4 cruises down! Hard to believe I’ve been here 4 weeks already- it’s gone so fast. Let’s hope the next 6 months do too. No, I really don’t mean that. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE being home. There is really no place in the world like it, but at the same time, I love the adventures that my current lifestyle affords me. And in the last few weeks I have had some grand adventures.
We visit Bermuda on all of our summer itineraries, so I am becoming quite the Bermuda expert. Two of the main towns in Bermuda are St. George and Hamilton. We dock in neither. We dock at one end of the county, St. George is nearly at the opposite end, and Hamilton is in the middle. All of the islands (Bermuda is not one island, but several- 27 I think) are accessible via public transportation- either the bus or the ferry. We took the ferry over to St. George on my first cruise back so we traveled by bus this time. Our first stop was Gibbs Hill Lighthouse. I had never even noticed this lighthouse before, but I saw it on a map and read about it in a tourism book so I decided it was something I needed to see.
We told our bus driver where we wanted to go and to let us know when it was our stop. He dropped us off and told us to walk up the hill- I believe it was about 4 km to where we needed. We walked up the hill and around some bends before we finally saw the solid white, cast iron lighthouse. The view was spectacular even from the base of the lighthouse so I was excited to see Bermuda from the top. After climbing the 185 steps (they’re all there- I got 183 on first count but realized they must have counted 2 at the bottom that I didn’t) I saw the most beautiful panoramic I have ever seen. It was so beautiful that I didn’t want to leave- we probably spent about 45 minutes just staring at our surroundings- it was gorgeous. We could see our ship and all the way to Hamilton. Since we could see the ship, I assumed you could see the lighthouse from the ship, but I had never noticed it before- but sure enough, I checked that night and the beam is clearly visible.
After the lighthouse, we hopped on another bus and headed for the botanical gardens. By the time we walked up yet another hill (who knew Bermuda was so hilly?) we found the gardens. Sadly they were closed so we couldn’t get a tour or even a map, but we could go in and walk around. We had walked enough that day, so we didn’t stay long before heading in to Hamilton for a snack at a cafe over looking the harbor.
We were still in Bermuda the next day and there were some beaches I wanted to check out. First on my list was Warwick Long Bay. It is just a few stops down from Horseshoe Bay- the most popular (and crowded) beach in Bermuda. Warwick had maybe 20 people on it when we arrived. It was stunningly beautiful. After a nap on the sand I went swimming in the ocean in nearly the same place I first swam in the ocean 9 months ago. I could see lots of rock formations- some towered way above the water, but others were at nearly water level and people were sitting on them. We swam out there and discovered that they were little coral basins. We climbed up and had a seat. It’s not really very comfortable since you’re sitting on coral in your swim suit and waves are constantly battering you, but it cool to be sitting in the middle of the ocean (oh wait, I do that all the time!). I felt something stinging the side of my leg and finally I saw a little sergeant major (a tropical fish). Apparently I was sitting in his house and he didn’t like that. At least I didn’t sit on his school (haha….get it? School. He’s a fish… School of fish. hahahaha).
Later that cruise found me in Nassau. I’ve been there twice and was quite unimpressed on both visits. One of the coolest things about this visit was that the Barefoot Bandit had just been apprehended and was in the courtroom I passed in the cab on my way to Atlantis. The Atlantis Resort is easily seen from the ship, but I didn’t understand why people go over there- if you’re not staying at a hotel, why visit it? I understand why now. It is like a slice of Las Vegas in the Caribbean. Unfortunately we were unable to get passes to the water park (yes, they have a water park complete with water slides and a lazy river that is over a mile long!), but there was enough to see by just wandering around. We checked out the aquarium, saw some sharks and stingrays, had lunch on the boardwalk, tried to sneak past some guards to get into “Guest Only” areas (that last one didn’t go so well). Before heading back we stopped at Jamba Juice along the way for smoothies as we watched a yacht tie off and load up the deep sea fishing boat next to it.
The next day was CocoCay- a private beach resort just for our ships. This was my third trip to CocoCay as well. On both previous trips I have taken a camera off and filmed- this was no different except I went out early in the morning so I would have my afternoon to hang out on the beach. This day was dubbed “Black Shirts on the Beach” meaning all the theater techs (they all wear black shirts) got off the ship and hung out on the beach for the day. They were gracious enough to allow me, a white shirt, to crash their day. Every time we port at CocoCay the ship provides a cookout style buffet lunch on the island. When I was ready for lunch, I walked in to find hamburgers, but no hamburger buns and hot dog buns, but no hot dogs. After a short wait my predicament was remedied and I got a full set of each. By this point I was quite hungry- it was after 1:00 and I had been working in the sun all day. As I was walking back to our table with my feast carefully arranged on my plate, a seagull swooped down from the sky and plucked my hot dog right out of it’s bun! I couldn’t believe it! That bird must have been in step with me because I was in mid-stride when he struck. Amazing!
The next cruise was another 5 night to Bermuda and I really have no grand adventures to report from that cruise. Boring. Sorry.
I’m back now from a 9 night Bermuda and Caribbean run. Bermuda was another boring day for me. I did some filming in the morning before finding a bench outside to sit and read for a few hours. After a day at sea we were in St. Maarten- my favorite port. The weather there was perfect as always. Still not a lot of excitement that day. I was able to spend some time online, catch up with some emails and chat with my mom before meeting one of my friends for a walk around the city.
The following day was St. Thomas. After a fun filled boat drill and all crew meeting I was off to the sky-ride to Paradise Point. You may remember this place from the entry about my parents cruising- they love it there. Well today, I had a couple of friends I work with getting married up there. It was a beautiful ceremony and I have never attended a wedding in a better location- absolutely spectacular!
San Juan was the port of the day on Wednesday. I took my traditional walk around the city wall before visiting my favorite eating establishment in all of the Caribbean. I never thought I would like frozen yogurt (ice cream is so good so don’t ruin it by trying to make it healthy), but I love Blizz. At Blizz you choose from plain, passionfruit, or raspberry yogurt and then you get your choice of 3 toppings. The toppings range from Teddy Grahams, animal crackers, M & Ms, Oreos, chocolate covered almonds, to strawberries, peaches, and kiwi. That day I had passionfruit yogurt with Teddy Grahams, strawberries, and peaches. Amazing! Plus they have free wifi there. I declare it the best place in old San Juan. You must visit the next time you find yourself in San Juan!
The next cruise is another 5 day to Bermuda. I would love to take off on another adventure, but I have a new person coming on board that I will spend much of the next several months training. Oh well. I guess it’s nice to train someone now, early in my contract, and then have someone who knows what they’re doing there for the rest of my time.
Well, I hope this post finds all of you well. Sorry again for the delay between posts. I will get better at this. I promise!!!!
