May 26, 2022 Bermuda day #1

We were scheduled to arrive at the King's Wharf, Royal Navy Dockyards in Bermuda at 11a.m., however, Carnival’s ship Legend was still docked in our berth. One possibility for it still being docked is that at least one passenger had returned late or was not on board and the crew had to check on the person(s) whereabouts.

Bermuda is a British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean over 1,400 kilometres (or 768 nautical miles) east of South Carolina. It is a tiny island, only 54 square kilometres in area. It is named after Juan de Bermûdez who, in 1505, claimed the island for Spain. A few years later, it was claimed for England and has been their overseas territory ever since.

Bermuda Shorts have their origin here when, after World War Two, there was a shortage of fabric so two banks contacted a tailor to create shorts based on the British military design for business attire.

High temperature for the three-day stay in Bermuda averages about 77°F (25°C).

All guests who are fully vaccinated, which is 99.75% of guests, (there are a few children under 5) may go ashore, but must wear face masks while visiting Bermuda except for eating and drinking. This was made quite clear in the ship’s daily program. Vaccination rate for the crew is 99.9% who have two vaccine doses and a booster plus they all wear N95 face masks.

There are over 550 Elite passengers (those with over 300 points), over 170 Elite Plus passengers (those with over 750 points), and about a dozen at Zenith status (those with over 3,000 points). Half of those were invited to view the sailing into the Royal Naval Dockyards from the Helipad, while the other half will be invited to the sail away in two days. While watching the approach, we chatted with a couple from near London, England and another couple from southern Ontario. On the May long weekend the Sudbury Ottawa/Gatineau area had a storm that knocked out power to more than 125,000 customers for more than a day. We also had a nice conversation with Reza, who is a pool attendant from Indonesia, from an island near Jakarta.

When our ship was within sight of our berth at the Bermuda's Royal Naval Dockyard, the Carnival Legend was still there. We had to wait 20 minutes for the Legend to maneuver out to sea. Then it took another 30 minutes to dock and have port officials to authorize to ship to disembark passengers. We grabbed a quick lunch on Deck 10, before leaving the ship. All passengers had to wear face masks to pass through the Bermuda Customs House and indoors or on busses while in Bermuda. After getting a map and bus tokens, we bussed to the Somerset Police Station bus stop, just under four kilometres away, which is at the western end of the old Bermuda Railway Trail on the east perimeter of the Springfield & Gilbert Nature Reserve. There was no one else around, the birds were singing and five meter high flowering bushes lined the 3.5 km route that we walked before detouring. We stopped to admire a sculpture titled “Connections, the Past, Present & Future” by artist Nicky Hurret. She also accompanied it with a poem.

Further along the trail we detoured uphill on a narrow dirt path for about half a kilometre to Fort Scaur Park. It is the highest point on Somerset Island. It was built by the British in the mid 1800s, as defence against possible American threats, but a few years later the Civil War erupted and the fort was not needed. In the distance we could see the two ships at the Royal Naval Dockyards. Summit was the smaller of the two. The other ship, Norwegian Joy, had arrived yesterday and leaves tomorrow. It is double the size of our ship.

We followed the access road back to the narrow two lane main road with very little room to walk. However, we walked about one kilometre before finding a street to take us back to the old railway trail. It ended at a point where there used to be a railroad bridge which now only the piers are standing in the water of the small cove. We walked a few meters to the road bridge and walked a bit further on sidewalk to find the blue pole on the other side of the road that was the bus stop for buses going to the Royal Naval Dockyard. The total distance for the walk was 4.95 km. Total cost for our two bus rides was $11. Bermuda money is on par with the American dollar.

Once back at the Royal Naval Dockyards, we looked at the shops in the Clocktower Mall and then went to the old fort and found a pub within it called the Frog and Onion Pub, which had lots of character. While inside the occasional sparrow would fly in hop under the tables and then fly out again. We had drinks. The local porter and stout were very good, so was my ginger ale. Larry took advantage of a somewhat faster Wi-Fi to upload photos from the past three days. We returned to the ship in time for our 5:30 p.m. reservation for dinner. After dinner we went to the show featuring pianist Jason Lyle Black.

The Facebook group for this cruise had a gathering scheduled after 9 p.m. in the Rendez-vous Lounge where the Ocean Beat band was playing. We went and ordered one drink which lasted the whole 45 minute set since the band was playing very good tunes for dancing. There was sometimes another couple on the dance floor which could hold maybe seven couples - navigating well. At the end of the day our total steps were 16,555 which is the equivalent of over 11 km.