1-7th May Hinson Island, Bermuda 32:17.040N 064:48.249W
Whisper
Noel Dilly
Tue 7 May 2013 18:11
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"Hinson Island, Bermuda - 1-7th May"
We are continuing to enjoy our stay in Bermuda, the
ever changing temperature depending on whether or not the sun is shining is
taking some getting used to as the breezes are quite chill, but this could not
possibly cast a shadow on the perpetual reappearance of blue skies and
seas, it simply means removing or replacing ones sweater yet
again!
I feel that we have been adopted by our
lovely friends, who have made us most welcome into their home and
it is delight to share a relaxed social family meal with them and
their two teenage children each night. Janice is an excellent cook and we
have enjoyed her culinary skills and experiments! Thursday evening was
great fun as Eric and Janice took us across the bay in Little My
to the old Dock Yard. The bay is large and littered with reefs and we
found hurtling along the channels at speed quite exhilarating and such a novel
way to go out to dinner. We were glad to cower under the cuddy with the
wind screen washers working as the sea spray shot everywhere. Living
on an island and communicating by boat is such a normal way of life
to our friends and we are finding it great and enjoyable
fun. After a splendid meal we then had the excitement of navigating back
to Hinson Island in the dark. With navigation channel buoys flashing
and the lighthouse beacon sending out its great lume and the addition
of so many twinkling lights on the main island as well as the smaller
islands in the bay, it made spotting lights difficult for me.
With the aid of the boats spot light and our 'local boy's' expertise, we were
returned safely to Whisper! What it is to have local
knowledge!
The Dockyard is now the new cruise ship terminal,
it has been renovated over the years with many tourist attractions and a
magnificent Maritime Museum. The Commissioners House has
been splendidly renovated and is home to many wonderful exhibits
telling the history of the islands development over the years,
its famous ship wrecks, the slavery, the prisoners of war, the Bermuda
Races and much more. A local artist has painted an enormous three
storey high mural around the main hall stairway which tells
the story of the 500 years of Bermudan history. It is an amazing
piece of art, created using Acrylic paints. There is a most beautiful
book with pictures of each area which explains the related history.
Noel enjoyed a game of golf with Eric and a friend
on one of Bermudas many golf courses. The course was so pretty, the views
across the water were spectacular; the water features of several of the holes
were over coral inlets; we walked through mangroves and beautiful wooded areas
with all spice bushes; the flower beds beautifully maintained and so colourful;
yellow Chickadees sang in the trees and vivid Blue Birds flew across
the fairways. We also visited Gibbs Lighthouse and enjoyed
the stunning views across the island with its turquoise bays littered
with smaller islands and its many surrounding
reefs.
Sunday was another fun day, we were taken along to
a "Bird Watching Hike" at the Audubon Societies Nature Reserve. Our first
bird of the day was a Sea Osprey, spotted by us as we crossed the bay to
the Hamilton on our way to the Reserve! The hike was most
interesting and we learnt a lot about the fauna and the work involved in trying
eradicate the foreign species of trees and shrubs and restore the Nature Reserve
to its endemic species.. The highlight of the hike was the
opportunity to peep inside a Longtails nest and see the parent happily sitting
on its egg. As these birds do not have any predators this beautiful
creature was not the least disturbed as a few of us took turns to peek into the
small hole in the rock. Longtails are open ocean birds
and more commonly known as Long-tail Tropic Birds. Once the
youngster is able to fly they fly the tropical oceans feeding and remaining
at sea only returning to
land to breed. Their distinctive long tail is two
extremely long feathers surrounded by other smaller ones. They really are
stunning to watch flying overhead with the sun light reflecting on their
brilliant white feathers.
After our hike Eric and Janice took us to Horseshoe
Bay for a swim. The Bermudans in general feel that it is a little early to
swim as the sea is cold. This fact, I can confirm is true, but it was so
exhilarating and sitting in the sunshine drying off watching the Longtails
circling overhead was glorious. By now we had worked up an appetite so our
next stop was for lunch at the Pompano Beach Club. The beach and waters
here were a sight that was hard to believe. The bay is protected by
the reef and is very shallow, because of the reef there were no waves in the
bay, the water was flat calm and so blue that it was transparent and could have
been a manufactured swimming pool. The natural beauty on this island is
unsurpassable.
Today Eric took us on an expedition through their
'wild garden' area, down to the shoreline to check if they might have a
resident in either of their Longtail igloos which they made from rocks and
concrete to simulate a rocky cliff hole. Sure enough, sitting cosily
inside was a Longtail, again quite undisturbed by our presence. We
checked out their second one on the other side of their property which is
slightly more exposed but this one was unoccupied.
On the passage making side of our lives we
have been busy storing Whisper and she is now looking a little lower in the
water once again! Tomorrow, we will leave Hamilton Bay and head back up to
the north of the island and St George Harbour, in preparation for
our planned departure to the Azores on Saturday.
Photographs: "Dockyard - View from
Commissioners House"
"Nesting Longtail"
"Tranquil Waters"
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