Bermuda Bloggin'
Bermuda. Ah, Bermuda.It is the most beautiful place you can imagine. As the plane descended out of the clouds, this island paradise was revealed in all of it's perfection. From the air, you could make out the lush tropical landscape, surrounded by the rocks and reefs of this hook shaped series of islands. The water, pure turquoise and exquisite, set off beautifully by the pink sand beaches, of which there are many. The water is so clear, in fact, that you can see right through it, as some of my photos will show.
The weather on Bermuda, though...not so good for a pregnant lady. At least, not in July. The temperature was a perfect 85 degrees F, but the humidity was off the charts. When you have humidity of 94%, the effective temperature that you feel is more like 808 degrees F, or just barely cooler than the flames of hell. My naturally curly hair was impossible to tame in the humidity, as was my skin. It is somewhat humbling to be so feeble as to take 4 steps into the great outdoors and find yourself instantly liquified. Seriously, I was melting in a pool of my own sweaty goo. My own personal pool of filth.
Bermuda is beautiful, but don't go in July. Egads. It is so bizarre to go somewhere so beautiful and really prefer to see it from behind an air conditioned room's window.
I got some sun. I'm peeling in the places where my sunscreen coverage was less than perfect. My hairline chief among them. I did enjoy myself, but the best part was not so much the island, but spending time with my sisters.
On the day of my arrival, we went to a late lunch at the Hamilton Princess. (This is the humungous pink hotel you will see in the coming pictorial post.) The food was decent, if expensive. The crab cakes were pretty tasty, but the pasta was just okay. We did a driving tour of the island, taking many beautiful pictures along the way. Later that evening, we went down to Front Street with the other tourists and shopped for the usual island tourist crap, including t-shirts, sarongs, bracelets, and sand in a bottle.
Day Two sent us to the beach. Horseshoe Bay Beach, to be precise. The water was beautiful and the sand was super soft underfoot. We stayed until 1 pm or so, then headed up to the lighthouse for a spot of tea. Iced, that is. It was too damn hot for a regular tea. From there, we went back to my sister's home aka "headquarters" and took a nice long dip in the pool. Lovely afternoon. Then, we sort of relaxed until it was time to watch a movie and eat supper.
Day Three sent us to the Crystal Caves. The little sister toured the caves while SpySistah and I read Harry Potter aloud. We also drove all over the island in search of a golf pro shop that was open so I could buy a nice shirt for Prince Charming. We finally found one at the Port Royal Golf Course Pro Shop. The shirt is red and white striped, for Prince Charming loves the Badgers so. After our spelunking detour, another cool off was necessary, so we jumped back into the pool. Then we had lunch and a short nap. Later that night, we walked down Front Street again in search of ice cream. I had a cone of Fudge Almond Coconut that was heavy on the coconut.
Day Four was exciting as it was the first day where our activities were not hampered by the island's fascination with the local cricket tournament. Things were open again, so we rented a boat - a "Boston Whaler" - and set out on the Atlantic.
"Boston Whaler" is a bit misleading. If you were to go whaling in a "Boston Whaler" you'd certainly end up like Jonah. The boat was a four-seater, but was more than adequate for our needs. We started out heading off toward the HMS Vixen, a sunken ship off of Bermuda that still sticks out of the sea. Very cool, as it extends up at an angle, the prow only visible. (Pictures coming.) The Vixen is now a haven for tourists, fish-feeding tourists, and that was an amazing site as well. I was able to bend over the side of the boat and take pictures of these maniacal fish feeding that turned out very well, the water is that clear.
From there, we meandered up into the main port and took lots of pictures of the harbor views. We saw all sorts of fantastic homes belonging to the uber-wealthy. I'll be posting a picture of SpySistah's home/safehouse for you to ogle. My sister's went swimming with the fishes (ha ha), then we made our way back to the boat launch just as a tropical storm blew in. We drove back to the house in the rain so that SpyDoggy could go out. We had a little lunch, then had some quiet time. For supper, we had a very tasty grilled mango and coconut chicken. Tangy and spicy!
The next morning, I was up at the ungodly hour of 5 a.m. on Sunday (that's 3 a.m. CST) to catch my flight out of Bermuda. I made it back to Newark, NJ, which really is the ass-crack of the USA, in record time. However, I soon discovered the perils of connecting in Newark. It seems that you have to go through security all over again if you have to go from terminal C (Gate C137) to terminal A (Gate A26). And this wasn't just security. Oh, no! This was a proctological exam! Well, not quite, but it was very thorough.
I finally got back to O'hare at noon and got home around 2:30 pm, totally exhausted. Now I have a ton of laundry to do.
I'll post some pictures tonite, maybe.
Labels: Harry Potter
