Day 7: Bermuda

So have your figured out where we arrived this morning?  Don't get me wrong this cruise is a blast but the worst sleep ever!  NEVER booking a guaranteed room . . . never ever again!  I was almost at the point of walking upstairs to see what was going on and causing so much noise but resisted.  We woke up in beautiful Bermuda!  I have never been to Bermuda, but I can tell it is going to be fabulous!  Our first activity of the day was the North Star.

It reminds me of the London Eye.  You enter this capsule and ascend 300 feet above sea level with 360-degree views.  The only time slot I could get was this morning.  Which turned out good so we will have great views of the island.

We head out to grab a quick breakfast as did the other 5,000 people on the boat so we get it to go and head to our cabin to enjoy.  I head right for the balcony!

Seriously, does it get any better than this?  Our excursion wasn't until after lunch so I told Colin we would enjoy the activities on board a bit before got off.  It was like a ghost town which was so nice.  We headed to the SeaPlex to have a flashback to my childhood . . .

. . . I was just hoping to not break any bones!  It took me a bit, but I got it all back; maybe I wasn't as fast as I once was, but I did not fall!  We grabbed our gear and headed off the boat.  I wanted to go visit the Bermuda National Museum which was a short walk; Colin wasn't so thrilled.

As we were walking around he saw a sign for Dolphin Quest and asked to go check it out.  He has been asking to interact with dolphins so I humored him.  I figured since there were two cruise ships in port they would be all booked, but they just happened to have a time slot for tomorrow morning.  I booked it, and he was thrilled!  He said his bucket list is getting shorter.  We continued walking around the museum . . .

. . . these sheep have a very nice view while they graze!  We exited the museum and just roamed around the town.  It was the nicest cruise port we have been to so far.  It was clean and no beggars asking for money.  Totally just friendly people going about their day to day life.  It was time for our Bermuda Triangle Shipwreck Snorkel so off we went to meet our group.  We boarded the boat and headed out . . .

The water is so blue it looks fake.  It was just amazing . . . on the way there we had a nice history of Bermuda and the shipwrecks.  There are over 300 recorded shipwrecks off the coast of Bermuda.  Today we are only going to visit two . . .

Awesome!  It was perfect and loved every second.  I noticed Colin got back on the boat and was feeding fish.  I could not figure out why but just let him be while I enjoyed viewing the shipwrecks and fish.  We were able to see two shipwrecks . . . Montana and Constellation.  I spent more time above the Constellation because there were tons of fish in that area.  Here is the story of the Constellation . . .

The Constellation, a 192 foot wooden four-masted schooner was on its way from New York to Venezuela carrying a cargo of bags of cement, several hundred cases of whisky and several different types of drugs. After leaving New York, the ship encountered stormy seas, causing the 24 year old vessel to leak at the seams. After several days of manual pumping, the crew could no longer keep up with the incoming water so Captain Howard Neaves decided to stop in Bermuda for repairs. On July 30, 1942, while waiting for a local pilot to come out to guide them through the unmarked channel, the ship was pushed onto the shallow barrier reef, sinking her. All hands were saved and the U.S. Navy, undoubtedly following Bermuda protocol, salvaged all 700 cases of whisky and a few other pieces of cargo.  Since wood is biodegradable, most of the hull of the Constellation has long rotted away in our warm sub-tropical waters, leaving exposed thousands of bags of hardened cement, her main cargo, panels of glass, slate and iron fittings that were once part of the actual ship. The shipwreck of the Constellation now sits in 15-25 feet of water easily visible in every detail from the surface while snorkeling. 

So here are the bags of hardened cement and lots of fish . . .

 

 

When the excursion was over, and we were headed back to port; I asked Colin why he got back on the boat.  He showed me his arm . . .

 

Apparently, he was bit by a fish.  It isn't that big of a deal but felt a little bad that I stayed in the water and blew him off.  We arrived back on board and were starving!  We grabbed a quick snack and right back to the room for a nap before dinner at American Icon again.  It was a great day!