May 27, 2022 Bermuda day #2

Our first full day in Bermuda, which is Bermuda Day with a parade in Hamilton, the capital. Bermuda Day, formerly on May 24, is now celebrated the last Friday in May and celebrates the beginning of summer and it is believed to be warm enough to start swimming in the ocean.

The temperature before breakfast was 22°C, windy and a few scattered clouds. We climbed the stairs to Deck 10 Oceanview Café, the buffet. After breakfast we walked to the nearby Bermuda National Museum, which was closed for the holiday. Plan B - go for a walk. The ferry service to Hamilton and St. George’s, the old capital city at the other end of the island, was reduced today due to the holiday. The bus service was quite reduced, we only saw one bus on our 90 minute walk. Our walk was along yesterday’s bus route which was on Bermuda’s main road. Along the way was the old inner gate to the dockyards dedicated to Queen Victoria in 1842. There was the royal crest on one side. The road to Somerset, part way to Hamilton is just one narrow lane each way, with some sidewalks and grass at the edge. The walls of the houses are brightly coloured. The houses and out buildings have terraced roofs and are painted white which is renewed every three years. This is the fresh water collection system for houses that collects the rain water and stores it in tanks for domestic consumption – no long showers since water conservation is important where there are no rivers or streams. There is a municipal water supply for a cost. We passed the Breath of Life ministries cemetery. At 2.8 km we stopped at a bus shelter in the shade, but with a nice breeze blowing and sorted yesterday’s pictures for uploading. We walked back taking a side street and then the main road.

Back at the Dockyards, we stopped at the Information Center to use the Wi-Fi to upload yesterday’s photos. The ship’s Wi-Fi did not allow even one photo to upload when Larry tried. It only took 41 minutes to upload 27 pictures. Then it was time for a quick lunch on Deck 10’s Oceanview Café before meeting our tour group of about 50 for a small boat cruise “Famous Houses and Hideaways” on the boat "Excellence". We only had to cross the pier to arrive at the tour boat. Most of the first people to board the boat chose the open upper deck covered by a canopy, we selected seats in the lower deck which featured most of its windows open to the breeze. Our skipper was Damien, the steward was Matese and the guide was Robert. Robert was quite entertaining with his descriptions and stories. There was a bar onboard which featured the Bermudian drink “Dark & Stormy”, a mixture of Bermuda dark rum and ginger beer. Robert explained that Bermuda is an archipelago of 180 islands, consisting of nine parishes. There are seven main islands forming an apostrophe shape. The closest mainland is Cape Harris, North Carolina, well over 500 miles west. When the Spanish encountered Bermuda they left pigs, on what became known as Hog Island, as a food source for any shipwrecked sailors. There was even a coin called the Hog Penny. In 1609 pilgrims destined for Jamestown were caught in a hurricane which destroyed their ships. They were stranded for 10 months here while they built new ships to continue the voyage to Jamestown. One of the first bays named was Spanish Point which was colonized in 1609. The houses in Bermuda are built to withstand hurricanes as there is no place to flee. The walls are constructed with cement blocks. The first house on the water tour was a long white two storey built in typical Bermudian style. A large yellow waterfront house is owned by the Butterfield family who started many generations ago as privateers and graduated to owners of a bank and other legitimate businesses. We passed a house with orange buoys on its dock which was where John Lennon composed his Double Fantasy album. Further along was a pink house originally built by the owner of the grocery chain Piggley-Wiggley. Next we circled the island once used by the British Navy to store ammunition. The machinery for unloading the ammunition is still visible. We saw the little two chimneyed small cottage where Mark Twain liked to write. Another two storey pink house, with four chimneys, is one of many owned by the Gibsons, a banking family. We arrived in Hamilton, the capital of Bermuda, as the Bermuda Day parade was happening. People lined the street and balconies of the buildings. The Fairmont Princess Hotel in a sprawling pink building with its own marina. Originally it was built after Queen Victoria’s daughter, Princess Louise, visited Bermuda over 150 years ago. It has recently been renovated by the billionaire brothers Andrew and Alex Green. Hamilton has the highest cost of living in the world, because everything has to be imported. The parliament building in Hamilton is built a street away from the waterfront. It is coral coloured and has two towers. Buildings cannot be higher than the Hamilton cathedral towers which are a little taller than those on the parliament buildings. Also, Robert said that the price for a gallon of gasoline in Bermuda is $10 = almost $4 Canadian per litre. Next was a dark pink two storey house which is one of the original homes built in 1629. There was a large yellow two storey house is known as Paget Hall. The final house on the tour was pink and has had many well-known owners including for many years Charlie Chaplin and his family of eight children, as well as Noel Coward and Eugene O’Neil. It was a very pleasant two hour voyage in the least crowded level of the boat while we enjoyed the Dark and Stormy beverage. Returning to the ship, passengers need to have photo ID, usually driver’s licenses since the passport is not necessary, and your Seapass card plus properly wearing a face mask to enter the Customs House where there is a security check. Once on the dockside, you pass a welcome kiosk where Celebrity has cold lemonade or water and cool face clothes. Then at the gangplank to the ship, your Seapass card is checked and once onboard there is airport style security and an X-ray machine to check your bags and backpacks. Once through security there is a crew member offering sanitizer before you go to your cabin. The ship boarding part is much the same as the pre-pandemic protocol. We passed the rest of the afternoon on the starboard side Deck 4 on lounge chairs in the shade sipping Iglus, which are similar to Tim Hortons Iced Cappuccinos, but better. We worked on sorting today’s photos and writing the blog. Then Larry got off the ship to go the Information Centre to use the Wi-Fi zone to upload today’s photos before dinner which only took 35 minutes.

The Ocean Beat band was not playing in the Rendez-vous Lounge until 5:30 which is when the Early Dinner seating starts, so we did not dance before dinner and they had another set at 6:30 while we were finishing our dessert & coffee and then were going to the 7 p.m. theatre show.

After dinner, we watched the second show of Caroles Kings. It was a substitute for NYS3: Today’s Hits – Live! The MC joked when he announced tomorrow’s theatre production, the rescheduled production show, “Life” that he was not sure if there would a performance or not.

Total steps 16, 063