Saturday, 1 July 2017
At Sea — Sargasso Sea
Stats @ Ship’s Time 9:40p (ADT) … UTC 00:40a (2 July)
Temp: 79.7F (26.5C)
Position: 32.39.96N / 65.57.43W
Wherever you go becomes part of you somehow.
~ Anita Desai ~
Today we turned the calendar from June to July. What does that mean? It means that in five more days — closer to four now that we are nearly at the end of the first day of the new month — we will be leaving our home away from home. To paraphrase Scarlett O’Hara, “I’ll think about it tomorrow,”… or at least, after I write about today.
We had another great day in St George, Bermuda … in some ways better than yesterday, because it didn’t seem as hot. What made the difference was that we spent the day mostly in the shade on the beach or in the water where the heat from the sun didn’t bother us as much.
Peaceful early morning view of the harbor from the veranda.
We were up around 6:45a to have breakfast with the Gelmans at the Terrace Café when it opened at 7:30a. We basically ate and ran as the four of us wanted to get to Tobacco Bay Beach as early as possible.
The route to the beach is uphill part of the way … downhill the rest of the way … only the portion in town is flat. This was not optimum for Boris, who was on crutches today. We wanted to get to Tobacco Bay before the crowds anyway, so we decided to hop in a cab. Easier said than done. First off, King’s Square was blocked off to traffic to prepare for a Portuguese heritage festival. No problem … we walked to York Street. Surely we could hail a cab from there. Turns out there were no taxis around at 8:30a. The only one we did see didn’t even slow down when we tried to hail it. Luckily, a local man stopped and agreed to drive us to Tobacco Bay even though he had just left from there. So we piled into his small car and were at the beach a few short minutes later. We offered to pay him a little something for going out of his way for us, but he wouldn’t hear of it.
The rather small stretch of sand was deserted at that early hour. We rented a couple of chairs with flip-up awnings — a little pricey at USD $20 each — and asked that they be placed under the only shade tree on the beach … at least until the sun moved and that shade disappeared.
A deserted beach on a blue-sky day … perfect!
That done, Mui and I wandered around and took some photos. Then we all headed into the water — yes, even I went in. The tide was out, so the water was very shallow … and nicely warmed by the sun. The gradients of aqua and blue were very inviting and the water was incredibly clear. I was able to walk almost all the way across the bay before the water became too deep for me to stand. Once I had enough of being in the water, I made myself comfortable on the rented chaise lounge and read for a while. That set the routine for my beach-time. The rest of our little party were more in the water than out of it … snorkeling part of the time, although I don’t think they saw much in the way of fish or coral.
View through the window.
The rugged rock formations add character to the scenery.
By mid-morning the place was hopping — locals, fellow-shipmates, and even some of the crew joined us. I’m glad we got there early and enjoyed a couple of quiet hours.
When out of the water, we all seek shade.
Around noon we packed up to return to the ship. The bar at Tobacco Bay called for a cab, but no one picked up the phone. Luckily, another local — a gypsy taxi of sorts — came by and said he’d take us all the way to the cruise terminal for USD $3/person — good deal.
Our afternoon on the ship was a quiet one. After lunch with the Gelmans at the Terrace Café, I headed to the Deck 5 promenade to sit in the shade … which was sadly lacking on the veranda. Following a peaceful couple of hours, I returned to the cabin for the 4:00p sailaway. Even though the veranda was in the sun, we stayed there and I took a few photos until we passed out of The Cut to begin the voyage back to the USA.
White-washed terraced roofs are an iconic element of Bermudian architecture.
They are designed to channel rainwater for storage. To the right of the swim
platform is Wahoo … where we had dinner last night. To the right of the
tower in the back is St Peter’s Church, which we visited yesterday.
More of Bermuda’s colorful buildings. the Unfinished Church peeks out from behind them.
Local kids enjoying a Saturday swim at the Hen Island Light.
Through The Cut … bye bye Bermuda!
Having completed its escort duty, the tug hangs back and bids us farewell.
Back in the Atlantic proper, I sat out on the veranda where I now had shade and polished up a blog post or two before it was time to get ready for dinner in the Grand Dining Room. There’s nothing new about us dining with the Gelmans and the Sweets, but this time we were being hosted … by Jennifer Faust, the O Club Ambassador, and Diego Colette, the ship’s Concierge. We met Jennifer on our first Oceania cruise a few years ago. We consider her a good friend … as we do Diego, who has taken good care of us on this cruise. It was a pleasant evening with good food, great conversation, and lots of humor.
An evening of camaraderie wraps up our visit to Bermuda as we head back to the US.
The official itinerary for this cruise has just one day at sea. But we don’t arrive back in the US until 6:00p the day after. From my perspective, that means that we have two days at sea. Karen delivered the big suitcases that we had handed over for storage back in January. Hint, hint … disembarkation is not far off. Sigh! I guess I have to start thinking about leaving Insignia whether I want to or not. At least some of our time at sea these next two days will have to be used to finish packing all but the few things we will need until we reach Miami. The countdown proceeds in earnest now.
Gaining an hour overnight! Yay!
© 2004-2018 All rights reserved by Erin Erkun.
Bermuda looks incredibly charming with the lovely pastel houses and white roofs. And that water. Begin with water, end with water. I remember so many months ago when you were posting about the South Pacific and all that amazing water, even decided to go back and look at the photos again. This has been an incredible journey, for you and Mui, but also for those of us who have had the chance to read along and only imagine what six months at sea might feel like. Love that last photo, everyone looks so happy and relaxed.
ReplyDeleteAnd here I am reading your post about Bermuda (and their white-washed roofs)and you're now home and planning other journeys (as are we). What a marvelous adventure you guys had winding your way around the world, almost all of it good. Thanks for carrying us in your pocket on this cruise ... it's been fun.
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