Welcome to Bermuda

Firstly, for the benefit of those of you who have randomly entered this blog while skiving off work, my name is Josh and I've recently moved to Bermuda from New Zealand.

Secondly, for those who have been unfortunate enough to miss out on me talking about Bermuda non-stop for the last few months, a few basics:

• Not in the Caribbean, but east of the US. Close to New York, Boston, Washington and Miami and much closer to London than I was before (refer scale map below)

• Is not in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle - is one point of it, the others being Florida and Puerto Rico

• Capital is Hamilton - roughly three by five blocks in size

• Population around 65,000; approx half white and half black; half male and half female; a third expats

• The Island is 22 square miles in a sort of crescent shape. I thought it'd be easy to walk across but it turns out it's a lot bigger than I was expecting

• Great people - probably the friendliest I've ever met. Everyone says good morning / afternoon to everyone they pass on the streets

• It's hot.

Every now and then I'll update this blog with interesting little tidbits to try and entice you all to come over and visit... it's a chance in a lifetime... you'll never have the same opportunity...

Toronto

When work needed someone to hand-deliver a package to Toronto, I put my name forward in a second. It meant I would have to miss the All Blacks quarter-final but this proved to be a blessing in the end.

So with two day's notice I boarded the plane mid-day Saturday, metal suitcase hand-cuffed to my wrist. Four hours later with package delivered I had 20 free hours to enjoy Toronto. Brilliant.

Andy, who had recently moved to Toronto, kindly put me up in his 27th floor apartment (view from balcony below):

On closer inspection, we were somewhat short of the 27th floor with the oddly superstitious Canadians leaving out floor number 13 and any number including the digit 4. The photo below shows the elevator buttons. Very very odd. I see they did have P4 though - I wonder if it was a less popular parking level?

After a bit of a swim and a few unbelievable texts by an English mate in Bermuda trying to tell me that not only had England beaten Australia but the All Blacks lost to France (surely it's still a nightmare), Saturday night was spent having a beautiful dinner (well a bit of dinner and a lot of drinks) at one of the local restaurants. We ended up staying there 'til well past 1am (that's how good the drinks were) before heading back to Andy's apartment to watch some real rugby - highlights of the Mighty Hawkes Bay defeating Waikato in their quarter-final. A great result.

The next morning only left us a few hours to play with before my flight home so we headed into town early to see some of Toronto's sights. Unfortunately the weather didn't come to the party and from ground level we couldn't even see the top of the Toronto Tower (second highest free-standing tower after something being built in Dubai). Expecting nothing but grey from up top, all I could do was take a couple of photos from below:

We then wandered alongside Lake Ontario before a clear highlight of seeing a mounted policeman (not to be confused with a Mountie - unfortunately I didn't get to see one of them). Seeing something truly Canadian was a real treat.

And then the long flight home - Toronto to Bermuda via JFK - definitely not the fastest way home but the last leg was my first flying business class... fantastic. You really get looked after, and definitely worth having to make boring conversation with American businessmen.

Makin' Time

After an extended, unplanned break and a hefty bill, Makin' Time is back in action. It hasn't been the summer I planned after only being out on it about half a dozen times in as many months but it's going to get some serious use now. Great fun and a great way to see some of the outlying islands of Bermuda.

London

After being back at work less than two months it was time for a holiday again to the much-anticipated London. I had a fantastic week with barely a cloud in the sky and plenty of time to catch up with some great mates. Unfortunately photography took a bit of a backseat so not many photos of people were taken... must've got that from Fraser...

Was able to spend a couple of days with Naomi before the school term started fully. We walked through the central city, taking in the tourist spots and eating and drinking all day. It didn't take long to get back into holiday mode.

Naomi in front of a lion in Trafalgar Square:

Westminster Abbey:
Big Ben. Beats me why they put a big clock in the middle of the city for it not to be working...
The London Eye and the Thames:
The Tower Bridge:

The rest of the week was spent catching up with friends, seeing the Lion King, watching a bit of rugby and twenty20 world cups and other cricket-related activities. A day-nighter at the Oval between Southampton (la-la-la) and Surrey:

A tour of Lords:

And a day down Southampton-a-ways at the Rosebowl to see Shane Warne's Hampshire. Unfortunately Hampshire's batting let them down and the day we were there they followed on so we missed out on seeing Warne bowl. We did see a very brief cameo with the bat - though he only lasted a couple of overs or so.

A big thank you to everyone for their hospitality, and making it such a great holiday - my fifth this year. Looking back, I have no idea how I survived in NZ with only three weeks leave per year!

Cup Match

After being here close to a year I've realised that Bermuda has its fair share of drawbacks, but how can you fault a country that declares two public holidays for a cricket match?
Cup Match takes place on the first Thursday and Friday of August and the only thing people and the press talk about for the week leading up to it is cricket and crown and anchor. The match is played between St George and Somerset Cricket Clubs (essentially East vs West) and has been contested for over 100 years. Somehow the game celebrates the abolition of slavery too, but I don't quite get the connection there.

The ground was absolutely packed, with scaffolding erected around most of the ground to ensure enough seats for everyone. Probably an accident waiting to happen but great for the atmosphere.

The game was quite different to cricket back home - I was there for about 40 overs and during that time Somerset scored at close to 10 an over - it's all about hitting the ball with technique and patience seeming to come a distant second and third.

Two batsmen reached 50 while I was there and I was amazed to see the field stormed by hundreds of kids - each not only congratulating the batsman for his achievement but also filling his pockets with money collected from the crowd. One of the guy's wife works with me at the Bank and she said he was given over $800 in this way. Unbelievable but great to see.
The other highlight of Cup Match is that it's the only time that gambling is permitted on the Island - and only in the form of 'crown and anchor'. It's a pretty simple dice game - three dice are shaken, each with clubs, spades, diamonds, hearts, anchor and crown on a side. You place your bet on a suit and if one dice shows that suit you double your money, two dice triple your money and three dice quadruple your money. So behind one stand was a huge tent with probably a dozen tables of crown and anchor - each table apparently costing $10k for the permit. This is actually quite a bargain because each game only takes about 30 seconds (bet, shake dice, pay or collect money) and on each roll the table would make hundreds of dollars. Incredible to see so much money thrown away so quickly. Played a few rounds to give it a go but blackjack's definitely still my game of choice.

Cricket update

We're now two-thirds through the cricket season so thought a quick update would be in order. We've now won seven in a row to sit second on the table (though I've only been around for three of those games with my recent traveling).

It seems as if something strange happens in every game of cricket in Bermuda - something you'd never see anywhere else. Today's was a delayed start by an hour because the pitch was too wet. It hasn't rained here for days so the groundsman watered the pitch yesterday and then forgot to turn the tap off. Not smart.

A couple of weeks ago (I missed this one as I was in NY), the groundsman had just rolled the pitch (with the big steam roller in an earlier blog update) and then the roller conked out. Both teams together could only move it an inch so a truck had to be brought to the ground to tow it off the pitch, resulting in a two hour delay to the start of play. Nowhere but Bermuda would you see things like that!

Today (pictured below) was a fairly non-eventful day for me - faced one ball to finish with 1*, bowled one ball to take a wicket and end the game, dropped a hard catch and took an easy one. So not much action for me in seven hours of play!

New York

Naomi and I then headed to New York for four action-packed days. The clear highlight for me was a helicopter ride up and down Manhattan and around the Statue of Liberty. Absolutely loved it.

Our chopper:

Naomi before boarding... looking very nervous:

In the chopper:

Looking down on New Jersey:

Looking down on the Statue of Liberty:

Looking down on Madison Square Gardens, our hotel and the Empire State Building:

We managed to fit in a whole lot of other tourist destinations, including Chinatown, Little Italy, the Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, Ground Zero, Wall Street, Times Square:
The Empire State Building:

And of course the Statue of Liberty from the ground:

So, another great holiday. And again, just as hard to get back into the work routine afterwards.

Visit from Naomi & Chris

It didn't take much, but I was able to convince Naomi and Chris to pop over to Bermuda for a short break. And in eight days Naomi managed to see more of the Island than I have... I really need to get my act into gear...

All the usual spots were visited, Gibbs Hill Lighthouse:

the beaches - it was perfect weather for the whole trip:

and exploring by scooter:

I was fortunately treated to dinner at the Waterlot Inn (thanks again guys), which apparently is only one of eight steak restaurants in the world with a four-diamond rating - not that I know what that is... but it's a great restaurant nonetheless. Naomi and Chris before dinner:

And we also visited Harbour Nights one night to check out a few local market stalls and traditional gombey dancers.

Ocho Rios, Jamaica

The final stop was Ocho Rios on the Northern shore of Jamaica. Jamaica was very different to our other destinations, I guess because it's much poorer than islands like the Bahamas and Cayman. We were hassled a bit to buy souvenirs, take taxis or buy drugs (or seeing Bob Marley as they put it), but it was nowhere near as bad as places like Bangkok or Indonesia.

I'd been told by friends that a visit to Dunns River Falls is a must so we headed out early to beat the crowds. We weren't disappointed as it was like nothing I'd ever done before. Groups were formed of about 20 people and we proceeded to literally climb the falls from sea level to 180 metres above. Through most of it everyone's linked together and led by guides who rev up the group and take photos and film the climb as shown below.

At several spots there were compulsory dunkings which were great fun, especially as the water was nowhere near as cold as waterfalls back home.

After visiting the falls we headed to the beach for the afternoon, but not before Jody succumbed to having her hair braided (she'd been um-ing and ah-ing and finally went for it).

The beach - again just beautiful.

Cayman Islands

Second stop was the beautiful Grand Cayman Island. Here, we were tendered to shore and met by a lovely couple we met on our first cruise, Noel and Charmaine (thanks guys). Noel took us around the sites of the Island, first stop Hell, a rock formation to the north. Apparently it was a big tourist drawcard, but to my untrained eye it was just a lot of rocks. But there were iguanas too which were cool.

We then drove around the Island (there aren't really any roads going through the centre - I think it's pretty much swamp) towards Rum Point. It was really interesting getting local commentary as we traveled, especially on the affects of Hurricane Ivan just under three years ago. The highest point on Grand Cayman is something like 60 feet above sea level so it's easy to see why the Island was totally decimated.

Rum Point was a beautiful spot which we'd definitely return to if we had some spare time. Once again, the perfect example of a tropical paradise (seems to be a recurring theme on this holiday). Beautiful sandy beaches, the warm crystal-clear Caribbean and lots of water activities and rum-based cocktails. Again, what more can you ask for?

We then had lunch at a local restaurant. I was tempted to try the local delicacy of turtle (turtle soup, turtle steak and turtle burgers all feature on many menus there) but in the end couldn't turn down a buffet including jerk chicken and pork. I just love that stuff! Thanks again Noel and Charmaine.

We were then dropped off at the infamous 7 Mile Beach. It absolutely bucketed down for close to an hour but then cleared up for some much-needed swimming and lying on the beach, actually in the beach for me...

Cozumel, Mexico

The first stop on the Triumph was Cozumel, a small island off the coast of Mexico (and a part of Mexico). Aboard the ship, we'd signed up for "Jungle Kayaking" which was a great choice. We were bused then ferried to another island (Isle a la Pasion I think?) where all of our expectations were exceeded. We had unlimited Mexican food and cocktails for the day on a tropical island paradise.

After a quick couple of cocktails, we set out on our kayaks. We paddled back over to Cozumel then through mangrove swamp.

And of course, what would jungle kayaking be without salt water crocs - this guy was a good 8 feet long and not worth messing with. Unsurprisingly no-one got into the water at this part of the island (and there were nets around the swimming area now that I think about it).
We probably only kayaked for an hour and a half (by then all the Americans had had enough) so we returned to our island for more food, cocktails, games and swimming. We were definitely living the good life!

Alas, eventually we had to return to Cozumel and the crusie ship, but not before a beautiful Mexican dinner (with a couple more cocktails) and another cheesey photo: this is Senor Frog, apparently a bit of a personality in the Caribbean.