Yesterday was the Christmas Boat Parade- I had been looking forward to seeing this event for OVER A YEAR as we were sure that we would be living on the rock at this time last year and I had heard it was an experience that should not be missed. Was it worth the wait? Sort of.....
There are estimated to be around 5,000 private boats here on the island and while the event hosts tried their best to get 100 boats to enter,there were only 53 entrants in this years parade including the Spirit of Bermuda who led things off. It takes a lot of time and effort to do up the boats and so while the parade lacked a large number of participants, those who did enter their boats did an amazing job, although there were one or two boats that we had no idea what they were supposed to be. (A for effort though- while unidentifiable,they were colorful and sparked people's imaginations as we tried to figure out what it was supposed represent.) As there is no newspaper here on Sundays I don't know how many people actually showed up to watch but there were estimates that the crowd would number 20,000 which is basically a third of the population. Certainly felt like a lot of people, especially at this time of year,as it is generally very quiet all over the island with cruise ship season having ended and very few tourists in general. [Most tourists to Bermuda come in the summer although I personally think this time of year has the nicest weather- still warm and sunny enough to spend the day at the beach with very little humidity or enjoy a round of golf without needing 10 gallons of water to cope with the heat)
Pitts Bay Road, Front Street and Harbor Road(Paget)were the best vantage points from which to watch although I expect that the views from Cavendish Heights or Bostock Hill would have been quite spectacular too. When we got to town about an hour before the parade was to start there were already tons of people camped out on their lawn chairs with takeout for dinner all along the parade route. (You can tell the parade pros from the novices like us- They have their blankets, fold out tables and chairs and have brought dinner along with them, while we just came as we were and wrongly assumed that there would be street vendors to get munchies and drinks from.) The best place to watch is from the Hamilton Princess as that is the start and finish line but we went to Albouys Point and had front row seats on the dock. It was the first really cool evening we have had since we arrived with the temperature at parade time hovering around 60 degrees and we must be acclimatized to living here now as we both wore turtleneck sweaters, jeans and jackets.(Mind you, the Onions(Bermudians) are even more bundled up in their parkas and toques although I do confess that I even wore gloves as it was chilly.) We watched most of the parade from this vantage point and while it was a perfect place to sit and watch, the crowd at Albouys Point was rather quiet and subdued. After watching 75% of the parade from Albouys we wandered further up Front Street as we were looking for a coffee to take off some of the chill and found a more festive atmosphere (seems like Albouys is more where the families hung out so maybe next time we will pick a different vantage point). I think next year we will just walk down to Harbour Road and watch from there as the boats come right by both sides of the harbour or check out the action at the Princess. The parade lasted about 2 hours( the boats went up and down the harbor twice) and ended with a huge display of fireworks which lasted about 15 minutes.
Never did find that cup of coffee-! I keep forgetting that Hamilton shuts down at 5:00 even on Saturdays and so the few coffee shops that they have here were not open unless you count the Tigermart at the Esso station on Richmond Road ! We came home after the parade and had coffee at home although it sounds like the Tigermart may have been a busy place as we met some American tourists today who ended up there for a cuppa joe after the parade last night.]I actually eat at the Tigermart quite often. Believe it or not the Esso station makes some of the best muffins and scones and they are hot out of the oven when I stop in on my way to work. They also make pizza and sandwiches, etc so its not as odd as it sounds to end up at the gas station- the food and coffee are quite good, but if you want ambiance, best to go elsewhere.
(Just so you don't think Hamilton is a ghost town at night, its not- Restaurants and bars are open in the evenings, its just the shops that close up which includes the coffee shops- if there are any open at night I have not found them yet and normally its not a big deal as mainly I only go to Hamilton to work )
On another note we had a Tsunami scare yesterday. Bermuda really is another world and while I knew that we had to worry about Hurricanes and the odd tornado, never thought we even got tidal waves here. This one turned out to be a false alarm but caused quite a stir. If you want to view the article go to bermudasun.org and click on the headline" Panic grips island over tidal wave rumour" or check out the Monday edition of the Royal Gazette
Funny thing is we never knew a thing about it until today- we were up on the east end yesterday at St. Davids and St. Georges and by the time we came back everything was back to normal. We have had some very funky lightening storms here a few nights ago and it was like nothing we have ever seen before. Instead of coming down like daggers,it was like someone turned on and off the lights every few seconds lighting up the entire sky. The thunder was bizarre too as it was just a continuous. We were joking that this is the Bermuda triangle weather and wondered if any ships or planes went missing.The waves were very high and the sea was grey and angry looking on Friday but Saturday it was back to its beautiful shades of turquoise and seemed pretty calm. Bizzare!
