May 28, 2022 Bermuda day #3

Today is the third day in Bermuda with a 2 p.m. departure. Partly cloudy this morning, but lots of sunny breaks. We had breakfast in the Tuscan restaurant which is not as busy as the main dining room or Oceanview buffet. We were off the ship by 9 a.m. into a brisk wind and 23°C. We went for a walk around the dockyard to wait for the 9:30 a.m. opening of the National Museum of Bermuda. We noticed a row of mailboxes which said “U.S. Mail” , which we thought was the closest place for Bermuda to get its mail. At the Dockyards we did not see any of the British red post boxes, but we saw many decommissioned British telephone booths. The walk was just under two kilometres. The admission to the National Museum of Bermuda was just $12 for seniors (about $15 Cdn). The museum covered the history of the archipelago for the past 500 years. The clock on the Boat Loft chimed every fifteen minutes during our visit.

We enjoyed the history throughout the old Dockyard fortress Keep. Bermuda, along with Australia and Tasmania, was the destination of British prisoners sentenced to “transportation”, an alternative to capital punishment, after the New England colonies declared their independence from Britain in 1776 and were acknowledged as independent from Britain in 1783. The prisoners provided expendable labour in the development of the colonies. The dockyards construction began in 1809. It functioned as a place to repair ships, provision them, replace armaments and gunpowder on the Royal Navy ships. Once completed, the North America & West Indies Royal Navy headquarters were moved here from Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1819. Bermuda was halfway between Halifax and the West Indies and a better location to protect Britain’s North Atlantic sea routes and monitor the United States navy.

From the ramparts facing the sea we could see the “Fun Zone” below where there was a miniature golf course and a man made beach with hundreds of blue lounge chairs, gradually filling with people. The Carnival Magic had arrived last night so their passengers were discovering the beach which was less than a ten minute walk from Heritage Wharf and a few minutes further from our berth at King’s Wharf. The water was clear and did not look too deep. There were some people snorkelling. Further along the Northwest ramparts were some restored cannons including a ten inch RML (Rifled Muzzle Loader) on a replica 18 ton Garrison Carriage produced in 2014. We took a photo showing the Summit in the background with the flags of Bermuda, Britain, Canada, USA and an unknown blue & white flag flying outside the Commissioner’s House.

Commissioner’s House was constructed in the 1820s. It was the world's first residence using prefabricated cast-iron for its structural two storey framework. There was a room describing the Slave Trade of African people. Britain and the Unites Sates abolished slave trading from other countries in 1809 with other countries following through to 1824. Bermuda and Antigua granted immediate freedom to slaves on August 1, 1834, the U.S in 1865 and Cuba & Brazil in the 1880s. In another room the displays provided information about sailing. There is a 635 mile biennial Newport Bermuda Race for sailing boats which was established in 1906. It is tricky due to having to calculate the effects of the Gulf Stream although GPS helps a lot now. It ends at St. David’s Lighthouse near the old capital of St. George’s. Another room told of the Portuguese immigrants who came from the Azores. Azores derives from the word açore meaning “bird of prey”. Today one quarter of the Bermuda population traces its roots to Portugal. Although the Spanish and Portuguese were aware of Bermuda for over 100 years before the British settled in 1612, it had no natural resources and was not important to them. Spain sent Estevâo Gomes to survey Bermuda in 1525, but no original map survives. We hope to visit the Azores in October. It is 800 miles west of Portugal and was settled in 1432. The displays in another interesting room portrayed the capture of the Unterseeboote 505 (U-505) by the Americans off Cape Verde island, which is off the coast of western Africa, on June 4,1944. It was kept secret and once the crew was evacuated after unsuccessfully trying to scuttle the U-boat as their captain was unconscious and the crew did not know about the explosives, they just knew to open the sea valve. Also captured were two Enigma machines and German code books, which assisted in later sea battles. The American ship brought the U-boat to Bermuda in secret and all personal were sworn to secrecy until nine days after Germany surrendered in May 1945 when the Germans were notified of the capture. There was also a boat loft of various old sailing hulls of race winning boats in the Ordinance House. The last exhibition was in the Queen’s Exhibition Hall which houses “Shipwreck Island: Sunken Clues to Bermuda’s Past”. Bermuda is surrounded by coral reefs that make navigating to land difficult. There are several hundred shipwrecks around the reefs. We spent over 2 ½ hours at the museum until partly cloudy skies and a noon temperature of 26°C. We used the GPS device that we usually use for cycling to track the ship’s exit from King’s Wharf this afternoon.

We had lunch in the main dining lower section on Deck 4 where we sat close enough to talk to one table of two a couple from Kingston, Ontario and a daughter and mother from Indiana. At 1:30 the captain’s announcement thanked everyone for returning to the ship on time. However shortly after there was an announcement for someone to let security know that they had boarded the ship. That got us curious so we went out to the starboard side of Deck 4 promenade to watch for the last person who was missing from the ship. On the pier were two ship’s officers, two security officers and a crew member waiting to lift the gangway. We also saw two of the Bermuda Customs team waiting. The ship’s horn blew at 10 minutes to 2 p.m. and five minutes later. Then 15 minutes passed and we saw some of the ropes being lifted from the bollards, then the ship’s staff returning to the ship and the gangway pulled into the ship - no one running to the ship at the last minute. The final ropes were released and the ship pulled away parallel to the pier using its thrusters. The ship was just less than 20 minutes late leaving King’s Wharf. We spent the journey through the reefs surrounding Bermuda on Deck 11 in a shaded cubicle with a pergola above, and basked in the warm wind sipping cold Iglus. I had the GPS device with me to see the route the ship took through the coral reefs.

After dinner we watched the big production show by the cast of 12 dancers, singers and acrobats, called “Life”. Then went to the Rendez-vous where some of the Facebook group were meeting.

Today’s steps 12, 364