The wind has gone and we are once more anchored out in Hamilton harbour. The forecasters and computer models talked of sustained winds of 35 knots with gusts to 45 whilst the hurricane centre in Miami issued warnings that it might develop into a tropical cyclone , so you wont be surprised that we wiggled in behind a breakwater at the Royal Bermuda yacht club and secured ourselves with about 100 miles of rope , all parcelled and protected against chafe . Another 50 miles were reeved to a mooring buoy in case the wind veered and we had to get clear in a hurry. Storm sails were bent , flags lowered and I felt pretty foolish when the wind barely exceeded 30 knots with scarcely a ripple on the water !
Monday was Bermuda day , and the whole population turned out onto the main street for a carnival procession that lasted most of the day. It was pretty blustery but the rain held off for most of it . Normally 200 troupes of drum majorettes is not my cup of tea ( although I am very jealous of the man who sold them all their white boots – he must have made a fortune!), but they were interspersed with African dance groups and Gombey dancers , carnival floats , steel bands and a relic of the past , a Bermudan regimental band in pith helmets! It was fun to see the good humoured spectators unable to avoid joining in, moving in that loose jointed rhythmic swaying that seems innate to African peoples. They probably thought it was fun to see me trying and failing hopelessly to do the same!
We spent the day with Philip and Janet Milne who by shear chance happened to be here on holiday. It is truly a small world.
But it is however quite a big Atlantic, and if we are going to get back for Bryony’s graduation it is time to leave. There is quite a little armada leaving over the next day or two and some are already on their way from further south so hopefully we will all meet up in our next Atlantic archipelago – the Azores.
