Bermuda

This last week in Bermuda has been amazing. This is an absolutely gorgeous island, unlike any other we have been to so far. The landscape is beautiful, with its natural volcanic rock statues, mesmerizing blue water and perfectly manicured yards. The people here are second to none. I have never met such a genuinely nice and gracious community in my life. I wish we had more time here, but since we don’t we will have to make sure we revisit this fantastic island.

The ARC Rally events were outstanding. We were treated to several dinners with amazing food and entertainment. There was an amazing rum tasting event sponsored by Gosling Rum, where we learned how they become the premier rum maker in Bermuda. Because the island is so small they are unable to grow enough sugarcane to make rum, they import rum from other Caribbean islands, then mix and age the rum in various ways. There is one ocean aged rum that they put on a cargo ship and it crosses the Atlantic from Bermuda to the USA 83 times.

We were treated to a traditional Bermudan dance with bright colored costumes and amazing energy.

The awards presentation was a lot of fun. Apparently 3 catamarans didn’t exactly follow the rules when leaving St Maarten so we’re penalized 3 hours 😜. Good thing there were only 3 catamarans in the rally. And although we got third (last) place, we got a very nice bottle of rum, which was actually my favorite one. So I guess you could say we won.

Mike and I did some site seeing while we were here. One day when we were walking to get lunch, we saw a pirate dragging a woman through the streets toward the town square where he proceeded to dunk her in the water, apparently to cleanse her of her sins.

After lunch we took the bus into Hamilton, which is the bigger city at the other end of the island. It was a beautiful bus ride and a great way to see the island.

Yesterday we met up with our friends from SV Bistari, Josh, Tamara and Max, and hiked to the other side of St Georges to Tobacco Beach. Stella even got to go. I can’t even describe how beautiful it was.

Sadly, we must now leave Bermuda. However, I can’t wait to see the Azores. I’m sure it will be another spectacular set of islands.