Bermuda Cruise Part 2

This morning was our first sighting of land. After sleeping in and having breakfast in the Garden Cafe, we went out on deck to get our first glimpse of Bermuda. Since we would not be able to get off the ship until one o’clock, Mom and I looked for something to do until then. We decided to go to the Aqua Dining Room for an art auction. Since we were there early, we checked out the art and sipped on mimosa. We did not bid on anything during the auction because most of the lots were too expensive, but there plenty of pieces that we liked. My favorites were the paintings by an artist named Linda Le Kinff, whose elongated forms and bright, vivid colors were compared to Matisse and Modigliani. For attending the auction, we received a free print.

The ship arrived in Bermuda around noon and we were allowed to go ashore at one o’clock. Today’s excursion was a bus tour around the island. Bermuda is dazzling and it is a treat to drive through it and see the lush greenery, pastel colored buildings, and spectacular views. Our first stop was the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse. Some brave souls climbed to the top while the rest of us stayed at the bottom taking pictures and buying souvenirs. The next stop was Warwick Long Bay Beach, one of Bermuda’s pink sand beaches. I was wearing open toed shoes, so the sand poured in and I took them off and faded in the water, which was lovely on such a hot day. After leaving this beach, we passed the Stamp House, Bermuda’s oldest residential building, which was built in 1705.

We made a quick rest stop in downtown Hamilton and Mom took my picture doing the pose from the logo for the musical Hamilton. The caption is going to be “Hamilton: A Bermudian Musical.” Our longest stop was in St. George, the oldest part of Bermuda, where we were allowed to stay for an hour and fifteen minutes. Mom and I had lunch at the White Horse Tavern. I had the fish and chips and a rum swizzler, Bermuda’s signature drink. I imagine that the rum swizzler can be deadly, since they go down smoothly. The fish and chips were delicious. I asked what kind of fish they were made from, since I figured that they would not be haddock or cod like I’m used to. The waitress told me that they were made from catfish. We ate outside on the deck, which is on the water. The ocean here is the most beautiful shade of turquoise. At the tip of St. George is a statue of Sir George Summers, one of Bermuda’s first shipwrecked colonists and also a model of the Deliverance, the ship that Summers left for Jamestown Virginia on.

On our drive back, we passed through Tucker’s Town, Bermuda’s wealthiest neighborhood, where the likes of Sean Connery and Michael Douglas have houses. Our tour returned to the ship around quarter past six. We bid goodbye to Mr. Thomas, our tour guide who entertained us throughout our five-hour drive back and forth the island by telling us about Bermuda’s history, geography, economy, politics, and culture. After getting back on board the ship, we changed our clothes and went to the Stardust Theater to a watch a performance by the two aerial acrobats, Gilles and Laure, who featured in the welcome aboard show, which was nothing short of spectacular.

When the show got out, we went to our dinner reservation at the Venetian Dining Room. My dinner started off with the chicken caesar salad with an entrée of beef lasagna. My favorite dessert right now is tiramisu and luckily, the Venetian had it on their menu. It was a long day, so we decided to make it an early night; I was feeling tired after my five-hour tour and a little dizzy after a glass of wine.

Our first excursion was at 9:30 am, so Mom and I got early this morning. We then had breakfast and went down to Deck 4 to get off the ship. There we ran into my friend Jacob, AKA Spider-Shark, and his mother.

The first stop on our excursion was Bermuda’s famous Crystal Caves. We had to walk down eighty-something slippery steps which were a trek to walk back up again. The limestone stalactites dripped water onto us in what are called “cave kisses,” which are said to be good luck. Lucky days are in store for me, since I was kissed at least seven times. We were brought across the pontoon bridge which spans the cave’s tidal lake. The tour guide put out the lights to show us how dark the cave gets and used a flashlight to show us different rock formations such as the the Sleeping Dragon. The climb back up to the surface nearly killed me.

Our next stop was the Bermuda Aquarium and Zoo. Out front, a pair of sea turtles swam up in their pool to say hello to us. It was nice to be inside the air-conditioned aquarium and watch the fish peacefully swimming around. Outside was the zoo. My favorite creatures I saw were Galapagos tortoises, green parrots, and scarlet ibises. At a quarter past one, our bus left. As we drove to Hamilton, we went through an area known as Smuggler’s Bay, which was frequented by pirates in the early days of Bermuda’s history and an island known as Hanging Island, which was where they used to hang rebellious slaves. In Hamilton, there is a statue of a slave woman named Sally Bassett who was burned at the stake for supposedly poisoning her master. Whenever it is extremely hot in Bermuda, they say that it is a Sally Bassett Day.

I have become a little bit obsessed with Bermuda’s pink sand beaches and they were the theme of my shopping. In St. George, I bought a bottle of the pink sand at the gift shop of the Crystal Caves, and I bought a piece of rose quartz. During the shopping seminar Mom and I went to, we learned about a shop in Hamilton called Alexandra Mosche, which sells jewelry made from the famous pink sand. I bought a heart shaped ring in this pink and pretty shop. We also learned about a store called Lili Bermuda, which has a similar blush color scheme. There a bought a bottle of a perfume called “Sun-Kissed” which smells like peaches and vanilla ice cream. Mom and I got ice cream and waited at the terminal for the three o’clock ferry to take back to the Royal Naval Dockyard. From the ferry, we were able to take pictures of our ship.

I had wanted to see the National Museum of Bermuda. Our goal was to get back to the Dockyard with enough time left to see it. By the time we got there, Mom was not up to it, so we decided that I would go into the museum while she went into the craft market. I discovered that the museum was not in all one building. I did not feel like walking from one building to another in the heat, so I went and poked around this one gallery about the colonization of Bermuda and then sat by this pool and watched dolphins swim until I decided to go join Mom in the craft market. In keeping with the theme of pink, I bought a tub of foot scrub made from the pink sand of Horseshoe Bay. We then went to Diamonds International to collect the free stuff we had vouchers for. I was disappointed by the tanzanite earrings we were given, since they were of a very cheap quality and were not the stunning blue color of tanzanite I have seen before. In fact, the stones were fairly pale with only the faintest hint of blue.

After looking around Diamonds International at jewelry we could not afford, we took the tram back to the ship. We had our dinner by the pool and then went for a swim. After a long day in the sun and chugging down a strawberry daiquiri and while floating, weightless, in the water, I have never felt more giddy and carefree.

We left the ship again around 7:30, just as the sun was beginning to set. Our final excursion of the day was a night time glass bottom boat tour of the Bermuda Triangle. On our way there, the tour guide told us the facts. What is known as the Bermuda Triangle is a vast expanse of ocean, which for centuries has been one of the most frequently sailed areas of the world. With those statistics, there is bound to be a higher than normal concentration of shipwrecks. The island of Bermuda is also surrounded by a coral reef that is notoriously difficult to navigate through, which is the reason why Bermuda is the shipwreck capital of the world. Through the ship’s glass bottom, we were able to see the reef and the fish swimming around and through it. We were also shown the wreck of the HMS Vixen, a ship that sunk in the nineteenth century and because it was made of iron, which is beneficial to coral, a reef has sprouted all over it. On our way back, we were treated to complimentary rum swizzlers. Mom and I talked with this sweet old Indian lady who introduced us to her family.

Once we got back on board the ship, Mom and I turned in for the night and ordered a late night snack from room service.

Today was our final day in Bermuda and our last excursion. A bus took us to Horseshoe Bay, the most famous of Bermuda’s pink sand beaches. We rented two chaises and an umbrella. I rented a snorkel. The water here is much clearer and warmer than it is in Massachusetts. It usually takes a while to get used to the water up our way but here you can dive right in. I floated around and rose and fell with each wave.

Horseshoe Bay was a small cove off of it, which is filled with little grottos. I swam around, took pictures with my underwater camera, tried to snorkel, and pretended I was Miranda from The Tempest, since Shakespeare supposedly based Prospero's island off of the newly discovered Bermuda. As I was swimming, a flock of longtails, the official bird of Bermuda, performed an aerial ballet for us around the massive rocks which make the borders of Horseshoe Bay. Mom and I had a quick bite to eat and the snack bar before boarding the bus back to the Dockyard.

Back on board ship, we relaxed by the pool until quarter to four. After cleaning up and changing for dinner, we went back up to Deck 7 to watch the ship leave Bermuda. I was able to take a few last pictures as the dock inched further and further away. As Bermuda faded off into the distance, Mom and I had dinner in O’Sheehans Irish Pub.

I drank a long island iced tea along with my fish and chips and it went straight to my head. After dinner, we went to the Stardust Theater to see a performance of Second City. They performed a series of silly sketches, and in one of them, a joke was made about how the ferry from the Dockyard was the cheapest ticket you’ll get to see Hamilton. By the end of the show, I was completely worn out and it was not even eight o’clock yet.