Bermuda: A Time of Reset and Preparation
Over a thousand miles and five days later, we arrived in St. George’s Parish, Bermuda. We were blessed with mostly calm seas and clear skies on the sail over, with only one “Bermuda Triangle-looking” cloud (yes, I woke Russ up because it was a mushroom-shaped cloud that looked like it might suddenly explode a random storm on us.) It turned out to be nothing. But, you never know!
Bermuda is beautiful. It’s British in its orderliness, Caribbean in its friendliness. The town of St. George is a UNESCO world heritage site and it is quaint and historic. Forts from old wars line the coastline. Cruise ships come into Hamilton. It’s impossible to rent a car but the buses run on time, are clean and you always know where to get off because every local person riding with you offers help and advice. They are seriously THE NICEST people I have ever met.
We spent nearly three weeks there as the kids and I prepared to travel to the US and Russ and Kyle prepared to sail to the Azores. We were lucky to meet a Danish boat with three kids and we enjoyed some hang outs with them, had a beach day with another friend boat, and shared the amazing amount of grouper given to us by Jose Luis with a whole group of cruisers. We explored Hamilton and did a few hikes along the old railroad, but our days were generally quiet. (Full disclosure: life is never quiet or easy, but we were going through some changes on board and we really needed this time to get various things in order before summer.)
One of our favorite places to hang out was in the Unfinished church in St. George. Its incompleteness held a mystical quality, a promise of what could have been, though what exists is perfect. Our daily walks usually included a stop for a moment of reflection or play.
The Bermuda Underwater Exploration Museum in Hamilton is fantastic. It holds incredible displays from the reefs and Sargasso Sea that surround Bermuda and make it so special, and a whole area is dedicated to the phenomenon of the Bermuda Triangle. We had no idea Bermuda contained such eco-diversity.
After incredible amounts of cleaning, cooking (for the Azores cruisers) and packing, the kids and I set off for the US, saying goodbye to Russ and Big Em for at least 3 weeks - the longest we had been apart from each other in more than 4 years. Adventures await us all!
