Bermuda week 5

We are still here!

Despite Jose's attempts, there is very little damage to the island. The eye of the storm seems to have passed us, and is now heading up the west coast of USA, quite far out to sea. According to the weather channels, they are likely to experience increased rain, wind and storm surge, which appears to be more than we have had.

Sunday night was very windy, with gusts above 50km/h and numerous heavy downpours. Monday remains overcast and windy with fairly heavy squalls and thunderstorms predicted for later. Despite all that, the temperature still stays in the high 20's and humidity in the 70's, so we are still in short sleeves.
Definitely a day to be at work and then curled up with crochet later!!!!

I am pleased to report that my social life didn't suffer with the storm! I went out for cocktails and supper on Thursday night. Irene (a NZ psychiatric nurse who I met at Chatajack) and I walked into town and found a pub offering Happy Hour drinks and enjoyed a mojito and then moved on to "Onion Jack's" where we could sit on the balcony overlooking Front Street and share flatbread and calamari, watch the sun go down and then people watch!!!! Very pleasant.

Then on Friday, Monica (who I met 10 years ago, when I did my first locum!!!!!!) and I went to the Pink Beach Hotel. Monica is a GP on the island, and has been here from Canada for many years, though did have a break a few years ago, when she went to work in the Cayman Islands! (She is shorter than I am!!!!!!!!!!!)

The surf was already being churned up and there was a pretty strong wind. The Hotel has recently been rebuilt and so is very popular. There was in fact a "Mom's Night Out" on Friday night and I enjoyed the fashions on display. We started the evening with a cocktail which I think was called "Sex on the Pink Beach" though it could also have been called"Pink Sex on the Beach"!!!????
Even the tap water came in a pink bottle

Monica and I doing a selfie in the wind!!!!!

The cocktail!!! Behind us are see-through blinds which protected us from the spray and wind but were still light enough to see the sea!

Dinner was very pleasant, though I was extremely pleased I was paying in Bermuda dollars!!!!

Saturday: The weather was quite threatening. There was high cloud all day and it was quite windy. I climbed on the scooter, and set off for the west side of the island - the Dockyards, which I haven't explored at all this trip. My trip this time was much improved, I am getting the hang of it and am getting up a little bit of speed - even went 50km - downhill with the wind, but as soon as I realised it, I throttled back to a respectable 35km, which is actually the speed limit. No buses chasing me, and I did pass a pedal-bike, only to have him pass me again when I was meandering through the dockyards! 

Bearing in mind, that the America's Cup was held in this area less than 3 months ago, there is very little evidence that it was ever here. I have heard that the Village, was packed up and transported as a whole to South Korea for the Winter Olympics. There are still some of the ' very large hangers' but very little else. Oh, except for the merchandise that is marked down drastically!

The flags of the representatives are still present, flying in the stiff breeze

I have spent a lot of time looking into the water and have been fascinated by the number of fry - those greeny-blue lines in this photo and in the bottom left there are a couple of zebra fish! When chased the fry, tend to jump out of the water in unison in a fountain-like formation with the  hunting fish plopping in and out of the water behind them in an almost comical way!!!

One of the new additions to the island, probably as a result of the America's Cup, are these small electric cars that can be rented. They appear to be based at the main hotels where they can be re-charged and take 2 people - riding in tandem. This one is a Renault Twizzer but there is another make - called Cur-rent - which is rather clever. These are the only cars that can be rented, otherwise it is scooters and pedal-bikes! 

Sunday, I again hopped on the bike. I hoped to get in some snorkelling at Church Bay, but soon realised that the water was not going to be conducive as it was very choppy and unpleasant with poor visibility.
I headed back to Horseshoe Bay and this cove which is usually very pleasant, but even it was churned up. Though I did see a midnight blue parrot fish hiding in the rocks!

I was rather taken with the sand castles on top of this rock - they would withstand the high tides which were expected - the chairs that usually live on the beach above the high water line, were being moved off, but probably washed off with the rain!!!!

The rather threatening sky and choppy waves didn't put too many people off as it is still hot and humid!!!!

If you use your imagination, you can see the pink particles that give the beaches their name! On the left is very clear water and on the right the beach.

I had to fill up the scooter, so despite not using it quite as much as I had hoped to, I have still used a tank of petrol and still have the weekend ahead to explore.

I have finally finished the rainbow blanket. This will be posted to Meg's grand daughter in the UK when I get there next week.

Tuesday: Last night we had quite a bit of wind and regular downpours, so much so, that my walk to work this morning was very wet! Luckily I could use an umbrella with a poncho rain coat, as the wind wasn't too bad. The biggest problem though, is getting wet as the cars pass and kick up the water from the puddles!!! So I was a little more damp and bedraggled than usual on my arrival! but soon dried out.

Work remains quiet! I have another full week before I leave for the UK and proper holiday next Wednesday!

Keep well and keep the news rolling in.