Mixed Blessings
Originally, I was supposed to be here from Sunday to Saturday, but the flights were full, so it became Tuesday to Tuesday. This worked out well for me because it meant I got a whole weekend to explore the island. What a beautiful place. Apparently it's out of season at the moment (although it's still plenty hot enough for me) and so it's not as busy as usual. This meant there were lots of empty coves to be found and the main beaches were all but deserted.
On Saturday I swam in the ocean for the first time in a couple of years. Which was nice. This was at Horseshoe Bay, which has apparently been voted one of the ten best beaches in the world.
On the downside Karen, Quinn and I were supposed to be flying to Dublin today. Instead the girls are going alone. Which is a shame. I've not been to Ireland before and was looking forward to drinking Guinness in smoke-free bars and spending some QT with the girls. Oh well. Hopefully they will enjoy it anyway. The intention was to make up for Karen's not having had a holiday this year and me going away on business to Paris and Bermuda. She's having trouble seeing this week in Bermuda as work. And so am I come to that ;o)
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Jake,
Is that the Southhampton Princess Hotel in the background?
Strom trock for hurricane wilma doesn't look too threatening for Bermuda.
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Nice pic. Makes me want to visit there someday.
By gawd, whet horrible spellisg. That should have read STORM TRACK.
Could be Bruce. Not sure though.
Yup, that's the Southampton Princess, now known as the Fairmont Southampton.
On one hand, a free week in Bermuda, on the other hand fresh Guinness.
Gimme some time to consider that one.......
Jeff,
You're going about this all wrong. You're supposed to ask for Guinness IN Bermuda so that you can carefully evaluate the merits of each.
@Tom,
I thought so.....
My family used to travel there when I was younger and I could have sworn that the hotel looked very familiar.
Shame you can't make Dublin Jake, although I think i'd prefer lounging, sorry working, in Bermuda myself;-)
It's only when I travel abroad I realise how brilliant the Smoking Ban is. There was uproar when it was announced but now I don't even know any smokers who don't approve of it.
Dublin is superb with the smoking ban. Such a joy to get trollied and not wake up inthe morning smelling musty
The sooner that England brings it in, the better
We have a smoking ban in Columbus, OH, and they're working on making it state wide. So far it's working out pretty well, certainly make business lunches nicer.
I did a year with Bank of Ireland in Dublin in 2001 and I thought smoking was the national passtime - men, women, kids, wee babbies all chuffing away like beagles ;) !
Went back after the ban and it was a bit of a shock compared to the UK - I could actually wear my coat the next day without having to wash the smell out of it!
Here in São Paulo we have this smoka ban in all the bars and restaurants and closed places like shopping centers. They reserved some small places to the smokers.
Ah.. just to stay on the topic.. yesterday was the IBM Lotus Domino 7 Launch Party down here in São Paulo.
It was better to see a box ring and some nice plate girls than a stupid guy wearing super man cloths =) (Super.Human.Software - R5 - remember?)
Horseshoe Bay used to be my favourite place for swimming with the parrot fish, but one of it's big problems is that on certain days it becomes infested with American tourists who've arrived on the cruise ships coming into Hamilton. Mind you, that often provided entertainment - take the day that there was a large number of small Portuguese Man O' Wars in the water. One tourist got stung, then another... and before long, people were going in the water to see what was stinging people and getting stung themselves.
The great thing about Bermuda is that there's loads of places to escape the crowds if you know where to get off the bus (Warwick Long Bay, Church Bay). The bad thing is it's an expensive place to get to and then an expensive place to stay. I was lucky as my mother used to run a guest house and coffee shop. I've still haven't forgiven here for moving to Canada. Other problems (which might have changed in the 8 years since I've been)... no car hire (only mopeds), very few outside restaurants and no street cafes.