How could you ever be blue in Bermuda??

Today we joined a taxi tour arranged by Joanne to visit the highlights of Bermuda - and although we didn’t arrive until 12 midday - originally scheduled for 10.00am - our guide/driver Robbie was waiting patiently as soon as we disembarked. 

Bermuda is actually a group of islands which are formed by the rim of an ancient volcano - and the sail in was beautiful, although slow as we negotiated the various coral reefs which were just below the surface. Finally we reached the pier and were docked behind the much larger Caribbean Princess - the crew from both ships have arranged to meet in a nearby park for a joint ship’s BBQ so there is much excitement onboard as many have friends and partners on the sister ship - even if they will only have 4 hours to meet up.

The main six islands of Bermuda are close together and joined by a series of bridges. They form a semi circular shape - and with the ship docked at one end - we were able to see it from most parts of the island. The whole country has a very British feel to it - the different suburbs are called parishes and have English names like Somerset, Warwick, Southampton, Devonshire and Pembroke. The Bermudians are about 65% of African descent and 35% of English descent.

The architecture on the island is very special - every house has a white roof and white trim - while the outer walls are painted in a range of pretty pastel colours - each house is different from its neighbours. It reminded us of a story we heard about an island (not sure if it was Bermuda) where the mayor decreed that all the houses had to be painted a different colour - and it turned out that the mayor owned the local paint shop - great marketing!! 

We were told by Robbie that the average house price is $1.3 million US - and many famous stars and business people have homes on Bermuda - there were certainly some very exclusive looking properties - he mentioned some names - even an Australian couple who live here but we had never heard of them. The plant life on the island is very tropical - so many of the flowers are very common in Queensland - frangipani, hibiscus, poinsettias etc. 

One of the official holidays on Bermuda is Peppercorn Ceremony Day. The local Freemasons Lodge is located in the State House which it rents from the Bermuda Government. Three hundred and ninety years ago, the English government entered into a contract with the local lodge that they could rent the building for the annual sum of one peppercorn. Every year, in April, with much pomp and ceremony, the local dignitaries and the town crier, with his bell, gather in Kings Square, where the annual rent is paid. The governor inspects the honour guard the mayor demands the rent be paid. A single peppercorn is paraded on a silver platter atop a velvet cushion through the honour guard and is presented with a flourish to the mayor. The payment is then celebrated by huge parties in each of the parishes on the island. I guess that they don’t have any plans to find new headquarters while they are on such a sweet deal.

-The islands themselves are traversed by roads which resemble country lane-ways rather than main thoroughfares - and the speed limit is 35!! - KILOMETRES per hour - not MILES!! We were intrigued by many of the street names - which obviously reflect the history of the locations - Old Maid Lane, Shinbone Alley, Blacksmith’s Lane, Barber’s Alley, Printer’s Alley, Blockade Alley, Turkey Lane, Governor’s Alley, Church Lane and, of course, Church Folly Lane, which runs by the church which was never finished. You may notice that many of the names suggest small roads - and they are a winding maze of narrow one way streets - when they were built in the 1600’s, they were set up for walking traffic and horses, and as the houses are so close to the edges and the islands are not very big - there is not really any room to expand - it gives the whole place a very laid back relaxed feel - no one is in a hurry to get anywhere.

We visited most areas of the main islands from the Royal Naval Dockyard to the capital Hamilton and the town of St George (named after the patron saint of England) to get a great overview of the islands - with its beautiful sandy beaches. Because the islands are so narrow - everywhere has a magical sea view - the sea is so many different shades of blue - azure, aqua and turquoise - with great snorkeling reefs within walking distance of the shore.

Bermuda is certainly a country that we want to visit again and stay for more time - it is about two hours by plane from Miami and New York, so maybe we can combine it with another trip.

We are now heading towards Fort Lauderdale with another two sea days. We have been warned that the immigration process into the US can be very tedious, as everyone (passengers and crew) has to be off the ship and accounted for, before anyone can return to the ship. We are leaving at 5.00 pm., so hopefully we will be able to get off early and spend as much time there as possible - we plan to take an Everglades Air boat ride in the morning and then head off the Sawgrass Mills Outlet shopping centre for the afternoon.

Cheers

Five lazy days in the Atlantic - catching up....

We are currently on the last of five sea days as we head towards Bermuda, crossing the Atlantic Ocean. As well, we are turning our clocks back by one hour almost every night, so we have 25 hours in every day.

We have a very relaxed daily schedule, starting with decadent breakfast in bed about 8.00am. We have found that there is so much food in the dining room and the Horizon Court buffet, that  there is a lot of temptation, so it is easier to start our day with breakfast in our room, preferably on the balcony when the weather is warm enough.

Crossing the northern Atlantic was like sailing in thick pea soup - we could only see about 100 metres out from the ship, with scattered showers although the sea has been much smoother than we had expected - having heard all sorts of horror stories about the rough seas in this area, we got the sea sick tablets out as we left Cobh, but we haven’t had to take any yet. 

Wednesday  afternoon, I looked out and saw an unfamiliar sight - the horizon - the fog had finally started to clear and the sun came out. We have been warned that the temperature in Bermuda will be about 34 degrees, so we have packed the winter woolies away in the suitcase under the bed, until we get closer to New Zealand when they will probably be needed again.

Our leisurely days are filled with movies, reading, trivia competition, playing canasta, walking the decks or going to the gym, having lunch with friends, catching up over coffee, dancing in the evenings, or going to one of the many shows onboard - such a relaxed lifestyle. The cruise staff have also arranged a number of get togethers for different groups of passengers - South Island of NZ, Gold Coasters, medical fraternity, educationalists, Irish descendants - to name a few - they are a great way to meet new people and make contacts which may be continued when we are back in the real world.

Wednesday night was the first time that any entertainment had been planned on the open decks since we left the Mediterranean, so we went up and sat to listen to the new band who have joined the ship - ‘Black and Pink’ - they played a good range of music so it was a shame that there weren’t many people up there - hopefully, as the weather gets warmer, the entertainment on the open decks will attract a bigger crowd - we will be spending more time up there. 

Yesterday, we woke up to a beautiful clear sunny day, although a bit windy on the open decks. We went up in the morning and spent some time topping up our vitamin D levels after being rugged up in woolies for the past few weeks. When I last spoke to our son, Rob, on the phone he commented that ‘your blogs are always about food and how much you are eating!’ So true..... but we have also been getting lots of exercise - most port days we spend about six hours on our feet wandering around - yesterday I walked on the decks for over an hour in the morning and half an hour in the afternoon - I won’t lie and say that we haven’t put on weight - cause we have - but we are conscious of not leaving the boat as cargo - so we have decided to increase the exercise on the sea days. I got a shock in London when it was cold and I got out the jeans that I had worn in Sydney before we left - to find that they were uncomfortably tight - damn - instant action is required!! We still have more than 40 days left before we return home so hopefully I will be able to lose it again!!

We have also had a few celebrations on the ship over the past few sea days. Monday was Randy’s birthday, so we had lunch in the Florentine Room to celebrate. In the evening, we were invited to join friends for dinner in the Steakhouse - once again a superb steak - absolutely melts in the mouth. I have ordered steaks at our regular evening dining room - and they are great - I couldn’t ever complain that I have had a bad one yet - but - the steaks at the steakhouse are another notch up again - delicious - we had a wonderful night with our new friends who have shared many of our tours. 

On Wednesday, we had lunch with a group of about 40 members of the cruise critic group - we all communicated via the website and shared information etc before the cruise - so it is great to meet up in person. There is one family from New Zealand who are traveling with twin 5 year old girls - I was talking to the girls at lunch and they were telling me about the kids club where they are having a wonderful time and had madea beaded octopus- so joking, I asked if we would be able to come along to the playroom. With a very straight face, Nathalia replied that she would have to ask the leader if adults could come. Her sister, Michaelia looked at her and said - “don’t you know there is a playroom for adults, it is on deck 8, its name is ‘casino”!!!! Out of the mouths of babes!!!

There is a tradition at the lunch to give out awards for various funny, embarrassing, unusual, incidents that occur on the ship. I was honoured??? to receive a ‘bloody legend’ award for my photographic skills - I am embarrassed to give any more details...... although I think that Joanne may have let the cat out of the bag on her blog!! The photo in question is at the start of this blog.....

Today, Friday, is the last day before we arrive in Bermuda - we woke up and turned on the TV for the weather forecast and it was for - ‘cloudy’. We looked out and once again, we were in pea soup weather, so we read in bed for a while before getting up - showered - turned on the TV and the weather forecast had been changed to - ‘rainy’ - and as we opened the curtains - they were right again - it was raining!!! This is a great way to forecast the weather - actually look out the window and change the forecast as the weather changes!!!! Why didn’t someone think of it before!!  

I have decided to spend the day catching up on some emails, updating the blog and then getting into the pile of books beside my bed, since I have read everything that I downloaded to my kindle before I left home - luckily, the library took on a new stock of books before we left Dover. My only complaint about the selection is that most of the non-fiction biographies are about American political figures - current and past - however, since the Dawn Princess is focusing on the Australian market - it would be great if they included some Australian and New Zealand titles. 

Just have to keep our fingers crossed that we have all the rain today, and it will be fine in Bermuda tomorrow.

Cheers

Notes for 2012 World Cruisers

Greenock Update (Scotland)

In the Greenock post, I forgot to include this information which may be useful for those followers who are planning a cruise to this port in the future. The local Inverclyde tourist group was very helpful and well organised when we visited Greenock. They are a voluntary group of local residents who take pride in welcoming tourists to the cruise terminal - welcomers are dressed in traditional Scottish dress - kilts and bagpipes, and their services include free bus tours to local sights with three separate routes of about two hours duration each - Gourock tour, Greenock tour and the Port Glasgow and Newark Castle Tour. I spoke to a number of other passengers who went on these tours and they all have very positive comments - at the Newark Castle a local theatre group were dressed in traditional dress and acted out scenes from the castle’s history. There is a small entrance fee to the castle and you are asked to make a small donation if you enjoyed the tours. Other services provided at the terminal include internet, local souvenirs and crafts, maps, train, bus and ferry timetables, as well as a Clan History desk.

The web site is www.inverclydetouristgroup.co.uk

They were the group who arranged a cultural show of bagpipes, music and dancing on the ship in the afternoon for passengers who didn’t leave the ship, as well as Scottish music and dancing on the pier as we sailed - they certainly went to a lot of trouble to make sure that we enjoyed our visit and deserve recognition.

Cobh Update

Cobh is pronounced ‘Cove’ since the ‘bh’ are pronounced as ‘v’ - as in the Irish girls name Siobhan (Shivorn).

The Cobh and Harbour Chamber provide an exceptional service for passengers with tourist services including an excellent display ‘Queenstown Story’ in the terminal. Cobh was originally called Queenstown to mark the visit of Queen Victoria. This organisation were responsible for organising all the festivities for our visit. More information is on their web site: www.cobhharbourchamber.ie  and www.cobhcalls.com   They are a wonderful resource if you are planning to visit County Cork and do an excellent job of promoting the area to cruise ships. We were sad that we sailed at 3.00pm. - we could easily have spent much more time there.

I can’t help falling in love with you - Cobh!!

The words to the song ‘Can’t help falling in love with you’ rung out as we made our way back up the gangway after our visit to Cobh, and the tears flowed down my face - I didn’t want to leave after such a fabulous day. 

My ancestors came from Scotland and Ireland in the early 1880’s, I have already told you about the cattle stealing Scotsman, John Gall, who was sent to Tasmania. On the other side of my mother’s family, Oliver Wallace was an Irishman who went to Victoria as a free settler - and left from Cobh to emigrate to Australia with his brother and sister, so the visit to this part of the world has been very special to me. Eventually, John Gall’s daughter, Anne married Oliver Wallace near Warnambool and the rest is history.

Between 1788 and 1853, more than 500,000 emigrants, voluntarily or otherwise, left from Cobh to settle in many parts of the world. For only the second time in history, a shipload of Australians has returned to Cobh (the first was a previous Dawn Princess world cruise)  and so the local Chamber of Commerce has declared that today was ‘Australia Day in Cobh” in honour of the more than 1500 Aussies on the ship = we also co-opted Randy and Carol and made them ‘Honorary Aussies’.

The local townsfolk really got into the swing of things with a full program of activities at the waterfront rotunda as well as decorations, bunting, Irish and Australian flags, BBQ’s, band performances, shop decorating competitions, Irish dancing displays, a presentation to the Captain by the Australian Ambassador and the Cobh Mayor, trike and train rides, that fabulous Irish pub music and colourful characters - a great party vibe and good spirits permeated the atmosphere. Teenage girls acted as town guides and, by lunchtime, most of the families from the surrounding area had converged on the waterfront - and parking spaces were at a premium as they joined the party atmosphere. 

Cork, Blarney, Kinsale, and Killarney are close-by but because we were sailing at 3.00pm and we had been told about the welcome we would receive in Cobh,  we decided to explore the area and join the party in the afternoon. As a town with a strong sea-faring history, Cobh was also the last port of call for the Titanic, so it has a memorial to the victims. The ship ‘Lusitania’ was torpedoed in 1915 and sank about 12 miles off shore, so the victims are buried in the local Old Church cemetery in three mass graves.

Cobh is such a pretty place with colourful cottages arranged like children’s blocks along the roads that wind up to St Coleman’s Cathedral, perched on the  top of the hill. Once again, we were told that the houses are painted many colours so that the occupant can find their own house after a night at the pub, the social centre of the town.

We wandered along the waterfront shopping strip, enjoying the decorated shop windows - kangaroos, footy jerseys (even the Broncos rated a mention - these Irish certainly know a good team when they see them!!) and boomerangs abounded - the real estate agent had the Opera House, Harbour Bridge and Uluru ‘For Sale’ - another window featured a day at the beach with eskys and beach chairs. 

We were concerned by one that featured a lot of snakes - St Patrick may have driven the snakes out of Ireland - but I am not sure of the impression that all the snakes crawling over a young boy would give about Australia - there was even a cobra! One storekeeper had made posters comparing life in Ireland with life in Australia - showing that Australia and Ireland were the same in many ways - our love of sports, architecture etc - but the final poster said ‘The Koala - The Irish Cow” - Ok so we are not identical” - but the picture was a kangaroo - was this just Irish humour??? 

The winning shop window was very clever - a table with stubbies in holders , a table lamp etc - hung upside down from the ceiling with a poster about downunder - very well done.

We walked about two kilometres to the outskirts of town into lush grren countryside to the Old Church cemetery - the old stone church was in ruins - but the graves gave an insight into the lives of the residents in the 1880’s - a lot of them contained a number of children from the same family who died at a young age - many in the first year of life - I can’t even imagine having ten children and losing them all - and so we spent some quiet time reading the headstones and reflecting on the lives they must have lived. 

We had been told that in past times, under English rule, they introduced a windows tax which was calculated based on the number of windows in a house - so many of the poor Irish families had to brick up their windows cause they couldn’t pay the tax. We passed an old stone house where the windows had been painted back in with a cat and vase of flowers on the window sill - very creative.

Around lunchtime, we returned to the waterfront, explored the shops and went to the rotunda in the park for the festivities - everywhere we went we were welcomed and greeted by the most friendly people who were happy and proud to share their hometown - even if it were only for a day. Because it was Sunday, alcohol is not sold before 12.30pm. so the pubs don’t come alive until after that - but when they do - wow - what fun. 

Kelly’s was alive and overflowing with a great Irish singer and people dancing in front on the street cause it was full inside. We found lunch in a restaurant with a deck overlooking the bay - the Irish may have suffered through the potato famine - but they have made up for it now with the best hand cut chips I have ever tasted anywhere in the world - so crisp!! Joanne ordered the mussels - she said they were delicious but by the time I got my camera out to take a photo - this is all that was left!

Joanne and I were curious about the Bannoffie Pie on the dessert menu - we didn’t want dessert - but you are only in Cobh for one day in your life - and it would be a shame to pass up a local delicacy - so we ordered one to share - and I nearly had to have a cutlery duel with her to get my spoon anywhere near it -a fabulous concoction of banana and toffee - absolutely delicious - it melted smoothly and slithered seductively over my tastebuds before gliding down my throat - yyuuummmm!!!!  Luckily for my waistline, I only had a couple of spoonfuls - Joanne won the war of the cutlery - but I could have easily ordered another - will have to google the recipe when we get home - if I can remember what to do in the kitchen!!

Unfortunately, we had to be back on the ship before 2.30pm, so at 28 and a half minutes past 2 we reluctantly headed back to the gangway. The band played on the wharf as we embarked and tears streamed down my face -  don’t know what made me so emotional - we had one of the best days of the cruise in a very small town in Ireland - the people of Cobh made such an impression. The local Chamber of Commerce did a wonderful job of promoting Cobh and I am sure that it paid off in the economy of the town - I hope so!! We heard an Irish news report later which described it as ‘the pinnacle of the year in Cobh’!

Hint to Princess: It would be fantastic if the time in Cobh could be extended to a full day - there was so much to see and do as well as generally walk around and soak up the famous Irish hospitality.

We gathered with Joanne and Garry on our balcony - and hung an Aussie flag over our railing - most of the town and surrounding area was gathered at every vantage point around the waterfront and up the streets of the hill - the band played and the last ropes were released as we all waved flags, towels and handkerchiefs  and called out goodbyes to complete strangers feeling a great sense of connection with them -  everyone agreed that it was one of the best days of the cruise - there was a great buzz around the ship all evening. We cruised past picture postcard beautiful scenes in every direction around the coast as we left the bay and headed to the Atlantic Ocean. I will include another post with photos of this beautiful township.

PS: Two little leprechaun boys with the latest Irish headgear!!

We now have five sea days until we reach our next port - Bermuda.