Yesterday, we mostly worked the western side of Bermuda. Today, we rode around the eastern half. We knew there would be rain at some point starting in the afternoon, so we tried to get an early start. We decided to ride to the furthest point and slowly work our way back toward the hotel. Our first stop was Tobacco Bay Beach. We were the only people there.
Yes, there were more rock formations, but they were different! These were more pointy, see?
In the water, we noticed some very brightly colored fish — some an aquamarine hue while others were an intense royal blue. They had the same shape, so perhaps they are the same species? Emily would know.
After some quality time watching fish and looking at pointy rocks, we got back in the saddle. The wind was picking up a bit, so when we had to go across a causeway, I had to slow down because it seemed like we were getting blown away. Just on the other side of the causeway were a pair of caves.
We had to pay for entry, but a small price to pay for what was essentially a private tour. The guy said he normally takes down groups of 60 at a time. We went inside the one called Crystal Cave, named for its crystal-colored stalactites.
The story goes that two 13-year-old boys lost their cricket ball, and naturally assumed it had gone into the dark abyss. Cricket is very important to commonwealth nations, so venturing into a pitch black cave with nothing but a kerosene lamp in hopes of finding a cricket ball was an understandable risk.
We went back out the same way we came in, across a floating foot bridge and up a set of 90 steps. The 13-year-old boys looking for their cricket ball didn’t have these luxuries.
After the caves, we went to a place called Spittle Pond. It was a sort of nature trail. Near the shoreline, the wind was really whipping up. We could feel the ocean spray hitting us in the face, even when we were up on the cliffs.
There was a spot nestled into the cliff called “Jeffery’s Cave.” The sign posted nearby let us know that this was named for a slave that escaped and then hid in the cliff side for a few weeks until the search was called off. Another slave snuck out at night to bring him food and other necessities.
Following our trail at Spittle Pond, we continued our journey to the town of Hamilton. Both of us sort of envisioned a quaint town, but it was actually quite busy. Traffic was very heavy. While cars had to pay for parking, scooters could park for free (we think) in the narrow white spots.
We had a relatively inexpensive lunch which we ate outside. I had a fish sandwich and got a muffin for tomorrow morning. One has to plan ahead here. Just after leaving our outdoor table and ducking into a tchotchke shop for some souvenirs, it began to rain quite heavily. We waited out most of the heavy showers before walking back to our scooter, but even the light rain proved a challenge for the ride back to our hotel.
Luckily we both had our rain jackets with us, so that prevented us from getting completely soaked, but my face was really assaulted by the rain. For the rest of the afternoon, we relaxed back at our hotel and dried off. It was cozy listening to the rain through our open (now functional) balcony door. When the rain calmed down a bit, we took a scooter back to the rental place and had them drop us off at the grocery store to get a few items and hit up an ATM in preparation for our departure tomorrow. We had dinner on our balcony and reminisced a bit about our month away from America.
An outside observer might expect us to be eager to get back home, but that’s not the case. We would continue our journey, except we’ve almost exhausted the list of places that will allow us. Yesterday the United States had 181,196 confirmed cases of Covid-19. Tanzania had “zero,” Turkey had 2,116, Egypt had 228, the UAE had 1,096, Scotland had 1,118, and Bermuda had 5. And before discussing differences in population and availability of testing, remember that more than half of those countries require a negative test to get into their country and a couple of them require another test on arrival. These numbers are obviously included in the totals. When we arrive on U.S. soil tomorrow, there will be no test, no follow up test, no questionnaire, no temperature check, and no quarantine. We will be free to roam wherever we please without any regard for where we’ve been, what we’ve been doing, or what we plan to do. I guess that’s why it’s the land of the free.
passports & pepto bismol 