DOCKYARDS & DOLPHINS

We went up to the Dockyards yesterday to have a bite to eat and decided to check out the Maritime Museum and the fort which is absolutely enormous and totally amazing. It was well worth the 10 bucks it cost to get in as in addition to the museum you get to see the Commissioners house (very grand!)and to see the dolphins at Dolphin Quest. While we were watching the dolphins, the trainer came out to chat and upon learning that we live here asked if I would be interested in doing some volunteer work over the next couple of months. Turns out 3 of the dolphins are pregnant and they need people to record anything and everything about how the pregnancy is coming along and then once the babies are born, to assist with the record keeping on how often they are nursing, how long etc. All volunteers will be called when the dolphins go into labour so that we can be there to watch them being born. (Apparently it takes about 2 hours to deliver a dolphin so the staff indicate they will call all the volunteers up and should have enough time to get there to watch.)

All of the dolphins are due in May. I will likely do a couple hours a week either after work or on the weekends as they need people to monitor the dolphins 24 hours a day. )

I of course think this is the coolest thing ever and quite possibly a once in a lifetime experience so I signed up on the spot. Certainly would not be able to do something like this living on the prairies! I was actually on a website the other day checking out all the different volunteer opportunities that exist here in Bermuda and was thinking of doing something at the aquarium as they need turtle scrubbers
(apparently sea turtles need to be scrubbed once a month!) as well as people to help feed the seals and that kind of thing which I might still sign up for once my time is over with the dolphins) One thing that I really like about Dolphin Quest here is that while they allow you to swim with the dolphins, you are not permitted to "ride them" like you are allowed to do at other dolphin attractions. The trainer indicated that the dorsal fin is all cartilage and they feel it would be like having a hundred people a day pulling on your ears- not very pleasant!

WINTER HAS ARRIVED

[Darryls Wharf ( my ferry stop)- No ferry service today as sea is too rough!-picture is from the Royal Gazette]


Well we got our first real taste of Bermuda winter today and I have no idea how I made it through 42 Canadian winters as we are freezing here today.( We have even turned on the heat in our house for the first time as it is bone chilling damp between the wind and the rain. Its 52 degrees out and we are having storm force winds which makes it bloody cold!. The things you learn that you never needed to know. I never knew that storm force winds were more serious than gale force winds or that there are 12 levels of wind from level 1 to 12, 12 being hurricane force winds. Today we are at level 10 which means that the winds are in excess of 45 miles an hour and the seas are high(outside the reef the waves are about 28-30 feet high). At the dockyards they are experiencing hurricane force winds but apparently once you reach hurricane force there is another rating system that comes into play and these would be the low end of the hurricane scale)

They closed the causeway at noon due to the high winds and then about half an hour later the schools were closed as well. Ferries are not running due to the high seas and it was a bit scary for me, not having experienced such high winds before. I am sure to be petrified when hurricane season rolls around as I was nervous today wondering if the windows at the office were going to blow out! I almost got knocked over by a big gust of wind while I was waiting to cross the road and am now tucked away nice and safe at home. We are heading off to our golf club for a theme night tonight ( English pub night- pub grub, darts and trivia- hope its fun) so time to log off and get cleaned up to go.

Housing Prices in Bermuda

I am so busy with year end right now that don't really have any time to post any updates, however I did find this article from todays Royal Gazette to be quite interesting on the price of housing here in Bermuda. Readers should note that the article is referring only to the price of housing for BERMUDIANS as foreigners are limited to purchasing homes in excess of 2 MILLION and must also pay a 22.5% stamp tax on the purchase price ( there are no recurring property taxes here, the stamp tax is a one time tax) so if you were able to buy a home for 2MM,it will cost you 2,450,000 before legal fees.

Article published Jan 10, 2007
HOUSING
Average cost of houses hits $1.6m
Middle income Bermudians turning more to condominiums – which average $900,000
The average price of a stand-alone Bermuda home soared to $1.6 million in 2006.
That translates into a 30-year mortgage of more than $11,400 a month at current interest rates – assuming the buyer has paid out a five percent deposit of $80,000.
The revelation came in end-of-year commentaries from two of the Island’s leading realtors, Coldwell Banker Bermuda Realty and Rego Sotheby’s International Realty.
And the $1.6 million figure was based on completed transactions recorded through the first 11 months of last year.
Better news for buyers is that the inventory of properties for sale is at an all-time high, giving home seekers a greater choice and shifting the market in the purchaser’s favour.
While the escalating price of free-standing homes is moving them further out of the reach of middle-income Bermudians, realtors say locals are showing increasing interest in condominiums as a more affordable option for a home.
Coldwell Banker’s “2006 Year End In Review”, written by agency manager Susan Thompson, concludes that prices of all types of property remained little changed in 2006. “The average condo will cost you just under $900,000, about the same as 2005,” Ms Thompson wrote.
“To purchase a single family home you will need approximately $1,325,000, depending on location, acreage, condition, etc., with little to no change from the previous year.
“Approximately a quarter/third acre of land will command $525,000 and up, once again with little change from 2005.”
Becky Paris, a sales associate at Rego Sotheby’s, writing in Island Property News, stated: “In the period of January to the end of November 2006, there were 291 (property) transactions recorded at the Registry General’s office, with a figure of almost $344 million traded.
“The average price of a free-standing home soared to $1.6 million and remains out of reach for many; consequently real estate was a hot topic at the sustainable development talks that dominated the media.”
St. George’s had the highest average property price of $1,492,203, said Coldwell Banker, adding the inclusion of Tucker’s Town – the Island’s “Billionaire’s Row” – skewed the figures for that parish.
In fact, a Tucker’s Town house known as Frick’s Point was the highest-priced property to be sold in 2006, at around $20 million.
Coldwell added that Sandys was by far the most affordable parish, with an average selling price for all properties of $728,333, while Hamilton Parish came a distant second at $902,110 and Warwick third at $952,370.
Apart from a significant slowdown in transactions during the second quarter, and then a rise in activity over the following three months, 2006 had been very much “business as usual” Ms Thompson concluded.
“The most noticeable change was more choices for the buying public and more flexibility by the sellers,” she added.
“Our forecast for 2007 would be an increased interest in real estate, particularly in the buoyant luxury market, continued purchase by multiple family members for investment and an ongoing trend towards buying condominiums, which Bermudians now seem to embrace.”
Ms Paris expressed Rego’s outlook for the year ahead: “With money still to be made in property, we are likely to witness the Planning Department working at full steam to deal with more applications to subdivide, build, go up and go out.
“The market seems to have shifted in favour of the purchaser so expect a better value to price ratio.”
Although not all property transactions for 2006 have yet been recorded in the Government archives, Coldwell Banker estimated that the total of closed deals would be down by around ten percent.

WHAT IT WOULD COST YOU
All figures based on a 95 percent mortgage, at an 8.25 percent interest rate and a 30-year amortisation period.
Property price Deposit (5%) Total borrowed Payment
Average price of a free-standing home in 2006
$1.6 million $80,000 $1,520,000 $11,419.25/month
Coldwell Banker’s estimated average price of a single family home
$1.32 million $66,250 $1,258,750 $9,456/month
Average price of a condominium
$900,000 $45,000 $855,000 $6,423.33/month

(Mortgage figures calculated by Butterfield Bank online mortagage calculator)

NEW YEARS DAY

Well it just doesn't get any better than this! The first day of the year was spent at the ocean and playing a round of golf! The weather was outstanding- it looked like it might be a day for long pants and long sleeves when we ventured out today but by the second hole, the sun came out,the cotton sweater came off and it ended up being a gorgeous, warm afternoon for golf.

This was my second round at our new club and only my third round ever but I did see some improvement in my game and loved being out on the course. Many of the holes overlook the ocean and even those that don't are gorgeous- palm trees, cactus, tons of flowers and beautiful homes line the course. Its nice having a membership as we don't have to schlep our clubs back and forth when we play and the people are quite friendly. Its not snooty like I imagine some golf clubs would be and they have a lot of social events in addition to the golf so I think we will end up spending quite a bit of time there. One of the benefits of joining Riddells is their affiliation with the Fairmont Hotels. We get discounts at all the Fairmont restaurants and bars as well as the use of their private beach and the pool at the Southampton and Hamilton Princess. We have our own pool where we live but sometimes its nice to go to the private beach as they have the nice loungers and umbrellas plus facilities which a lot of the public beaches here do not have. I also like the spa discounts and am planning a spa day as soon as year end is over at the office.

Christmas and New Years were pretty quiet for us and it seems like everyone has gone off island for the holidays. Traffic has been really light with school out and not a lot of people working last week so it was a really easy commute last week- even on the bus it was only a 15 minute ride into town last week instead of the usual half hour. Spent Christmas Day at the beach as is tradition here in Bermuda, although we went to our favorite beach Chaplins Bay which is relatively deserted, especially as on XMAS Day all the Bermudians head to Elbow Beach. We could not believe how many people were headed there- cars and bikes were parked all up and down south shore road and southcote road and there were thousands of people there with champagne and picnic baskets. Even our little beach was busy (usually we have it all to ourselves) There was quite a bit of action at Horseshoe Beach too although only the tourists and expats seem to actually go swimming at this time of year. Boxing Day we wound up at the Dockyards on an errand to pick up our house sign and had lunch in Somerset at the Country Squire. We are on a mission to find the best pubs in Bermuda and have been to a number of them. So far Northrock Brewery is the best pub that we have found and while the food at the Country Squire was good,the atmosphere reminded me of being at a Nascar event- the owners love car racing and every surface is plastered with race car memorabilia- nothing wrong with it, just like my pubs to be more charming.

The rest of the holiday weekend we have been out exploring our little island. We still have not seen all of it which is hard to believe but there are tons of little side streets with charming names like Sleepy Hollow Drive or Happytalk Lane and so each weekend we just go off and drive around to check them all out. We went out to Spanish Point and the Ferrylands this weekend- the Ferrylands have some of the most amazing homes we have seen outside of Tuckers Town and each one seems more incredible than the last. Because it was so quiet in town this weekend, we even went into Hamilton for a couple of hours and had lunch at the Hog Penny which is still my favorite place to eat in Hamilton. They have the best Bermuda Onion Soup and their ribs are pretty good too. Didn't do any shopping except to go to Miles to pick up our NY dinner. We decided to stay in this new years and heard that we could get grain fed beef at Miles, Well they had it but its very pricey (Everything is very pricey at Miles-it would be like the difference between shopping at Superstore and Sunterra market. We paid 38.00 USD for 2 steaks (about a pound of beef in all) and sadly,they did not live up to our expectations, there is something about Alberta beef that no other beef compares to. We thought it was the difference between grain fed and corn fed but this beef was mushy too and it was organic American beef. Now we are thinking it must be the aging process that Alberta beef goes through. We are officially done with steak unless its from Alberta. We sure do miss the Cattle Baron!

We have a post Christmas party to attend Jan 12th which is being put on by the executive search firm that brought me to Bermuda. Won't know anyone but my recruiter at that event but its at the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club and looks like its going to be a nice event, and the Just for Laughs festival is coming to Bermuda that weekend as well so looking forward to that. Always wanted to go to that when we lived in Canada and never did. Should be a fun night. Think the next two weeks will be quite busy at work with year end activities going into full swing tomorrow. Thats it for this update. Hope everyone has a prosperous, healthy and happy new year!!!