Well, we’ve now crossed most of the Atlantic Ocean non-stop. The crossing was a mixture of weather. As noted before, we had a number of days of rough weather and seas. Shortly after posting that note the sun came out and the sea turned to glass with hardly a ripple. The next day the wind came back and so did some of the swells; not as bad as before but still noticeable and you had to keep a handrail handy when walking on the ship. From there the weather slowly turned better and the temperature became moderate; in the 60sF. One day started with rain and ended with a clear sky and sun. In short, a very mixed bag on the Atlantic crossing.
I did manage to get the first cut photo editing done for the trip to date. I still need to construct the talks.
The trivia team I’ve joined has been winning now and again so I’ve now got a number of World Cruise stress balls, two water bottles, a few coasters, and other stuff that serves as prizes.
Now we’re in Bermuda.
We came in right as the sun was rising for an almost perfect day (photo one). It took about 1.5 hours to get through the reefs and channel and finally dock right next to downtown Hamilton, the capital and the home port for the Pacific Princess. The original Pacific Princess (aka Love Boat) was built to make the US/Bermuda run so our ship, its replacement, fit perfectly into the harbor.
The excursion I picked was mainly a driving excursion. We left Hamilton, went to Saint George at one end of the island chain, drove the length to the dockyard at the other end, and then back to Hamilton. We had several stops along the way but basically we saw much of the island. The island is basically what’s left of a large volcanic caldera and much of it is limestone. The roads are often carved through the rock. Vegetation covers the island so driving requires knowledge of the roads and some care. Photo two shows a typical road.
I have not edited the many photos I took today (bus window photos require a fair amount of work and many will fall by the wayside for various reasons — not the least of which is that I have no idea what the photo is!). But a couple are included here.
The third is a wood-frame house. It’s one of the earliest houses on the island and also one of the last made of wood. Most of the houses on the island are made from the rocks of the island or, more recently, concrete. They have to be built of solid materials in order to stand up to the weather when hurricanes cross the island. Also notice in the photo that a gutter is collecting rain from the roof. That’s the norm on Bermuda as fresh water is scarce. The difference is that most of the houses use roofs designed to slow the water running down the roof so that more will come into the cistern where it will be used for non-potable needs (e.g., washing dishes, flushing toilets, etc.).
On the way back to the ship we climbed up to one of the last cast iron lighthouses (photo four). We did not have time to go through it but just stopped for a photo of it. The view from that location was quite comprehensive and I have photos of Hamilton from the base of the lighthouse; even could see our ship at full telephoto. Come to the Photo Club during the talk about the final part of the world cruise.
Just as we were at supper and just before the ship left port the Captain came on the intercom saying that with the birth of the new “royal” in Britain the governor on Bermuda authorized a cannon salute set for 6:00pm. I told our table waiter to keep the plastic cover over my meal when it came and grabbed the camera and rushed out to the deck just before the appointed hour. The salute was in a park off our port side and quite far away but telephoto lens to the rescue and the last photo shows what I got of the cannon salute.
Now, two days at sea followed by a stop at Fort Lauderdale where many of the people on the ship started their world cruise and will leave. Six of the eight at our supper table will be leaving so the two of us staying on to Los Angeles to finish our cruise will have six more to “train” and maybe 17 days or so to do it. 🙂