Day one, March 29th: Our itinerary script, that I had created showed "Scenic Southern Shores" as the excursion for the day. I must have mis-copied as the "Destination Services" ticket showed it as day 2, so we were off on a "Premier Glass Bottom Boat Cruise"
on day 1!
On the glass bottom boat looking back up at our ship, I've marked where our cabin is. We have a really nice large balcony which we have yet to use... the furniture is tied down because of the seas. . . maybe it will be calmer out of Funchal, they'll untie the furniture and set it up and we'll be able to use!!!
The Glass Bottom Boat took us out to a reef, Bermuda is all coral, which has been man-enhanced by a scuttled (1896) gunboat, the HMS Vixen. The bow sticks up above the water so it is pretty easy for boaters and divers to find.
Note the Australian pines on the small island beyond the ship. They are quite sparse now. They had been green and lush until Hurricane Nicole swept thru in October 2016.
Once we were over the reef area all eyes turned toward the glass bottom to watch the reef and the fish.
It was nigh on noon, thus the lighting was not great for photos! There was lots of colorful fan coral, and many other types and, on the sandy bottom, lots of sea cucumbers, no, not the edible kind!
Tom has a perfect viewing spot!!
One of the purple fan coral and a couple of fish swimming by!
We soon learned why fish we always there when a boat was nearby; the crew brought out a couple of buckets of bread for the guests to toss to the fish: FEEDING FRENZY!!
On our way back to the dock, we passed the 9 Beaches Resort, cottages built on stilts in or over the water...fascinatingly, they survived the destructive Nicole!
Lots of catamaran sailboats and support boats in the surrounding bay out practicing for the America's Cup being held in Bermuda in late May - Early June this year!
Views of downtown Hamilton from across the little bay. The beautiful old poincianas are gone and there are many more buildings. In the picture on the left, you can see a small cruise ship docked where, in the 80's it was the only docking area. None of today's ships can even get in there.
Even semi-high rise buildings are going up to support the growing businesses and population.
Albeit still beautiful and clean, it has truly grown.
Now there are far more cars than motor scooters!
A mosaic on the sidewalk in front of Gosling Rum Company... the bottles have a copy on their labels!
A beautiful little park in the middle of Hamilton business center.
It was not a very sunny day so you can't see the glorious beauty of the orange and purple pansies.
By a little fish pond, a couple enjoys the beautiful park surrounding them. They looked more like locals than tourists.
This old tree totally fascinated me! The old pruning scars and the meandering roots had shaped themselves into what looked like an old man melting into the surrounding earth!
There were lots of birds merrily chirping as they went about their tasks... what a happy place! This little guy was guarding a nest!
Seen in the window of a t-shirt store, this could easily be changed to include Florida!!
Bermuda still uses the old British style post boxes! They had to put a sign on it to remind folks it is still in use and NOT a trash bin!
This little station used to be manned (or womanned!) by a uniformed officer directing traffic. No more! It now stands as a symbol of Bermuda of yore.
This little shop carried all kinds of souvenirs for the upcoming America's Cup!
The Hamilton ferry stop has not changed at all. When we were here before, we would board the ferry at the Somerset Bridge and ride with the locals on their way to work. We would have breakfast at a place on Front Street then either walk back or take the ferry back from here. Ahhhh, to be able to walk that far again!
The City Hall with the weather vane at the top of the tower has not changed!
Driving along the rocky south coast that we once walked! The famous pink beaches are further to the east.
A trip up Gibbs Hill to the Lighthouse.... again hard to believe we could have walked up the winding road that distance a mere 30 years ago!!
The lighthouse, made of cast iron, was built by the British in 1844 and still today stands as a working lighthouse!!
The view from the top of the hill was truly awesome!
Beautiful Bermuda! Much more populous than we remembered but still lots of green space and beautiful!!
In our van, there were 6 of us plus the driver. Somehow, I managed to get the open front seat!! My seat was where in the US, the driver would have been!! It did take some getting used to!
The seat was great to have for taking pictures and I managed to almost capture our favorite little draw bridge, the Somerset Bridge, now closed and sadly in the process of being sealed. It was at one time, the smallest working drawbridge in the world.
On the glass bottom boat looking back up at our ship, I've marked where our cabin is. We have a really nice large balcony which we have yet to use... the furniture is tied down because of the seas. . . maybe it will be calmer out of Funchal, they'll untie the furniture and set it up and we'll be able to use!!!
Note the Australian pines on the small island beyond the ship. They are quite sparse now. They had been green and lush until Hurricane Nicole swept thru in October 2016.
Once we were over the reef area all eyes turned toward the glass bottom to watch the reef and the fish.
It was nigh on noon, thus the lighting was not great for photos! There was lots of colorful fan coral, and many other types and, on the sandy bottom, lots of sea cucumbers, no, not the edible kind!
Tom has a perfect viewing spot!!
On our way back to the dock, we passed the 9 Beaches Resort, cottages built on stilts in or over the water...fascinatingly, they survived the destructive Nicole!
Lots of catamaran sailboats and support boats in the surrounding bay out practicing for the America's Cup being held in Bermuda in late May - Early June this year!
We were soon back to the dockyards where our ship, the one on the left was waiting for us. Behind us was sister company Oceania's Marina. We would stay the night but the Marina would leave that evening.
Day two, March 30th:
The shore excursion today was "Scenic Southern Shores". We were looking forward to this one just to see if anything would be recognizable from our trip there in 1987, 30 years ago now!!
Views of downtown Hamilton from across the little bay. The beautiful old poincianas are gone and there are many more buildings. In the picture on the left, you can see a small cruise ship docked where, in the 80's it was the only docking area. None of today's ships can even get in there.
Albeit still beautiful and clean, it has truly grown.
A mosaic on the sidewalk in front of Gosling Rum Company... the bottles have a copy on their labels!A beautiful little park in the middle of Hamilton business center.
By a little fish pond, a couple enjoys the beautiful park surrounding them. They looked more like locals than tourists.
This old tree totally fascinated me! The old pruning scars and the meandering roots had shaped themselves into what looked like an old man melting into the surrounding earth!
There were lots of birds merrily chirping as they went about their tasks... what a happy place! This little guy was guarding a nest!
Seen in the window of a t-shirt store, this could easily be changed to include Florida!!
Bermuda still uses the old British style post boxes! They had to put a sign on it to remind folks it is still in use and NOT a trash bin! |
| Found in a shop window! |
This little station used to be manned (or womanned!) by a uniformed officer directing traffic. No more! It now stands as a symbol of Bermuda of yore.
This little shop carried all kinds of souvenirs for the upcoming America's Cup!
The Hamilton ferry stop has not changed at all. When we were here before, we would board the ferry at the Somerset Bridge and ride with the locals on their way to work. We would have breakfast at a place on Front Street then either walk back or take the ferry back from here. Ahhhh, to be able to walk that far again!
The City Hall with the weather vane at the top of the tower has not changed!
Driving along the rocky south coast that we once walked! The famous pink beaches are further to the east.
A trip up Gibbs Hill to the Lighthouse.... again hard to believe we could have walked up the winding road that distance a mere 30 years ago!!
The lighthouse, made of cast iron, was built by the British in 1844 and still today stands as a working lighthouse!!
The view from the top of the hill was truly awesome!
Beautiful Bermuda! Much more populous than we remembered but still lots of green space and beautiful!!
In our van, there were 6 of us plus the driver. Somehow, I managed to get the open front seat!! My seat was where in the US, the driver would have been!! It did take some getting used to!
The seat was great to have for taking pictures and I managed to almost capture our favorite little draw bridge, the Somerset Bridge, now closed and sadly in the process of being sealed. It was at one time, the smallest working drawbridge in the world.
