January in Bermuda part 2

This hopefully is the last January Blog from a paradoxical paradise!!!!!
I am feeling a little less enamored with Bermuda than usual, as after Ian and I checked in for our BA flight, due to leave tonight (10th January), we received an email a few hours later, to say the flight has been CANCELLED! No explanation provided!!! Rather frustrating to say the least. Yes, we have been placed on tomorrow night's flight at no extra cost and then I have been put on Friday night's flight out of Heathrow, but.......... still rather annoying. Ian is having problems confirming his flight as they are saying that the passport details are incorrect. There is a lot of deep, slow breathing happening!!! So Ian is out exploring and running and we will find other places to go to tomorrow - maybe we can do a last snorkel, though it remains cold and overcast!!! Luckily we have been able to extend the scooters for another day as well as our accommodation.

Looking back on the last week, we continued with the explorations, despite the rain and the cold snap, which everyone is complaining about, and the early evening darkness.

Because Ian has been running every day, quite often in different areas of the island, he has developed a much better sense of directions and has therefore become the lead navigator when we are out on the scooters. We have had to wrap up warmly and I have been very glad of a pair of leather gloves that I inherited from my Mom. I suspect that they are decades old but they have been wonderful. 

Whilst I was working (sitting at my desk at the hospital -though it did busy up a bit, which has become much busier this week with a few bone marrows), Ian has been finding further new routes and places to explore. On Wednesday, he ran into Hamilton and explored Fort Hamilton, which is pretty well preserved with a deep moat - now a garden and lots of tunnels and rooms within the walls

    Looking down the tunnels within the one wall

   Within the moat - really quite peaceful as the sounds of the city don't penetrate

   A look from the ramparts.

We have also been exploring a few more restaurants - even in the evenings, though I must admit that scootering home afterwards, often in the rain and definitely in the dark, has not been my idea of a restful evening out, but we have  eaten shark hash, lobster thermidor and some more rock fish.

On Saturday we went into Hamilton and did some shopping as well as visiting the National Art Gallery, which is housed in the City Hall. There was a very interesting exhibition of Stephen Fairey's work - he was responsible for the 'Hope' poster of Obama that graced the cover of Time Magazine

 There was a very interesting video on his work as well.

We then scootered to the South Shore beaches and walked along both the road overlooking the beaches, as well as along the beaches themselves. This was done is between rain showers, but we were relatively protected from the wind which was gusting along the North Shore. As usual we loved the clouds! Lunch was at the Henry VIIIth pub where we shared  soem fish chowder and I tried a mussel pie - it was curried and rather nice, though the pie crust was a sweet one, which was a little off-putting!

   Rain being dumped out to sea

   The clouds gave the beaches quite a moody feel. Needless to say there
    were very few people about, though one guy was out surfing. There was
    quite a swell but no waves!!!

    More clouds! with an interesting play of light!!

   And more!!!!!

  Then on Sunday we headed along North Shore, in the wind on a very overcast day - though there was no rain, down to the eastern-most part of the island - St David's, Clearwater Beach and Cooper's Island. This is not an area that I have been too much and not a particularly populated area either, so we had it largely to ourselves and the wind. But it was great fun as there are numerous bays and paths that give different views of the bays as well as the main island. This area was previously used by the USA as a base and airport but has largely fallen into disrepair and nature is claiming it back slowly.

  A photo of Ian showing our warm weather gear!!!

   Rocks and water abound in all sorts of combinations

  There are a number of cliffs along this coastline, which is pretty inhospitable. This was below the Fort St David's.

   A memorial ro those lost at sea over the last few centuries at Fort St David's

   One of 4 large cannon at Fort St David's - for a tiny island, there are an amazing number of fortifications stretching all across the island and over a number of centuries. According to the one guide, Bermuda saved the USA a number of times!!!!

Because of our visit on Saturday, we decided to visit Henry VIII pub again for a mellow evening of jazz and sushi - using a taxi added to the ambience!

Jazz at Henry's

That seems to be all for the moment - I need to sort out and tidy up before I hand back the reins!!!

Hope to see you soon!!!!!!!!!!

Maureen and Ian

January 2018!

I am sitting at my desk at the hospital, watching the palm fronds wave frenetically.

At least today there is some sun and the rain that has been dousing the island for the last couple of days seems to have cleared a bit. On the whole it is rather colder than expected, but then with snow being dumped in the USA, I don't think we can expect otherwise!!

The weather has curtailed some of our exploration, but we have kept busy. On Saturday, we couldn't go boating, so Ian and I explored the BUEII - the underwater exploration institute and  looked at exhibits on the Americas Cup, various shipwrecks and artefacts and were blown away by a shell collection that spanned many years.

Numerous beautiful specimens - some of which I can't even imagine being found in such perfect condition

We then treated ourselves to a fish dinner at a rather surprising little restaurant in the middle of Hamilton which not many people that I have spoken to, seem to know about! It is called "Lost in the Triangle" and is up some stairs in the busiest part of town. It is a little bit of a 'dive' with plastic table cloths and TV's plastered on the wall, but the fish was very good. I had red hind and Ian had wahoo.

Sunday dawned quite sunny so we made our way to Somerset on the scooters and joined the others on the boat. Because of the weather we launched at a different dock, within the Great Sound as it was more protected, went under the Watford Bridge into Somerset Long Bay and there snorkelled, in pretty cold shallow water as it was low tide but found numerous small fish, swam with some turtles and found some remora eels

Remora eel - it has a sucker on top of it's head and swims along with sharks. It was very partial to bits of chicken that we threw into the water

One of the direlict private jetties

A couple of rooms on stilts which were built a number of years ago as part of a hotel complex. Unfortunately the complex was badly damaged in a hurricane and the rooms have never really been used and now are occasionally used by the homeless!!!

We elected to have a quiet New Year's Eve and made some lamb and lots of veggies. Unfortunately our peace and quiet was disturbed by a couple in one of the nextdoor rooms having an extended argument, which was rather unpleasant!!!

The 'almost full moon' on the 31st - taken from our apartment

On Monday, we went down to Horseshoe Bay and joined numerous others, who were taking part in the "Polar Bear Swim". Bearing in mind that most Bermudians only swim between the 24th May and mid-Sept, this is quite a challenge!!! It was chilly but we thoroughly enjoyed our walk along the beach and then a snorkel in one of the secluded bays. Bumped into a group of 4 SA girls who had flown just flown in, via an extremely chilly NY, and were due to start there 4 month secondment with Deloitte & Touche.

A selfie before the swim

Then we scootered down to the Harrington Sound / Flatts Village area. It was a case of 'he took the high road and I took the low road, and he got there before me!!!', partly because I was following and not watching and then took a couple of wrong turns.......... but we found each other at the Aquarium, which was the plan!!! Wandered around trying to decide which fish was which and which ones we had seen already. there is also a bit of a zoo with animals and birds from the Americas and Australasia.

Looking into the water in the Flatts strait - incredibly clear. I call these fish 'zebra fish' but they are actually called ' sergeant majors'.

                                 Harrington Sound flows into the Flatt's strait at quite a rate

     A 'scarlet ibis ' - reminder of the hadeda back home.
     It was just about the same size, but very much prettier

As it was due to be a super full moon on Monday night, we decided that we would go to the Gibbs' Lighthouse, which has a 360 view of the island to watch both the sunset and the moonrise. Unfortunately the clouds moved onto the horizons and we didn't get a good sunset and certainly no moonrise. Luckily we did get home before the heavens opened, and were able to see the full moon later - high in the sky!

     The map at Gibb's Light House with Ian pointing to it's position

    The rather 'feeble' sunset!!!!!!

That is all for now
I can't believe that 2 weeks have flown by and there is only one more to go.

News from home is always welcome!!!!!

Love to all

Maureen and Ian

Christmas Week in Bermuda

Intermittent rain marked the passing of the festive days and has continued into the whole week, unfortunately but not surprisingly, as the whole of the Northern Hemisphere seems to be suffering from snow storms and miserable weather!. Here the temperature remains at about 20C but on the colder side and it has been windy. Most of the rain seems to be occurring overnight, so Ian has been able to explore.

We spent a quiet Christmas, cooking the gammon and lots of vegetables and were able to sit outside. Afterwards we went and explored Admiralty Park and Spanish Point - 2 areas that I don't know at all well. The former is an area where both soldiers and smugglers holed out in a series of caves and there is a rock that everyone jumps off. There is also an area where the feral cats are fed on a regular basis as well as a small harbour that is used by the scuba divers. 

At the entrance to the main cave which is both big and relatively dry

Holes is the rocks give views either to crystal clear water below or cloudy sky above!

There are numerous feral cats which are fed in the various parks - someone expressed the feeling that they are being fed too much as the rat population is on the increase!

Spanish Point is another picnic area and forms the eastern outcrop that frames the edge of the Great Sound and gives a good view of the Dockyards which edges the Western side.

Catching the rainbow on one of the small islands

Looking out over the Great Sound to the Dockyards

One of the best parts about driving around over these days, has been that the roads are very quiet, mainly because very little was open, even on Boxing Day. We chose to scooter down to the western end of the island, stopping off at Scaur Fort, Lefroy Bay and then wandering round a very quiet dockyard.

The wooden bridge that takes you onto -I think, Hospital Island. It now houses a direlict building, which Ian discovered used to be the slave wash-house. The building on the main island which used to be the contagious diseases hospital is now used for dementia patients

The water below the bridge

At the doorway of the old wash-house

We drove onto the pier where the cruise ships dock  and wandered round an almost deserted Dockyards, had a fish lunch and then headed back to Hamilton on the ferry. There is place for the scooters and one is charged the same as a passenger for them!

I have been at work since Wednesday. It has been rather quiet, though there have been a couple of patient's who have kept me busy - because of the cold spell, a number of the sickle cell patient's have been having painful crises, requiring admission and maybe transfusion!

In the meantime, Ian has been exploring Bermuda, though he has found the weather, more than a little challenging as it has been intermittently cold, windy and wet with some humidity thrown in! He is also finding the terrain more challenging to run on than the flatness around Cambridge but has coped with the narrow roads.

Ian's explorations:

 He has run down to the Blue Hole and had a swim in it - which was extremely salty plus explored the area round there 

Done the tour of the Crystal and Fantasy caves which is a must

Explored the unfinished church in St Georges

And explored St David's and some of the forts there

Friday night we moved from the housesit. It has been fun and I have enjoyed having a full kitchen to cook in, with various spices and herbs at our disposal. We have seen far more of the cat than expected - she tends to announce that she is around for food, but as she is feral, tends to disappear if she sees you. However I have been allowed to stroke her and yesterday, I came home to find her on my bed! It must be chilly!

  Clemmy enjoying home comforts!

Our plans for Saturday have been put on hold as it is pouring, so I am doing the blog!!!!

We were due to go out on the boat from Somerset with Alick and Helen Bush, and Barbara and Paul Boyle to hopefully do some snorkelling, though I suspect it may be chilly. This will hopefully happen tomorrow!!!

There is little planned for NY's eve but I suspect we will be out and about, on our scooters finding new places to explore

So all the best to you for a wonderful 2018

Love Maureen and Ian

Christmas in Bermuda part1

Christmas Day 2017 has arrived! I still feel as though I am in April and am not sure what has happened to all the intervening days! Time certainly does  speed up, or should it read 'down' on this side of the age curtain!

Apart from waking up to rain today, with some on Thursday as well,  the weather is much like a Cape Town winter – though with much more rain!!!! – even with sunrise being after 7h00 and sunset being round about 17h30. Temperatures are round about 20C though more chilly than that sounds, but remains pretty humid, so any movement results in a sweat!

It was quite funny starting work on Wednesday 20th, as it was my last day of work last year.Tayo handed over a list of ongoing concerns – not very long as a lot of people are on holiday and then left for Nigeria via Atlanta.

Ian has been working this last week, so has been waking at 05h00, in order to be able to contact the office in the UK, but has been finishing in the early afternoon so has started some exploring. 

     A view from the Gibbs Light House

    Sunrise on one of Ian's runs

On Wednesday afternoon, he came to the hospital and I showed him around, before we walked into Hamilton. On Thursday, the rain cleared enough in the afternoon for him to explore towards Gibbs lighthouse, though he got a little lost and ended up somewhere else!!!! He is finding the winding, narrow, undulating roads rather challenging to run along, but they are a lot quieter than usual so he should be fine. We collected 2 x single scooters on Thursday afternoon. I had entertained the idea of getting 1x double but was informed that it would be too heavy for me, so we each have our own. It is a lot easier this time around for me, and Ian is fast getting the hang of it! My bruises are a lot less, but I still struggle to set off!!!

On Wednesday night, we went to a Christmas dinner with a number of the people I have met and it was great for Ian to meet them. A couple of them will be over in the UK over Christmas, so we will not see them again. I decided to take a taxi to the dinner, as although the Bushes are on the bus route, there is a winter service in place and I wasn’t too sure of the running times. Luckily we got a lift back afterwards. 

On Friday evening there was a “Festival of Lights” at the Botanical Gardens, which is right next door to the hospital, so we wandered there after work and looked at the sights after a cocktail on the water's edge.

    I found a green man!

    Sunset from the cocktail deck

 On Saturday morning we hopped on the scooters and took a scenic route to St Georges, and joined the walking tour. It is a UNESCO heritage site and the town is very proud of this. Everyone gets involved and we had one of the town councillors as our guide,which was great as I got a totally different perspective. Ian was one of the strong arms chosen to help with the dunking of the town gossip afterwards!

   The dunking team!

We then set off for Tobacco Bay via some of the fortifications. The sea, as in CT has taken on a winter roughness and has a totally different feel to it. It is also a lot colder, at about 19C, so was not as inviting as earlier in the year, plus the visibility was less but we had a fun time snorkelling and saw a number of fish including the colourful parrot fish. 

    Tobacco Bay

The other difference in winter is that swathes of seaweed get washed up on the beach. It is very different from our 'kelp' as it is much drier and sticky with small sacs on the end. Walking on it feels like walking on a pot-scourer! 

   Pot-scourer sea weed!

On our way home, we stopped off in Hamilton, which was humming, to shop for food, including the gammon, plus wool! The evening ended with a braai. 

On Sunday I made some yummy mince pies and we set off for Horseshoe Bay. We walked along the South Shore coves to Warwick Long Bay. Ian was quite adventurous and tried to work from cove to cove, but had to give up as the tide was coming in. We neither of us felt like swimming as it was a bit rough so went for a fish lunch instead. I came home and he went to explore Admirality cove. I sat on the porch and watched the sunset!

 Me trudging along the beach - have to carry everything off the scooter as the storage space is not big

Today is a little miserable. Ian went for a run and turned back but it out again exploring. The gammon is cooking and all is well

A number of the photos are Ian's, with his permission!

Tomorrow there is Harness Pony Racing so we will go and investigate and then Wednesday  it will be back to work for me, but Ian will be on holiday so will be exploring

Wishing you all a fabulous Christmas

Love Maureen and Ian