Cruise- Part 2

In the afternoon, we took a ferry across to Hamilton, the capital of Bermuda. We walked along the harbor until we reached the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute. We learned about the various vessels and suits people have made to explore the underwater world. We learned about non-native species that are taking over the area, such as lion fish. Lionfish are from Asian waters, but were most likely introduced to the Atlantic by fish hobbyists. They are already around FL and up the eastern coast of the US, but also are coming close to Bermuda. They eat the baby fish of the species that are native to ecosystems, leaving fewer fish to sustain those ecosystems. Something I found interesting is that they are trying to get restaurants and fish markets to offer lionfish as a means to raise the demand for them by fishermen. Their slogan is Eat them to beat them! We then saw how the underwater explorers excavate sunken ships and saw many relics found in these discoveries. One of the founders of the museum has discovered 100 shipwrecks in Bermuda's waters.

After our afternoon of education, we walked back along the streets of Hamilton. Many places were closed because of the celebration of the Queen's birthday and it was a weekend. We enjoyed the ferry ride back, taking pictures of the beautiful homes on the islands.

The next day, we only had until 2:30 to enjoy Bermuda. We stayed in the Royal Navy Dockyard to explore. First, we went to the National Museum of Bermuda. It had the keep, Commissioner's house and battlements used to protect the island from invaders. These were built in the 1800's. The Commissioner's house had artifacts from Bermuda's history including the slave trade, wars and sunken ships. Alexander loved the cannons! We walked around the battlements and Alexander wanted pictures with every cannon he could find. We walked along the wall of the fortress and some of the structures were off limits because they have not yet been restored and were unsafe. We also saw Dolphin Quest, which is where people can pay to swim with dolphins. At $175 a person, we decided we could just watch the dolphins from a distance. After getting some frozen yogurt, we walked around the rest of the Dockyard and did a bit of shopping.

Bob also got a picture from on top of a battlement of where we went snorkeling the day before.

That evening, we celebrated Father's day. I had asked the boys some questions two years ago about Bob. I asked them the same questions this year before we left on our trip and printed them out. I gave them to Bob before dinner. He enjoyed reading them. A highlight from Glenn's perception of Bob is about what he thought life was like when Bob was a child. He said, "He had to wear shirts and pants of certain colors because that was the law of that time." That really cracked us up. Alexander said that if Bob was a cartoon, he would be The Hulk. After dinner, we went to a review of Broadway by the ship's singers and dancers. They did a nice job and even entertained the boys.

We went to Nassau in the Bahamas. It was very dirty and we were hassled by the locals to take tours and buy things. So, it was not as enjoyable as Bermuda. The last full day, we went to Royal Caribbean's own island called CocoCay. It was wonderful! The ship's crew had a BBQ on the beach for us and we could walk around the island, lay in a beach chair, snorkel or go on the aqua park. The boys went on the aqua park (I didn't because of my toe). We saw a stingray and a shark! Don't be alarmed; it was only 2 feet long and wasn't looking for human feet to eat. 

We had a wonderful time and the boys were very sad to leave the ship. But we have memories to last forever!