After listening to the roar of the Leviathan the night before, I stuffed toilet paper in my ears before going to bed last night, hoping it would muffle the sounds a little. It seemed to work . . . until the middle of the night when I was awoken by an altogether different terror.
James was standing in the middle of the cabin, making horrible noises. In my groggy state, I had no idea what to make of it. At first I thought he was having a walking nightmare, but soon it became apparent there was something physically wrong with him. He was making desperate gasping sounds, and it appeared that he was choking. Joe of course had also woken up, and he quickly asked James what he needed. James made some gesture and Joe hurried to the bathroom and came back with a glass of water. He was still gasping so badly that it was impossible for him to drink it. He sat down on the bed, and gradually - very slowly indeed - he seemed to recover, though once he was able to breathe, he began having violent coughing fits. Finally he was able to drink the water, and talk coherently.
He said he'd had these fits twice before, both within the past six years. Always he is awakened from a sound sleep unable to breathe. He said he can breathe in but can't seem to breathe out. From what little I know, it sounded like some sort of asthma attack or possibly sleep apnea. After awhile, we went back to bed, though he jokingly said he couldn't promise it wouldn't happen again every two hours. Luckily, it didn't. It must have been a very scary experience for him, as I know it scared me just watching it happen!
Joe is an early riser and got up before us, and went out to walk around the ship. When he came back in he reported he and the women were going up to the Garden Cafe for breakfast. I didn't even think it was that time, and didn't know the women were even up. They went on their way without us, and after a we got up and ready James and I headed up to the Garden Cafe ourselves.
From the Cafe on Deck 12 we were able to see Bermuda off in the distance. There was no sign of the others, so after we ate we walked around Deck 7, thinking they might be on the port side waiting to watch the ship dock. We couldn't find them there either, but finally located them back in the women's cabin. We all went up to Deck 7 and together watched as we got closer to the wharf and docked.
We knew we still had a little while before we could disembark so we went back up to the Garden Cafe and some of them got a little more to eat before heading out for the day, but I didn't get anything.
When the time came, we disembarked. On the wharf I was grabbed by a rather handsome pirate to get my picture taken with him by the ship's photographer, and Lois and one of the Beckys (maybe both?) also got into the picture as well.
Joe's goal for the day was to go swimming at Snorkel Park Beach, so we quickly headed in that direction. It was a very short walk from the ship. The first thing I did when I got there was call Hartley's Helmet Dive to confirm our dive for Monday. When my parents were in Bermuda in the late 1960's, they did a helmet dive, and after seeing their pictures underwater surrounded by exotic fish, it was something I have always wanted to do. When I presented the idea to the others, James was the only one who said he would go with me, but on Thursday night Becky said she would give it a try as well. When I had called last week to give them my credit card info, the person I spoke with (he was the son of the company's founder, I believe his name is Greg) told me to call them just as soon as the boat docked to confirm and make sure they didn't have to reschedule on account of the weather. So I called this morning, and spoke with a woman who said we were still on for 1:00 PM tomorrow.
Snorkel Park Beach was a nice little beach, and while it had its own beauty, it didn't seem to have that picture perfect Bermuda Beach postcard look to it. The water was a beautiful turquoise blue, but the sand didn't look any different from the sand on any other beach I have ever been to - I have always heard about Bermuda's beaches having pink sand. One side of the beach was an immense rock wall at the top of which sat an old fort with a canon pointed out over the water.
The other side of the cove was a natural rock jetty. On this right near the shore were two very large old driftwood stumps, which to me anyway were one of the more striking elements of the beach.
Joe rented some beach umbrellas and chairs for the three ladies, so they could sit in the shade, as there was no natural shade on the beach at all. It was VERY hot, and the sun was pretty intense. Later some clouds did move in and we even felt a few drops of rain, but it didn't cool it down at all.
I was the first one in the water, which was much cooler than I had expected, but I adjusted to it and it felt refreshing. Joe and James were right behind me. We were able to walk out a good distance without the water going above our shoulders, but sand gave way to a lot of rocks that made walking uncomfortable. There were schools of little tiny fish swarming around, and occasionally some larger ones. At one point I saw a couple of lovely tiger stripped fish.
I went back to the beach to put on some sandals, and to tell the ladies they might want to put something on their feet to make walking on the rocks easier. Becky E. stayed in her beach chair under her umbrella most of the time we were there, though eventually Lois and Joe persuaded her to go wading and she at least go her feet wet.
Just a ways out there was a big round piece of concrete under the water with a heavy, rusty chain attached to it. When Becky and Lois first came into the water I showed it to them, and held up the chain. It suddenly dawned on me, that this must be the "plug", and if I pulled hard enough it might come out and drain the entire ocean dry! It certainly did look like a giant drain stopper. I told this to Becky and Lois, and a man who was nearby saw me holding the chain and he called out "Don't pull the plug!" Becky said "At least not while you're standing so close to it!". I realized doing so might suck me down the drain, so I left it alone, and we went on our way.
Lois was quite amusing to watch. She is nervous about EVERYTHING, and a day at the beach was no exception. I did what I could to ease her nerves, little things like telling her the fish that were swimming near us were most likely piranhas . . . Though she could see people standing up with their heads well above water a good ways out, she was quite fearful that she would end up going in over her head. Of all of us - except for Joe - she is probably the best swimmer. Or at least may have been at one time. She is 70 now, but quite spry for her age, and I think she probably could have swam if she needed too. She said she wanted to try to swim but was afraid she would swim out too deep. Becky pointed out that she could avoid that possibility by swimming in the direction of the shore, a thought which Lois apparently had not considered.
At one point when we were all in the general vicinity of each other, a medium size fish jumped out of the water right near me and leaped his way through where we were gathered. Of course, he headed straight for Lois, who didn't know what was happening and thought she was indeed being attacked. She screamed quited loudly, and fell back into the water, but even then I don't think she went completely under. The rest of us were quite amused, and once Lois gained her composure, she was laughing about it too - though I think she still believes the fish had intentionally singled her out for attack.
(Below: Joe snorkeling.)
Joe had said he planned to spend the entire day at the beach, but about this time he said he was ready to leave. I hadn't thought I would stay for the whole day, but I probably would have liked to stay a little longer than we did. I am not a beach person at all, but on the rare occasions that I do go, I seem to enjoy myself.
On our way out we stopped for a picture sitting (or standing!) in a gigantic wooden beach chair. I tried to get Joe in the picture too, but he said he didn't want to, so he took the pictures for us.
Some of the others wanted to buy souvenirs, so we went into the nearby Bermuda Craft Market. I didn't see anything that interested me, but Lois bought a huge stack of postcards, and I think some of the others bought some things as well.
From there we went across the street to the Bermuda Maritime Museum, the grounds of which included the fort at the top of the cliff we had seen from the beach. Admission was $10.00 per person, but Joe generously paid for everyone's ticket. We did a what felt like a rather rushed tour of the grounds, and I can't say I learned much at all about the history of the place. We ended up at a large mansion called The Commissioner's House. Here there were some interesting exhibits, including one about the history of slaves in Bermuda, and another on the connection between the Portuguese from the Azores and Bermuda. The later I was interested in as my paternal grandfather's family came to New Bedford MA, from the Azores.
Probably the most fascinating thing in the Commisnioner's House was a stairway hall, with walls covered by a very colorful mural that encompassed almost every element and detail of Bermuda's history. It was very interesting, and one could have spent several hours just studying that.
(Below: A portion of the mural showing a woman in a Dunking Chair.)
While we were at the Commissioner's House, Becky E. started feeling a little poorly, and Joe seemed to be tiring. I don't think the heat agreed with him too well. So he, Becky E. and Lois all went back to the ship. James, Becky C., and myself stayed at the mansion for awhile longer, but then ended up heading back as well. There are a few things I want to see while I am here, but it will be hard to find the time. These include, The Gibbs Hill Lighthouse, The Crystal Caves, The Unfinished Church, and The Dunking Stool. I had hoped to see maybe one or two of those today, but it didn't work out. Tomorrow will be hard (unless I get up early), as the Helmet Dive will take up most of the afternoon. I may have to go off on my own on Tuesday, but again would need to get a fairly early start, so I can get back to the boat before it leaves!
After we were all back at the ship, everyone except Joe and myself went up to the Garden Cafe for ice cream. Ice cream certainly sounded good after being out in the heat all day, but we were going to be having dinner in another hour, so I decided to skip it. When it was dinner time, everyone except James and myself wanted to eat at the Garden Cafe. The cafe is fine for breakfast and lunch, but it is noisy and chaotic, and for dinner I want to be able to sit down and relax a little. James said he wanted to check out one of the "pay" restaurants, which require an additional cover charge, so I decided to tag along with him.
We went down and checked the menus at the Service desk, and decided on La Cucina, the ship's Italian Restaurant. Here we had a very good meal, very relaxing and peaceful, at least compared to the Garden Cafe. I had a tomato and mozzarella plate for an appetizer, cheese tortellini for the entree, and a flourless chocolate torte for dessert, all for just $10:00.
After dinner we found the others still up in the Garden Cafe. I wanted to go see the evening's entertainment in the Stardust Theatre, a Ventriloquist named Kenny Bryd. Everyone else came with me except Joe, who said he was not big on shows. The program had been advertised as being appropriate for all ages, but there was a fairly large section of it that was "raunchy" (to borrow the word my mother would have used to describe it). I don't think Lois and Becky C. appreciated that part of it too much, but they did laugh quite a bit at other parts, and seemed to enjoy themselves overall. Becky E. especially seemed to have a good time, and it was nice to see her having fun, when she's had such a rough trip so far. As for myself, I thought the show was OK, but he was no Edgar Bergin . . . I felt parts of the show lagged, and were not terribly funny. His best bits were when he involved members of the audience, especially his closing act where he called up two people, and using them as his "dummies" sang "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" with his voice as they moved their lips.
(Below: James, The Beckys, and Lois at the Stardust Theatre.)
After the show, everyone else went back to the cabins, and I went up to the Garden Cafe for just a dish of sherbet. Then I came down here to Deck 7, where I have sat writing this and looking out at the lights on the shore. In the distance I can see the revolving beacon of what I assume is Gibbs Hill Lighthouse. I hope I can get a closer look at it before we leave Bermuda.
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