Bermuda: busy days….

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Into January we found ourselves deciding to stay a few weeks longer in Bermuda. We still had much to sort out at our home and we wanted to spend more time with family.

Walks were wonderful!

Our walks continued. John and I would set off from our house with Winter for the beach walks and along the dunes. Ethan too would come sometimes.

We had our granddaughter May for a day before she started big school. Yes, already starting real school…..

Southshore beach walks: Longbay, Horseshoe Bay, Jobson’s cove, Stonehole and others

Heading out with May we decided on a long walk, Ethan and Winter came along.

May is always full of energy, so this was a 2 hour walk where we really explored every cove between Warwick Longbay and Horseshoe bay.

It was a cooler, lovely, day for a walk. Later that day John also took May to the playground. She has abundant energy!

Devonshire Bay to Arial Sands

We met up with Gavin, Katie, Lily and Eve for a walk along the shoreline at Devonshire Bay near their home. It was fun visiting an area that I hadn’t seen for many years, when we last lived in that area of Bermuda.

The girls just love exploring and climbing the cliffs. I admit I really found their cliff climbing a bit nerve wracking, after all Eve is only 3, but they are able rock climbers.

Afterwards, on our way back to Gavin’s we saw fishermen cleaning their catch at Devonshire Bay. One was a Lion-fish spear fisherman.

He was part of a group that weekly hunt Lion-fish. They then carefully remove their poisonous fins, double wrap them and dispose them to be burnt…..the poisonous fins are he told us they are still poisonous for up to 2 days. They clean the Lion-fish meaty fillets for eating.

Spittal Pond

Another day we went with May, Ethan and Winter, and met Gavin, Lily and Eve at Spittal Pond for a hike around the reserve. I have always enjoyed Spittal Pond as it is a great mix of coastline, cliffs, pond and woodland trails.

We walked by the Checkerboard area. This is a natural limestone formation along the shoreline where the rocks have naturally eroded into a checkerboard pattern. From there we trekked up to the cliff top where we looked at the entrance to the cave where escaped slaves had hidden during slavery times. The cave is called Jeffery’s hole/cave. The 3 young ladies were itching to climb down inside, but not today they were told.

Further up the cliffs we viewed Portuguese Rock, (when I was young it was Spanish Rock). This has an engraving that dates back to pre colonial times when the first folks to visit left an engraving, now recognised as Portuguese pre-colonials, from the time of the great explorers.

Downhill we trooped looking at the birds around the ponds and finally following the trail through the wooded area back to the car park.

Ferry Reach park/reserve

We had an excellent walk on the Sunday before we flew back. John and I had to go for our PCR covid test in St Georges to apply for our travel visa. We met up with Gavin, Katie, Lily and Eve at Ferry Reach beforehand.

Ferry Reach is a very large parkland/reserve. It was a very windy, cool day. Ferry Reach is on the north shore of Bermuda and the winter winds blow in from the north, the winds were blasting and the seas were throwing up salt spray. We walked the trails around the furthest shoreline and to the little island near where the ferries crossed in the days before the bridge.

Up we trooped to Marlow Tower and down to the magazine below. Unfortunately the ruins need to be restored as they are crumbling in areas.

We passed the beach where whalers used to flay the whales and rounded uphill to a yellow fever cemetery dating back to the 1800s. Again it was an excellent walk.

Next we headed to our covid appointment. There we found dozens of others awaiting the travel tests for incoming and exiting folks.

The boring everyday…..

For a good part of the time John and I were busy doing maintenance, making arrangements for work to be carried out on the house, having Doctor appointments and many meetings with folks of all types – all the boring necessary stuff.

And we decided to put a new kitchen in the upstairs part of our house. This of course took up several days. Dismantaling, tearing out the old, meeting and organising with the kitchen designer. Selecting tiles, kitchen cabinetry new appliances etc. Plus setting up and starting with the tiler, the plumber etc…..

Before we knew it we were headed again to the airport to fly back to Aeeshah in the Rio Dulce.

For our return we had a PCR covid test, had to submit it to get a Guatemalan travel visa. (Nothing was needed for the USA). We flew from Bermuda, overnighted end in Atlanta, flew out early arriving in Guatemala at 12:15

we were out of the airport within 15 minutes and into our drivers car for the drive back. By 7:00pm we were back on Aeeshah, exhausted, but very happy to be back.