It has been awhile since I posted to this blog. I originally created this site when I retired and Donna and I hit the road as full-time RVers. The intent was to keep family and friends up to date on our travels and life on the road. Four years ago, we bought a park model home at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort and sold the motorhome a little over a year later. So, I haven’t seen much point in posting about our activities as it gets redundant after a while. But, now I have something to post – our recent trip to Bermuda.

Why Bermuda? My youngest daughter, Shauna lives there with her husband, Gabe and our youngest granddaughter, Petra. They relocated to Bermuda shortly after Petra was born in Washington D. C. about four years ago. Shauna is an attorney working in the re-insurance industry in Hamilton, the capital of Bermuda. Bermuda is a British Overseas Territory, the government of the United Kingdom is the sovereign government although the island is self-governed. It seems a little convoluted to my mind.

Bermuda is an archipelago with several islands, but the “mainland” consists of a few islands connected by bridges making it seem like one land mass. It’s roughly crescent shaped and located a little over 650 miles east-southeast of Cape Hatteras on the outer banks of North Carolina. The climate is humid sub-tropical.

We decided to combine vacation time with family time to see where and how they live on the island. Donna found a deal on flights combined with a stay at the Hamilton Princess Beach Club and Hotel. It’s a waterfront resort with restaurants, a marina and luxury accommodations.

The flights to Bermuda included two legs on American Airlines – first to Washington D.C. then on to Hamilton, Bermuda. American Airlines did not impress me – their idea of first-class didn’t extend to the service. I’ve had better in economy flights.

Shauna and Gabe picked us up at the airport on the north end of the island – it’s actually on St. David’s island and is connected to the main island by a causeway. The drive back to Hamilton was disorientating as the roads wind along the coastline and arc from south to southwest and west into Hamilton. We stopped at the daycare and picked up Petra before we went to their apartment.

After a short visit and snacks, we headed to the Princess Hotel. I was whipped after having about an hour of sleep over the previous 36 hours – we were on a red-eye flight out of Phoenix.

At the check-in counter, we were directed to another reception area on the second floor. The bellman led the way and gave us a short tour and explained that we were booked on the Gold Floor with special privileges. Unbeknownst to me, we had access to a semi-private lounge area open only to Gold Floor occupants with daily breakfast, tea time from 2pm to 4pm, appetizers (dinner really) from 5pm to 7pm and desserts from 8pm to 10pm. The lounge had a deck overlooking the pool area and marina.

The Princess Beach Club and Hotel was much more luxurious than I imagined. Like the name says, it has an exclusive beach club open only to hotel guests and club members, two swimming pools, a few restaurants and bars and several high-end shops on the ground floor.

The next day was Friday. Shauna and family were having breakfast downtown. We wanted to walk along Front Street, the main drag in town. It’s on the waterfront and has lots of shopping and restaurants. We found Gabe, Shauna and Petra outside of the Chatham House, a shop were I wanted to check out the cigar selection. They had Cuban cigars, but the prices were too high I thought.

We walked together down Front Street until it became Broadway – this seems common in Hamilton, street names change as the road curves or something. I wanted to check out a cigar shop called Cuarenta Bucaneros (Forty Bucaneers) I found online. Gabe never heard of this shop and was a little skeptical when I told him where I thought it was located. We came across a police woman directing traffic and Gabe asker her about it. She’s never heard of it and said to go back to Chatham House for cigars.

We continued onward. Gabe looked it up on his phone and called the number. The guy told him where the shop was and we found it on the third floor over a furniture shop. This shop is the place for Cuban cigars in Hamilton. The prices were more reasonable than the cigars on offer at other places and are bonafide Cuban. Fake Cuban cigars are common in tourist areas.

We walked back into town and Shauna and company retrieved their bicycles to head home.

Shauna had the day off, but it was raining off and on in the late morning. We regrouped and went to the Swizzle Inn for lunch. A swizzle is the name of the local adult beverage – a unique rum drink that I can’t adequately describe although I had several samples.

Shauna and Gabe have a membership in an exclusive beach club and we went there after lunch for Petra’s swimming class. Gabe had an event to attend and also it was the first night of his improv group show, so he didn’t join us at the club. The swimming class ended up being cancelled due to the threat of thundershowers. Donna, Shauna and Petra swam anyway. I lounged by the pool and sipped a swizzle.

Back at the hotel I learned that the third and final tournament of the Bermuda Triple Crown marlin fishing contest was taking place. Many of the participants were staying at the Princess and the marina was full of sportfishing boats and super-yachts belonging to contestants.

I got in the habit of rising early – just before sun up and walking through the marina. The boats and yachts were impressive and I can’t imagine how much money was tied up there.

Carson is about 150 feet long with a thirty foot beam. It accommodates 10 guests in five suites and has a crew of 10. It’s valued at $20 million and has $2 million in estimated annual operating costs. The owner is Randy Ringhaven – he also had a sportfishing boat here for the tournament.

Another impressive yacht was D’Natalin IV.

This is a 165-foot yacht owned by Dennis Jones valued at $34 million.

Then there was Formosa.

Formosa is a 197-foot super yacht currently offered for sale, for just about $55 million. You can charter this yacht for under $500,000 per week!

The tournament winner was Builder’s Choice out of North Carolina – they were docked at the Princess marina. Their total winnings for the Triple Crown was over $490,000!

We walked to town again on Saturday to see the Gombeys dancers perform at the waterfront. We hung out and took a few photos, but the performers didn’t show up. Oh well, I guess they were on island time.

The architecture in Hamilton is an eclectic mix of old and new.

Bermuda was first inhabited in 1609 when a British ship wrecked on the reef there during a storm. There were no indigenous people in Bermuda due to the lack of a fresh water source. Fresh water on the island is mainly collected by rainfall and desalination plants.

On Saturday, we went to a beach to do some snorkeling. It was a bust for me, I had some low blood pressure issues that I attributed to being out of sync with my medication. We weren’t there for long. Shauna and Donna went to see Gabe’s show that evening, while I stayed back at the hotel to rest.

On Sunday, we met at the ferry terminal in town and took the ferry to the Royal Navy Dockyard – locally it’s just called “Dockyard.” We had lunch there and wandered around for a bit. Gabe had reserved a pontoon boat rental from 2pm to 6pm. We took the pontoon boat to an area called Cambridge Beach.

A late afternoon storm was brewing – this is common in Bermuda at this time of year. The rain comes and goes and it’s usually short-lived. At this time of year, the daily highs are mid-80s with 80%+ humidity and the nighttime low drops only to about 80 degrees.

Back at Dockyard, we ran into Simon from the cigar shop. He was taking the same ferry back to Hamilton as us. It’s a small island and everyone seems to know each other.

On Monday morning, Donna and I took the jitney (a free bus from the hotel to the Princess private beach) to check out the Princess beach. It’s a beautiful club on a sheltered sandy cove with shallow, calm water.

We couldn’t stay at the club for long – we were meeting up for lunch at Brew on Front Street in Hamilton. We had lunch with Shauna, Gabe and Petra and then rode to the airport to drop off Shauna. She had to travel to New York city for work. Gabe and Petra would join her there on Wednesday. Dropping off Shauna was heart breaking. Petra cried for her mum for some time as we left the airport.

We went back to the kiddie pool at their club at Tucker’s Beach. We had a rain shower at the pool with large raindrops for a few minutes.

I had chartered a sport fishing boat for Tuesday. It was looking iffy as wind and choppy water was forecasted. Late Monday, we got the green light to head out Tuesday morning. Donna and I took an early morning taxi to Robinson’s Marina at Somerset. It was a $40 taxi ride. Gabe and Petra didn’t join us as Gabe wasn’t feeling well. It was a good call – the seas were rough with swells of four to six feet and choppy whitecaps.

We met Captain Curly and the Reel Addiction deckhand Bruce and headed out to sea before 7:30am. Reel Addiction was highly recommended to me by a few people in Bermuda and I had reserved the boat several weeks before our trip.

It took about half an hour to get out past the reef. The sea floor drops to a depth of about 2,000 feet past the reef. We trolled for marlin on the way out. Our destination was an underwater “mountain,” a bank where the water depth is only about 180 feet deep. This is where the fish congregate and feed.

We had five lines in the water – two on outriggers on each side of the boat with top water lures, two on down riggers 10 to 18 feet deep with ballyhoo (gar) bait and one with a marlin top water lure rig.

We only saw one other boat out at the bank and it was Bruce’s brother. As we passed near the boat, one of the lines hit. I had a fish on!

While I was battling the fish from the fighting chair, another rig was hit by a fish. Donna manned the pole at the starboard corner – we had a double! We brought in a couple of yellowfin tuna. This was Donna’s inaugural deep sea fishing experience.

A little while later, I had another fish on. It was a large wahoo, but it threw the hook when Bruce was just inches away from gaffing it.

The next hit was Donna’s turn. She had to work to bring in a wahoo, but she learned quickly how to pull the rod up slowly and wind it down quickly. These fish take the bait at full speed and don’t slow down. They will peel a lot of line off of the reel before you can get them stopped and turn them back toward to the boat.

We were using stout fishing rods with large reels. Bending these rods takes a considerable pull.

We ended up with two wahoo and one yellowfin for each of us, plus the wahoo I didn’t land. On the way back in, Bruce filleted one side of the larger yellowfin for us to take with us. The fish were kept in a well on board the boat with very cold water – just above freezing. He double bagged the fillet in an ice-filled bag.

It was a very expensive charter, but the memories for Donna and me are priceless.

Back at the Princess, we had made arrangements to have the fish prepared at 1609 Restaurant. We met with the chef and discussed the dinner prep and gave him the fish. Later, Petra and Gabe joined us for dinner at the restaurant. First course was ceviche with the freshest yellowfin we’ll ever have.

The ceviche was melt-in-your-mouth delicious. We ordered a few side dishes and the main course was seared yellowfin. Again, cooked to perfection and most delicious.

Bringing your own fish doesn’t carry much in the way of a discount and 1609 is pricey! But it was worth it.

The next day we checked out at noon. Gabe and Petra picked us up to go to the airport. Gabe and Petra had a flight to New York and we were going home. Once again, American Airlines was underwhelming, but we made it home safely.