PHOTO ALBUM –>>. https://photos.app.goo.gl/K3U5Kuce1iz9X47u6
Fern Island camp
Camping at Fern Island has been a family tradition since approximately 1985. Back then we would pack up the children, our animals, supplies, tents and food heading off to Fern Island for a few weeks of camp. It was a very rustic camp originally, now there is a toilet, be it a hand pumped toilet. Plus inside has new mattresses on the bed frames, there is a great barbecue and a gas burner stove for cooking. We used to cart out our own barbecue, small camp stove and propane tank.
Gavin, our son, runs/organises the camp these days. John went out on the Thursday to help Gavin mow the grass, set up and prep for us all to arrive.
John and I went out on the Friday, taking our granddaughter May and Grandson Quest with us to stay till Saturday night.
The children were literally bursting with excitement, Gavin Katie, Lily and Eve picked us up at Darrell’s wharf, Chrissie waving goodbye from the dock. She and Quest had just been cleared from nearly a month of quarantine, she was looking forward to a break and he was needing his cousins to play with.
- Across to Fern we sped.
Already at Fern were, Audrey, Sean and their 3 girls, Melody and her 2 girls plus 2 friends. To arrive later were Daniel, Stuart and his daughter. Yes, it was a camp of mainly children.
Ours, May, Quest, Eve and Lily were hungry as it was lunch time. After quickly dropping our bags inside we had a pizza lunch.
At Fern, time is spent swimming,
watching the children and chatting/reminiscing…. The time passes quickly, soon it was dinner – platters of sushi.
Evening playtime followed and then bed in a tent.
John and I had 1 tent and facing us we had May and Quest in the other tent. The children were perfectly happy in the tent and fell off to sleep.
Later, I found sleeping on a sleeping bag on the ground to be gruelling! Just dreadful, plus several of the others, including John were still up, chatting and enjoying their drinks, their voices kept me awake too. It was a night that I decided was not to be repeated…and I was itching throughout the night, found out in the morning I had ants crawling on me too, thus the itching. The kids were up at 1st light, John had a heavy head and I was exhausted.
We enjoyed breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon in a burrito.
The kids were happily fishing, playing games, colouring, and reading stories
and then it was time to head off down to the dock for more swimming.
Chrissie arrived with Ruben, Kate arrived with Fabio and a friend.
Soon it was time for lunch after which most folks went off on Gavin’s boat to go and do some cliff jumping while we stayed with Chrissie and Kate and their friends.
Once again swimming between the dock and pontoon.
Plus they played with a few jet skis that had been left behind. After hours in the water everyone enjoyed relaxing around the camp, the kids watching iPads and the adults chatting…..
Everyone had a wonderful afternoon!
Dunes and beaches
John and I enjoy walking along the dunes that are behind the beaches near our home. It’s a beautiful walk. The summer heat does make the walk challenging, but the sea breeze helps to make it more comfortable.
We walk along the dune as far as Horseshoe Bay and then back along the trails above the coves to Warwick Long Bay.
Hurricane Larry
Came towards the island bringing high seas and raging surf.
We went to Gavin’s home at different times to sea gaze. The property sits on a peninsular by Devonshire Bay and so you get a really good feel for the surf that rolls in. It was vicious, unrelenting surf, crashing into the shore, rolling over the walls, constantly thundering seas.
One gets mesmerised standing and watching so that when a wave crashes close by it surprises you back to the present. Larry kicked up the seas, passed and became a memory.
September is a birthday month
There was Gavin’s 44th, (unbelievable my little boy is that age); Quest’s 4th, where has time gone? And John’s 69th, damn we are clocking up the years…..
There was a small birthday celebration for Quest’s birthday at Gavin and Katie’s house. The pool is where the grandchildren wanted to be.
The girls, Lily, May and Evie are all excellent swimmers, Quest is learning. Katie had bought a slip and slide.
It was set up on the hillside near the pool. Well, it was a tremendous hit! The girls just went full out slipping and sliding. They would take a full run at the slide, dive down on it and shoot to the bottom.
I could not imagine what would have happened to me if I had tried that….but, Kate, Katie and Gavin had turns too….It really looked uncomfortable for an adult skidding to a stop on the grass at the end.
Everyone had a fun filled afternoon.
Time to get back to our Aeeshah and Chico
Covid had started to rampage through Bermuda again. The numbers were rapidly rising, getting a leaving test was challenging, but we managed to get our negative PCR and were on our way home to Aeeshah.
