Hamilton, Bermuda - April 21st

We left Madeira, Portugal on Thursday, April 14^th and arrived in Hamilton, Bermuda on the 21^st.  I love sea days but I must say the evening of the 19^th was pretty rough.  Our waiter said that there was such a huge swell in the middle of the night that he woke up when his head hit the head board.  We were definitely rocking and rolling all night long.  Fortunately, neither of us was sick. 

Not very much to say about Bermuda.  It’s a lovely island but VERY, VERY expensive. 

Although I love taking pictures of fruits and vegetables in different countries, there wasn’t anything unusual in the market we visited – other than the prices.   For example, I can buy my toothpaste in Walmart for $1.67.  Here, it cost $4.99.  

But, as I said, it is quite lovely and almost all of the buildings in the port area were painted in pastel colors.  There were, of course, churches and several just in this area.  The huge Anglican Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity was quite beautiful but people were gathering for a funeral and we didn’t want to intrude and took a quick look around and left.  (No candles to be lit here.)  Another much smaller church had a very interesting title, “St. Paul African Methodist Episcopalian Church.”  We thought that was very interesting – Methodist and Episcopalian combined. 

Our destination lecturer told us that Bermuda is a very “proper” island and that it would not be unusual to see businessmen in Bermuda shorts.  We kept our peepers open and, yes, indeed, we saw two gentlemen with jackets, white shirts and ties wearing Bermuda shorts and coming out of office buildings.  Although the temperature was a lovely 78 degrees, we saw locals wearing heavy jackets, hats and scarves.  Yikes! 

We did buy a magnet which says “I Survived the Bermuda Triangle.” 

Since January 20^th, this was the first port when we had a little sprinkle of rain.  Up until that day, the only evidence of rain I’ve experienced was when I’ve walked out onto pool area to find the deck wet.   Not bad for over three months. 

We stopped in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, the 24^th when about 400 or so passengers left and another 400 or so have embarked for our last leg of the World Cruise.  As I’ve said before, Michael has been wanting to go home for about three weeks now; as for me, I’m still not ready. 

Two more days at sea, and we’ll be arriving in Curacao on the 27^th.

Michael’s Observations:  I’ve done a lot of cruising over these years and I’m fortunate that I’ve never suffered from seasickness even when we traveled through the Straits of Magellan, the area between Antarctica and the tip of South America.   But this 6-day Atlantic Ocean crossing was the roughest ocean I’ve ever experienced.  I woke at 2 o’clock in the morning to the sound of my neighbor throwing up and a few moments later hearing a loud thump from the 8^th deck above us.  I’m not sure if someone or something fell.  It was definitely an experience. 

Bermuda was lovely and there are many, many large homes nestled in the hillside.  I’m sure that the folks who own these homes are very well off.  The famous Bermuda shorts generally cost in the area of $80 and a simple golf shirt well over $100.  Needless to say, I saved my pennies.  Enjoyed my time there but have no desire to go back.