Queen Elizabeth garden.

Herkimer’s batteries were wearing down, so we headed back to the ship for lunch on the fantail. The weather was perfect, if a little breezy.

I love art in unexpected places!

All the houses on the island have white roofs that collect rain water which is stored in below ground cisterns, and the homes are all painted in delicate pastels. It reminded me of Corfu, where all the buildings had to be one of only a handful of hues on a specialized color palette. If a place wants to encourage tourism, it makes so much sense to make the place as aesthetically pleasing as possible. Bermuda has “pleasing” down to a science. 

Our Aussie friends, Anna and Frank, are feeling out of touch with their family just like we are. 

It was a lovely morning and I’d walked almost 8000 steps already. Our old friend Bermuda had shown us something new about itself. What more could we ask?