Bermuda – Just a Short Visit!

Sunday, 15th January, 2023

Well, we finally made it to land once again after some quite bouncy weather. Apparently, according to the more seasoned travellers, this has been much rougher than usual. Indeed, I suspect that we have had the pleasure of the weather that has now hit the UK. The sea legs seem to have been working better, however, which is good, though we are still all weaving our way down the corridors like a groups of inebriates after a particularly good night out. All fine, though my legs are getting a bit tired from bracing against the roll of the ship, though that is probably good for them. I have even visited the gym a few times so we are heading in the right direction. Mind you, it is a bit of a battle against the food that is tempting us.

So, Bermuda. We have been here before, though this time we docked at the Royal Naval Dockyard on the western tip of the island (islands?), rather than the capital, Hamilton. Having more or less ‘done’ the island on our last visit, we decided just to have a wander round the very impressive Dockyard.

A bit of history…… of course. Bermuda was uninhabited and though there were a few shipwrecked sailors at times, they spent most of their efforts trying to get off. However, in 1612 an expedition to colonise the island set off from England and successfully established a settlement. It is not a big area, but tobacco became a profitable crop, produced by indentured white workers initially and then black slaves. 1833 saw emancipation and the island today numbers about 52,000 souls. It is staggeringly expensive!! $7 for a postcard!! Very lovely, but very pricey. You can only buy property, I believe, if you were born here, though you can rent it.

The Royal Naval Dockyard was constructed from 1809 onwards with much of it built in the 1850s. It is now housing shops, galleries and the National Museum of Bermuda. Val and I had a look around the former, then purchased a couple of very pricey hot drinks at a cafe in order to use their rather weak Wi-Fi, which at least enabled us to publish the last blog. I then went with Val back to the ship and then ventured out again to have a look at the Museum. This was quite good, though much of it featured the defence of the island, but there was some interesting information on slavery, shipwrecks and the development of the island. I will let the photos do the talking….

One extra, that I was not expecting from the museum was Dolphin Quest, where they have a number of dolphins in pools. Not sure the purpose, but mostly research, I believe. Very cute, though!!

Monday – Tuesday, 16th – 17th January, 2023

Back to the sea day routines, which are getting pretty established now. We have become part of a quiz team that meets at 10pm after the show and have even won a couple of times. Oh yes, the number of times ‘blood’ is mentioned in Macbeth – 42. I haven’t seen anyone’s suggestions, but might in our next port, Nassau, Wi-Fi willing.

Val’s neck and shoulder is still bothering her after her fall, so we might end up seeing someone with a bit more equipment in Colon, Panama. more on this in due course. She is battling on, but is is a bit disruptive at night. We are still dancing and doing lots of activities – just keep taking the pills!! We had a very silly evening yesterday when they had a Silent Disco. For the initiated, this involves wearing headsets with the music coming through them just for you to dance and sing to. There were 3 channels to choose from, so imagine a dance floor with about 20 people on it all dancing to 3 different songs and singing, largely out of tune, when no one else can hear the music. It looked like a scene from ‘One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest’!!

Wednesday, 18th January, 2023

Writing this in Nassau at the Giotto Cafe near the old Straw Market, which rather pleasingly still has quite a lot of handbags made of straw. The sun is shining and it is 24 degrees!! Lovely. More about the Bahamas on our next post, but time to take advantage of the Wi-Fi and publish this.