We first made contact with Walter from “Madness” while waiting for Herb Hilgenberg to come up on the afternoon weather frequency on the Ham Radio. Because we were located on the New England coast, we couldn’t pick Herb up on his regular frequency and we had to wait for a half hour or so for Herb to check on his second station. We had a few conversations with Walter during those days and we even listened to the “Herb Show” after we arrived just to hear how Madness was making out. Apparently, he listened to our progress too, as we had left about a week before he did, and continued to check in for a weather window. We gave the crew of Madness a big wave and welcome when they sailed into the harbour. Walter’s crew headed for home a couple days after they arrived and his wife came to visit for a few days before his new crew arrives. Smart lady…not wanting to be involved in the big crossings. Dana flies home today and Walt’s crew arrives in a couple of days. They’ll be heading for Antigua by the weekend. You can check out their version of the crossing, and see an entertaining video that one of their crew assembled if you follow the link. Their passage wasn’t like ours, they were able to sit outside and even enjoyed a couple of movies and a swim while travelling!
We’ve had some fun times with Madness, Sayonara and Nomad: sundowners, dinners, bus and ferry rides. We said goodbye to Buck from “Nomad” this morning as he headed out for him home in Florida and will say goodbye to Madness later this week.
Yesterday, Dave and Kristen from “Sayonara” decided to travel into Hamilton to get an extension on their visa. Because we had arrived the same time as they had, we decided that we may as well go in and do the same. The Bermuda gov’t only allows you to stay for 21 days upon your first arrival, but will extend the stay after a long wait in their offices and a little extra money! Walter and Dana decided to come along and spend some time in the boat stores and touring around. The new winter schedule has only one ferry out of St. George’s early in the morning and a returning one in at the end of the day. All 6 of us were on the ferry by 7:45 am. The month bus pass we purchased is also good for the ferry, so it’s extremely economical! After spending 2.5 hours in the customs office, we shopped for boating parts and went to a wonderful hardware store. Brian will remember that it’s the one we discovered when we were trying to escape from the torrential downpour a couple of weeks ago!
We hopped on a bus to Horseshoe Bay where many were lounging, reading, swimming and playing soccer. The Bay was beautiful, even if the sand wasn’t quite pink, as advertised. It boasts the horseshoe shape and lots of sand, with another beach among towering coral outcrops to the side of it. After a wonderful (but expensive) lunch, we caught the next bus to the Dock Yard. Dana and Walter had never seen the Military Museum and the compound around it, and because we had been there twice before, they headed in, while we visited the little shops. We knew just where to go…straight for the famous Bermuda Rum Cake shop. Not because we were going to buy a cake, but instead, we needed to sample all 12 kinds of cakes again! We discovered a neat little restaurant “The Frog and Onion” where we’ll come back to sample their various kinds of beers with Sayonara’s crew (who had to return early to St. George)! We didn’t want to do everything all in one day!
We caught a ferry to Hamilton, and then another from there to St. George’s. We finished off the evening with “dark and stormies” aboard Cat Tales with Walter, Dana and Buck.
So, nice little adventures, and no mishaps.
Today, Laurie is rebedding the little starboard hatch that dripped onto Kent during the crossing, and I’m catching up on correspondence. This morning, the town began Armistice Day celebrations with cannon fire; causing Laurie to jump up and insist to our neighbouring boats that he was surrendering. The sun has followed a rain, making it beautiful but hot.
A beautiful red 55+’ sloop has been circling the harbour with its quarantine flag up, and with a man at the top of an amazingly high mast, attempting to free the top 20% of their torn mainsail, so not everybody is having a lovely day. The boat is part of a large group arriving today, who probably jumped off the continent as soon as Hurricane Paloma began to fizzle.
Cheers for now,
Dawn (& Laurie)
