It has been an unusual and exciting time here in Bermuda.
Here are a few pics of our Christmas fun:
Winter Wonderland in Hamilton
We attended this cool festival for kids on December 18th. We hopped on the bus for the first time and headed to Hamilton, the capitol city of Bermuda. From 4 - 9 pm, the street was closed to traffic on the waterfront. It was a completely free event with food, drinks, several jumpy castles, face painting, henna tattoos, and a train ride around the town at night. They had live music and lots of dancing. We had an awesome night!
Coming off the jumpy castle
Visit with Santa
Visit with Santa
Hamilton at night
Water fun The air temperature is really nice here...around 20-24 C. The water temperature is about 20 C; a little cool for many folks, but not for us! We walked for about 15 minutes to get to Tobacco Bay, a lovely little spot to spend the afternoon. We met some fellow Canadians on holiday from Alberta and the kids enjoyed other kids to snorkel with.
First time in water from boat
Almost in!
Second time in
On way to beach
To the Beach!
Gorgeous bay for swimming
A bit cold, but we are Canadians after all!
Making New Friends We met Idarae and Richard the day after they arrived in Bermuda aboard their boat Molto Bene. They were on their way to the Virgin Islands when they were unfortunately dismasted. They jury-rigged their boat using their spinnaker pole, and motor-sailed their way back to Bermuda. They are definitely glass half full kind of people. Within hours of arriving in Bermuda, they had Christmas lights twinkling on their little mast. We had the good fortune of spending an evening with them and shared sailing stories. Idarae made a gorgeous curry and rice dish. They were planning to head to the US for Christmas, and needed to off-load items in their fridge and freezer. We were soooo happy to be the lucky recipients of much of their food. We have had many meals where we are cheering, "Thank you Idarae and Richard!"
Richard and Idarae aboard Molto Bene with their 3D gifts made by Simon
Yummy curry made by Idarae
Getting Ready for the Holidays
It was not the typical pre-Christmas rush for us this year. We did a little grocery shopping, but we still had tons of food from Halifax, in addition to the food that Idarae and Richard kindly gave us. While I did some baking, the kids secretly made gifts in their cabin, and made trips to the "wrapping" aft cabin to wrap their gifts. Family had sent the kids gifts to Halifax, so all I had to do was unsquirrel them from various lockers where they had been stowed. Luckily, all the packages survived the leaks.
Coffee cake muffins
Our preparations concluded with a trip to the local hardware store. We paid $2 US each, got a key, and crossed the road to Captain Smokes' Marina for our first, long, real, hot shower since Halifax. In one large room, we all scrubbed until we shone for Christmas Day.
Shower at Captain Smokes'
Yes, we can all fit in...
Rowing back from town
Clean!
Christmas Eve We met another lovely couple on Rogue, who are anchored beside us. Natalie and Gustavo invited us to join them for dinner on Christmas Eve. We each prepared some dishes and had a wonderful meal together. We introduced them to Christmas "crackers" and wearing your crown during dinner. They shared their traditional cassava dish with us. After dinner, we went ashore for a Candlelight Service and lots of music.
Natalie and Wavey getting the Christmas crackers ready
Aboard Rogue with Gustavo and Natalie
Christmas Day
The day started with squeals of joy, as the kids entered the salon filled with presents. Wavey was ecstatic that Santa had found us, as she was unsure he would be able to locate us at anchor.
Each year, we have an amazing Christmas Brunch at Liane (John's sister) and Jeff's. It is my favourite meal of the year. We were sad we were not there celebrating with family, but our Facetime visit helped a lot. I also tried to prepare some yummy things in the spirit of Liane's feast (even though it did not compare to her heavenly dishes!)
Christmas brunch
Kids' favourite breakfast: Bagels with cream cheese, smoked salmon and capers
After gifts and food, we got ready to head to the beach. Every Christmas, hundreds of Bermudians and expats head to Elbow Beach for a beach party. The buses were on holiday schedule, so it took a bit of time to get there. Simon and Wavey both napped enroute.
Taking the bus to the Christmas Beach party at Elbow Beach
We were thrilled to see so many people decked out in Christmas hats and costumes. There was a DJ and drinks sold on the beach. We followed the tradition of bringing a bottle of our best bubbly (thanks George and Helen!) to the beach.
Walking through the crowds to the beach
Elbow Beach
Elbow Beach
Cracking open the bubbly
Gus and Natalie
Lots of people dressed in Santa outfits
Body surfing in waves
New friends Hannes, Anna and Oskar
Oskar playing in sand
Buried!
Oskar is not too sure what to do with these two heads in the sand
Making new beach friends
Sand angels!
Another sandy angel
Beach selfie
We left the beach as the clouds started rolling in. It took us 2.5 hours to get back to the boat due to the holiday bus schedule. We all napped on the way back. I had promised a Christmas dinner of Mexican tacos, so at 9 pm, we ended our amazing Christmas day feasting on tacos supremo!
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Today and Boxing Day were a little more low-keyed. We had more visits with family and friends via Facetime and the kids got to play with their new stuff. Wavey was keen to sort all her rainbow loom elastics and get creating. We worked on chasing leaks and tidied up a bit more. We attempted to make some repairs aloft today, but John found it to be too windy as he got halfway up the mast. We will have to wait for more settled conditions before we haul John to the top.
We are planning to stay here for New Year's Eve and then start preparing for our passage to Anguilla and the Leeward Islands.
We hope everyone is having a great holiday season. Hope to hear from you soon!
