Twice Twenty-One Miles of Bermuda

Today we drove from the tip of the fish-hook on the left all the way to the other end of Bermuda and back again

Map of Bermuda at Gibbs Lighthouse

10 June 2019

We went up to the Great Gatsby dining room and I had the RCCI version of huevos rancheros.

Huervos rancheros

This consisted of a tortilla with beans, avocado and rice on it and two fried eggs on top of that. I like Carnival's version better.

We went to morning trivia. We got 11 right - we did not know Walt Disney's middle name (Elias) or Marco Polo's home town (I knew it was Italy but not that it was Venice) and we should have known the Hungarian word for pepper (paprika) but we did not. They said that the Prince rescued Cinderella and we all thought it was the fairy godmother.

There was no Cruise Critics meeting on this cruise, but we had to leave at 10:30 to go to the "Top Tier" party - there were more staff there than passengers. They gave some guy that worked there a 20 year pin. All the heads of the departments introduced themselves and we could have had free drinks.

I wanted to be up on the top deck or the Promenade deck when we came in which we were scheduled to do at 2. I thought we might be early and we were. My oldest child and I had a discussion about whether the Captain took the long way around in October. I said we left from the same place in Baltimore, and we did not get to the dock until 4 (well we were scheduled for 4 and we would have docked at 4 if the Disney ship hadn't been late leaving). And this time we left Baltimore and got to the dock by one. I said I did not think the distance had changed. She didn't argue with me any more but I am not sure she was convinced.

Son-in-law and daughter

Since I didn't want to eat in the Windjammer, we ate with our daughter's family in the Great Gatsby.

Bob studying the menu at lunch

I persuaded them to have the chopped salad from the buffet, but we were too far from the buffet for me to get there easily with the scooter, so I had something from the main menu (I can't remember what it was, but I didn't care much for it).

My lunch

Bob had salmon. Then I had

Brazo de Mercedes

for dessert. This was a pastry roll filled with cream sauce sort of like a round Mexican eclair. It was good.

We were out on the promenade deck before 1:00 watching them come into the dock.

Calico Jack's pirate ship

Then they said that only those people with excursions could get off - the ship was not cleared for non-excursion people to get off. That was ridiculous.

Taxis and buses waiting for passengers

I got away from them and went ashore, but then we had to wait for our daughter's family to be freed to join us. Our daughter with the bike also had to wait. The other two couples were on the Crystal Caves excursion so they could get off with the rest of the excursion people.

I had booked a 5 hour van tour of the island with Lewis Foggo ($70/hour) - we have had a tour with him before. We had a private tour in 2011 with Duke, but Duke died before the next time we went so in 2013 we went with Lewis and did a dozen cemeteries - Lewis told Bill that some of the cemeteries we went to, he had not know were there. So last October when I went to Bermuda with my sister, I did a tour with Lewis, and we did one with him this time too.

Motorcycle on the other side of the road

Mangrove Bay

Boat pulled up on shore with sun graphic on the bow (upside down)

Moon gate at Cambridge resort

He showed us the blue waters (we saw a turtle)

Blue sky, blue water

Turtle feeding

Old railroad bridge abutments - ‘Turtle Alert’ sign advising boaters to slow down in areas where heavy boating activity and turtle foraging overlap

and St. James church

St James Church

He took us to a blue collar area with modest houses and asked us how much we thought the houses would sell for? I guessed $350K, and our daughter guessed $120K and Bob guessed the highest ($1 million) and he was right.

Blue collar area house

Then we went to Fort Scaur. I had tried to do this fort with my sister and I knew the scooter couldn't do it so I stayed in the van. The rest of them got out and went up the hill for a view

Lewis taking a photo of our daughter's family

Water catchment area

and then climbed around on the fort.

Sign saying you are welcome to use the fort for a picnic

Fort Scaur

History of Fort Scaur

Fort Scaur has a disappearing gun - when we went to Fort Monroe in 2000 we saw the old movie of how the disappearing gun works. It's located below the ramparts and the soldiers load it, and then it is hoisted up to the top of the wall and fired and the comes back down to be loaded. It means the people doing the loading are not as exposed

Moncrieff Disappearing Gun Mount

64 pounder Rifled Muzzle Loader Gun

Early Bermuda Weather Stone

We saw some of the little two person electric cars which are the only kind of cars you can rent in Bermuda.

Electric rental car for 2

We stopped at the smallest bridge and Lewis had some bread to feed the fish. He said the bridge is no longer operational because it stopped traffic too long.

Somerset Bridge

Feeding the fish at the Somerset drawbridge

Next we went up to Gibbs lighthouse. I got out here.

Gibbs Lighthouse

Keep Bermuda Beautiful trash can

View from above

Cruise ships from Gibbs lighthouse

Water catchment at Gibbs Lighthouse

Daughter's family at Gibbs lighthouse

Sign at Gibbs Lighthouse pointing the way down the stairs to the #7 bus

Stairs from Gibbs Lighthouse down to the bus

Gibbs Lighthouse

Flags spell out GIBS L H

Bob was able to read the signal flags which spelled out G.I.B.B.S.L.H. (Gibbs Light House). Our son-in-law saw our daughter with her bicycle on the railroad trail next to the road, and waved. She has a camera on her bike so she posted some video of it later - she met some school children and they wanted her to hi-five them. She managed that without falling off.

He took them to Hamilton and they got out and walked around but I don't think they were too impressed,

City Hall in Hamilton

After we saw the buildings like the City Hall, the Perot Post Office and the Library,

Central bus station in Hamilton

Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity

He took us to the more modest parts of town. We drove through the Flats

Fish in the Flats

BAMZ (Bermuda Aquarium Museum and Zoo) with a fish sculpture out front made from roof tiles

and then we went out to St. George.

Statue of Sir George Somers

Street in St. George

Unfortunately, everything in St. George was closed - St. Peters and the Town Hall and the Historic Society House were all closed.

Town hall in St. George

St Peter's sign - open Monday to Friday 10 to 4

St Peters with daughter's family

I knew I could not get up the steps to St. Peters, but I also knew that I could go in the back. I did not know the church was closed. So I scootered around the back and through the cemetery

Grave of Thomas J. Sterling, Surgeon. Died 1846 on board the mail Boat Roseway off St. George Aged 32 years

John Till 1781-1829

and took a photo from the top of the steps

Bob taking a photo of St Peters

St Peters with me peeking around the corner

When I figured out that it was not open, I went around to the Historical Society Museum, but that wasn't open either.

St George's Historical Society Museum Welcoming Arms Stairs

Buckingham and the Old State House

Bermuda National Trust Museum

They went in the White Horse and tried a Rum Swizzle which my son-in-law liked but my daughter and granddaughter did not care for the rum in it.

White horse tavern

Our granddaughter got herself a custom lemonade. which she liked. We went out to Ft. St. Catherine via the

Unfinished Church

Lewis said that this church was to replace St. Peters, but they were building the cathedral in town and there was a fire. So they took the money that was for this church and rebuilt the cathedral - they decided that St. Peters was 'good enough'

Tobacco Bay

We went by the huge horrible hotel which was bigger than it was in October when I was here. I didn't take a photo of it. We saw the memorial to the Sea Venture (the original boat that was shipwrecked) which I had not seen before.

Memorial to the Sea Venture

Lewis said that the Sea Venture was taking on water and they were bailing 24/7 to stay afloat, so that when they came to Bermuda, they deliberately beached the ship. They were able to get everyone and all the provisions and things like the mast and spars and rigging off the ship. Having the mast and spars would definitely have helped them in building a new ship so they could get off the island.

We went back to the ship along the south shore so our youngest granddaughter could see the pink sand beaches. She didn't want to climb down to the beach and she wasn't that impressed.

Pink sand beach from the road

Although I said Bob should sit back with me, our daughter was sitting in the back with me. I think the twists and turns in the road were starting to give her a problem.

We got held up for about a half hour by an accident - a tourist who ran his moped into a car and got a bunch of road rash. Lewis said he would not charge us for that time. He said no Americans should rent scooters because they were not accustomed to driving on the left. But our daughter and son-in-law who have toured in the US on their motorcycles and they also lived three years in Okinawa where they drive on the left said that they were going to come back to Bermuda (on an airplane) and rent scooters and they did not think they would have any problem.

The other two couples had an evening catamaran sail but they were back in time for dinner

At dinner I had the

Short Ribs

(which I had before and knew would be good) and for dessert.

Lemon tart

I took a photo of this dessert but neglected to make a note of what it was called

A dessert on the menu which I didn't get