Day 118 - Tuesday April 25 Bermuda

Bermuda photos
position at 6:30am: N32 17.40 latitude W64 46.42 longitude
(just off Bermuda)
temperature: 66F, cloudy
distance since FLL: 38,786 miles
It was a little windy on deck this morning, but it was still a pleasant time to walk. For the last few morning, the moon has been a upper shaped cresent with the morning star close by. It looks similar to the Turkish flag. We are just off the coast of Bermuda, it is just discernible in the distance. We are scheduled to be docked at 9am and all aboard at 3:30pm. It will be far too short a final shore day. Tonight is our final time change and we will be back in our home time zone. That seems a little weird at last. One week from today Clay will be back in the office and back to work.
The restaurants are opening at their usual times today for breakfast so we will probably return to LaVeranda and Debbie will keep her fingers crossed for chocolate croissants to be back today. Debbie had 2 chocolate croissants and a bowl of raspberries. Clay had lox and a roll and melon.
We docked a little early. It is 8:55am now. We sailed into the harbor past the Dockyards and in front of Hamilton, where Capt. Dag made his signature spin and sidled into the dock on the starboard side for a quick nose-out getaway this afternoon. We have a view across the harbor. Celebrity's Zenith was already docked alongside Front Street when we arrived in Hamilton. There was a ship, not a freighter, but not a cruise ship, docked at the Royal Naval Dockyards as we came into and out of the harbor. Since Jean-Michel Cousteau disembarked here in Hamilton, we were supposing that it is his ship. It looked like it might have a small orange submarine on top, so whose else would it be. You can make out the name on one photo is Cable Innovator, no idea whose ship this is.
About 9:15am Jamie announced that we were clear to leave the ship and we went. We are docked at the No. 1 Passenger Terminal on Front Street in Hamilton. We picked up all the maps we needed at the Chamber of Commerce desk in the Terminal building. These were the Bermuda handy reference map and the Public Transport Bermuda Bus Schedules Map. We went straight out and to the Visitor's Center and Ferry Terminal to get bus tokens. The buses will accept US currency but only in coins and the bus ride to St. George from Hamilton is $4.50 in cash or $4 in tokens. The Visitor's Center it turns out only sells passes ($12 for a day pass on buses and ferries, a good deal if we had more than 6 hours here). To get tokens you have to go to the Ferry Terminal or the Bus Terminal. Since we were at the Ferry Terminal building we walked in and got our tokens. $4 pp one way Hamilton to St. George and return tokens for each, so $16 for 4 brass tokens. We walked the 2 blocks or so uphill to the bus terminal. Bus 11 leaves every 15 minutes and that is the one we caught out. The alternate routes leave every hour and we caught Bus 3 back to Hamilton. St. George is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the first capital of Bermuda on the East End of the islands. The rides are scenic and worthwhile. Both routes stopped at the airport and went by the Swizzle Inn. Bus 3 on the way back also went by the Crystal Caves. Bus 11 went by the Aquarium, Zoo & Museum. The bus map also has a "do it yourself sightseeing tour by bus and ferry" for Monday - Saturday. For $12 they have it laid out for you to take buses and ferries and spend from 10am to 3:45pm going from Hamilton by bus to the Dockyard with a Maritime Museum visit and lunch and shopping time near Watford Bridge and returning to Hamilton via ferry. This would make a nice day. We did the walking tour from Frommer's Bermuda 2005 for St. George. We did it in reverse because the bus apparently only really makes one stop in St. George at the St. George's Liquor Store nears Somer's Wharf. So, we started there and went backwards and then took the short walk back for a quick lunch at the Carriage House Restaurant on Water St. We had a quick, light lunch in order to catch one of the hourly buses. Clay had the famous Bermuda Fish Chowder with Rum and Sherry Peppers and really liked it. He also had an Amstel beer. Bob didn't get any. Debbie had the Bermuda onion soup - French style and loved it. We shared an order of Bermuda Onion Rings. Delicious and not at all oniony. We did not enter any of the museums and only entered the Unfinished Cathedral and St. Peter's Church and graveyard. We got off Bus 3 at the east end of Hamilton and walked up the hill to Fort Hamilton. We did not see much of it but it looks interesting with underground tunnels. Then we walked into the Bermuda Cathedral and on back to Front St. and the ship. We wandered a few close streets and did some very last minute shopping. OUr final purchase of 4 months around the world was a pink Bermuda house cookie jar. Debbie will have to carry it off alone because it will NOT fit inany of our luggage. We were back on board about 3pm and we sailed right on time at 4pm. We watched from Deck 12 until about 5pm. We followed the same channel out that we took in this morning. It must be the only safe route in and out.
Bermuda is a pretty set of islands. Love the white, sculptural looking rooftops! We liked it here. So this ends our last port day. The next time we see land we will be back in the USA. In an hour there is a "Stop the Packing Party." The Pilot boat just picked up the pilot and left us. It is Country Club Casual tonight. Tomorrow night is Formal and the next night is Country Club Casual. The dress codes for our last 3 dinners.
We did make it to the "Stop Your Packing Party" thrown by Barbara Clutz. It was decorated with clothes hanging between decks 4 and 5 in the atrium. Jamie sort of MCed things, and there were some songs performed by some of the PGT singers. It was a nice get together.
We ate a quick dinner in LaVeranda this evening. Debbie had her usual filet mignon and Clay ate the pasta. Clay wanted to eat swordfish Sicilian style, but when he ordered it from the menu, the waiter said that swordfish was not being offerred tonight. The fish of the evening was Mahi Mahi, and hence Clay decided to get the pasta. We skipped dessert, and that was a good thing as when we got back to the room, there was some surprise candy left for us. When we were in LaVerdanda, Debbie had spottefd a whole fleet of ship-shaped chocolates laid out on the closed side of LaVeranda, but these chocolates were not on the dessert buffet. Debbie was worried we were missing out on something, and lo and behold, the craved chocolate ship was waiting for us in our cabin.
Debbie decided since we have only 2 more nights onboard, and since we are gaining an hour tonight, she should wash clothes for the last time. Her goal is to pack mainly clean clothes to return home, and not pack many dirty clothes. Whew! Can't believe we are almost home!
We cannot believe that we forgot to tell about our favorite, and the most hilarious, part of last night's Farewell Party. The Freddie the Navigator spoof. Jamie started talking and was interrupted by the bing-bong of the loudspeaker coming on. This was followed by about a dozen bells (vs. the 8 for Noon) and Freddie speaking somewhat incoherently. It was just a gas. It was definitely Freddie, but spoofing on his noon announcement.. this is your disembodied voice from the fridge...the however many bells I just rang are an old maritime tradition for something,,, the depth of the water in this part of the ocean is deep, over your head, definitely over my head... here is some more nautical information that you probably don't really care about... It was so funny that Debbie had a coughing fit she was laughing so hard. We really love Freddie and we do CARE about his nautical information, we always note here in the journal what Freddie and Capt. Dag have to say about the state of the seas and wave height, size of swells, direction of the wind and how hard it is blowing, etc. We CARE! And we keep a record of it here in practically realtime. If we ever miss an announcement for some reason, we feel lost or like we've forgotten something because we don't KNOW what all the conditions are from the TV channel 3 and we only have our own observations to compare to past conditions that we have 'official' information on.
Bermuda photos