Another Day in Bermuda


This morning we woke up at 9am.  Has been amazing to sleep in and get such great sleep while listening to the wind and water.  Riley slept in my parent’s room and was having a hard time going to sleep without her music.  So my mom opened the door to the balcony a little so that she could hear the music that the water makes.  Riley fell asleep almost instantly.

When we looked outside the window this morning, we could see Bermuda in the distance.  We took quite a bit of time just watching the boat pull into port.  Though on our side of the ship, it appears as though we are in the middle of the ocean still.  We have an amazing view of the island and can see the lighthouse, white buildings and the shape of the island from our balcony.  Very calm and beautiful.

I called room service and had them deliver some juice, coffee, muffins and yogurt.  We ate it and read a little.  Had more breakfast upstairs as we were still hungry.  We came back down to the room and read more.

We went upstairs to the café to meet everyone for lunch.  It was gorgeous looking over the turquoise water.  I’ve never seen water this blue and clear.  Amazing.

Then we exited the ship and set foot on Bermuda.  Can not even begin to describe how amazing this country is.  Gorgeous.  Absolutely gorgeous.  The tall palm trees.  Exotic vegetation.  Really cool tree trunks that have multiple trunks connected.  We went through the line and purchased a three day bus and ferry pass.  Then immediately got on the number 7 bus to go to Horseshoe Bay.  It is one of the most famous beaches and has light pink sand.

They drive on the opposite side of the road here and the streets are very narrow.  The main road we drove on had only one lane on each side.  The bus brushed across large bushes and you could hear the bushes hitting it as we drove.  Was wild.  We crossed the world’s smallest drawbridge.  Was teeny tiny.  And not much longer than our bus. 

The houses here are very tropical colors – bright orange, purple, blue, yellow.  Most yards are small and very steeply sloped.  We passed a famous golf course that looked amazing.  One round of golf is $185.  It only took about 20-30 minutes to get to the beach.  Riley giggled a lot and found the turns really funny as there weren’t seatbelts on the bus.

There was a sign on the side of the road that said “High Frequency Accident Area.”  The turns were so tight and the dropoff from the road so far down and steep.  The drivers all honked at each other often.

We exited the bus and walked across the road.  Then walked down a very steep road past many mopeds and bikes.  Reached the light pink sand.  Riley had never been on a beach before and loved the feeling of the sand in her toes.  She picked some up and put it down and loved the feel of it.

Jon had told us that a great spot for kids was located to the immediate right of when you enter the beach location.  He was right!  The waves were much smaller and it took longer for the water to get deep.  We found a rocky coral area for all of us to sit on and put our stuff.  Michael, Monica and my mom hung out there most of the time.  Jeremy, my dad, Riley and I went towards the water.  Riley was loving it.  She kept laying down in the sand and covering herself in sand.  She really wanted to make a sandcastle so my dad helped her try to make one.  We wrote her name in the sand.  She enjoyed walking through the water and had so much fun being at the beach.

Jeremy and I ventured up on the rocks that took us many feet above the beach for an incredible view.  It was great to climb and see such amazing rock formations.  Climbing down wasn’t as easy as getting up!

My dad took Riley into the other part of the beach where she could jump into the waves and experience a less calm part of the ocean.  He is the only Grandpa I know who would be wearing khaki shorts and get all wet with his grandkid just to let her experience it!  (and I think he wanted to experience it too!)

We took a small bus up to the top of the hill as Riley was tired from walking and carrying her up the hill would be near impossible.  There was already a bus waiting for us.  Though I was still wearing my bathing suit and Michael didn’t have on shoes so they wouldn’t take us half-dressed people on the bus until we were fully dressed.

The drive back was similar.  Only we were closed to the steep bluffs.  The driver definitely did not follow the speed limit and we got back very fast.  Riley was so tired so we took her back to the ship in our room to rest.  She watched a movie and got some room service.

We went to dinner with everybody at the restaurant Aqua.  It had a nice ambience and we enjoyed more good food.  There is definitely no lack of food!  Then made our way down to the Stardust Theater to watch an amazing show of two acrobats.  Ilia and Valerie had toured with Cirque de Soleil and they were incredible.  Ilia twirled this oversized box made of lightweight metal rods.  Then rode on long pieces of fabric up into the air and Valerie would hold his hands and do amazing stunts while he held her.

I took Riley to the potty and the seat looked dirty as there were brown lines cut into the seat.  I explained that it was just older and that it was clean, but it looked dirty because of the marks.  She sat down and said “I feel like I’m sitting on trash!” 

After the show, we went down to the atrium where we were going to watch and possibly do a little swing dancing ourselves, but they weren’t playing swing music and Riley was getting tired.  So we met my mom up at our room and took Riley for the night so they could stay up and have some fun with Monica and Michael.

I knew that Dennis, our main steward, would need to convert the couch into a queen bed for Riley.  So I told Jeremy I was going to call for him at room service.  Jeremy looked at me like “huh??!!”  and I told him that I was calling for Dennis to come change it and that I’d get ahold of him at room service.

So the call went like this:

RS:  Room Service.
Me:  Hi.  Would it be possible for someone to come and turn our couch into a bed?
RS:  Is something wrong with your bed?
Me:  No.  Our bed is great!  We just need the couch turned into a bed so our daughter can sleep in our room tonight.
RS:  Oh.  Ok.  Well, then I will call someone and find somebody to do that for you.

Was very kind of them to find Dennis for us as I was such a dork and called the Room Service number which takes care of food!  Duh.

Jeremy said that room service is never going to answer our calls again because I call them for ridiculous things.  Yesterday night, I called them because there were all these drinks listed on the room service menu and no prices next to any of them except the wines and beers.  So I told Jeremy I was thirsty and wondered if I could get some gingerale.  Jeremy said that I could get some if we wanted to pay, but I could ask if I wanted to.  So I called.  Here was the conversation from last night with Room Service (RS).

RS:  Room Service.
Me:  Hi.  I was wondering what drinks I could order that are free.
RS:  Oh.  Uh.  Only ice water.
Me:  Ok then.  I will take some ice water.
RS:  You want some ice water?
Me:  Yes.
RS:  Anything else?
Me:  No thank you.
RS:  Ok.  We will send someone with ice water to you.

Jeremy was laughing because we had a whole bucket of ice and plenty of water we could use from the sink.  When I found out we had a bucket of ice, I felt like an idiot.  But at that point, the room service had already delivered the ice water.  And I must say, to my credit, it was wonderful ice water so I was glad I had ordered it J

Riley became hungry tonight so we took her up to the café and got some pineapple.  So delicious!!  Now we’re back in the room at 10pm and winding down our night.  We’ll wake up early tomorrow and travel to the Zoo, Aquarium and Museum for some fun with Jon and Allison.  If there is time, we’ll try to do the Caves as well, but we might save that for Tuesday if Riley is tired or if we run out of time.

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