Bermuda Blog

It has been a while since Mark has updated this blog, so I am going to give it a try. My goal is to post at least one entry per week. I am also going to go back and add some entries for the past several months. Obviously, it will not be possible to fill in all the gaps, but perhaps our photos will help remind me of the most memorable events.

So, I will start with today:

After three beach parties in 24 hours, today was a quiet day. Not much happened, unless of course you count a minor ant invasion and a major clean-up that followed. A few hours later and after a short nap, Mark made a nice tabouli salad for a late lunch and we went for a swim at John Smith's Bay.

It was late in the afternoon that we arrived there, but, really, it was fine since we got too a little too much sun yesterday at the Canada Day Party on Chaplin Bay beach (more about that later- hopefully!) The sea temperature has increased significantly in the last week or so, so the beach was a lot busier with people, even late in the day.

I read my book and Mark took yet another nap, while being serenaded by a ghetto blaster a short distance away.

On Warwick Long Bay Beach:

At Greg's Steakhouse:

Here are some of the photos from Mom's visit to Bermuda. Click on each for a larger version. Or click here to view a slideshow.

This week my mother has been visiting us here in Bermuda. My mother and father actually met in Bermuda, about 35 years ago. They were both working at the Inverurie Hotel (now known as The Wharf). After spending a few years in Bermuda, they moved to Toronto, were married, and soon thereafter, I was born.

And many years later, it just so happens that Michelle and I decided to move to Bermuda ourselves. We have been here for 1.5 years. My mother came this week for a visit, her first time back to Bermuda in 35 years.

Continue reading "Bermuda Reunions - 35 Years Later" »

Bermuda is expecting hurricane force winds today. Here are a few videos:

Today we had lunch a Coco Reef. After passing the "open daily for lunch" sign hundreds of times, today we decided to give it a try. Next to Elbow Beach on the South Shore, the restaurant at Coco Reef Resort has a great view of the ocean. There is an indoor dining area with large south-facing windows. We at outside on the large terrace. The lunch menu was short but innovative. The dishes seemed to have slight twists here and there. Michelle decided to go with the Lobster Club Sandwich, with lobster salad, bacon, lettuce tomatoes, and grilled pineapple on a panini bun - served with fries. I went for the "Tuna Taco": medium rare tuna with lettuce and salsa on a soft tortilla, served with a tasty salad of mixed greens. Both were very good, and serving sizes were adequate. I think we will have to return to try their version of Bermuda Fish Chowder. Here are some photos of the food and the view:

Tonight we watched the annual boat parade in Hamilton harbour. Last year we watched the parade from All Buoy's Point on the Hamilton side of the harbour. Michelle took a million photos, though I am not sure if we ever posted them here. This year we watched parade from a friends' boat -- the boat wasn't part of the actual parade, but we went out on the boat to watch the other boats go by. This year didn't seem as good as last year, but some of the boat looked quite good. This year we had great view of the fireworks afterwards, as we were practically below the display, which was quite good.

I will try to post some of Michelle's photos here soon, but in the meantime, you watch this video posted by Limey:

Today, as part of the crew of Jezebel, I particpated in the 2006 Bermuda J24 Nationals regatta. Last week the Nationals were canceled due to lack of wind, but they went ahead today. There were 5 races, opposed to the usual 3 on a Saturday. Jezebel put on her best perfomance of the year, finishing mid-fleet out of 13 boats! The highlight was race number 3 in which we were leading for most of the race -- it was quite nice to look back and see 12 boats behind us. Prior to start that race however, the race committee changed the course, posted a "2W" on the board. Having foegot our race card, we were not sure what that meant. Gavin's best guess was that it meant 2 laps and then a windward finish, but also made the comment "undoubtedly there will be a boat ahead of us, so we can just follow them...". Sure enough, as we approached the marker after 2 laps, there was not a single boat ahead of us! But our guess turned out to be right. Jezebel was soon overtaken by RHADical, but we held on to finish second, following very closely by Siren. We were (and still are) very excited about a second place finish, out of 13 boats.

Using a new Google feature, I have created a custom search engine for Bermuda web sites. The focus is on sites relevant to Bermuda residents, and less on travel information for those planning a trip to Bermuda. The search engine currently searches 77 sites, but the list is far from complete. Please, help me build the list of sites. A Google feature enables people to collaborate on building the custom search engine -- so please volunteer and together we can make this a comprehensive Bermuda search engine.

Here is the link (you may want to bookmark this one):

Bermuda Search Engine

Today, I was at home when a sudden thunderstorm arrived. Heavy rains and flashes of lightning included. This is Bermuda, and the weather can change from sun to storm very quickly, not uncommon.

Then I heard a ear-shattering "BOOOM!!" and I yelled out loud. It was so close that I thought that the lighning may have hot the house. I immediately turned to face the window, and I saw something fall from roof, though I could not see what it was. It seemed like the did get hit by lightning, though I could see no damage from the inside. A split second after the strike, the power went out.

After 10 minutes, the storm had passed and the weather was calm. I went outside to see what had fallen from the roof. Our front door is on the opposite side of the house from where I saw the object fall, so I was going to walk all the way around the house. But when I opened the front door, this is what I saw:

A large wooden beam was a few feet from out door. My first instinct was to look up towards the top of our roof, but nothing was there. Since our roof is painted white like every other Bermuda house, I didn't expect to see any broken wooden structure up there. Then I turned and look up at our neighbour's house, and realized where the beam came from:

The lightning had struck our neighbour's balcony, and the beam on the left side was thrown about 40 feet from the blast, landing a few feet from out door. Looking around, the driveway was littered with debris, parts of wood and tile and concrete. More amazing was that our Scooter was parked directly below the balcony, yet it was not hit by any debris from the explosion. It only had a few pieces of shredded palm leaf, from the tree next to the balcony. The blast must have been extremely powerful - not only did it throw a heavy beam 40 feet away, but at least one piece of debris was thrown over the roof of our house, the piece that I saw falling after the lightning had struck.

Here are some more photos: