I have been behind in my blogs so this one will start off yesterday morning. Our day off began with a trip into Hamilton, the largest city on Bermuda. After downing much needed smoothies we started off our sight-seeing at the Anglican cathedral. Beautifully constructed out of Bermuda stone, Bermuda’s main church has stood since 1905. The interior features above average stained glass but I found the outside even more striking due to the limestone’s propensity to dissolve and form pockets. Unless they seal or paint the cathedral it will eventually crumble, but in the mean time the visual effect created by the rain is awesome. The detailed, living pattern reminded me of gothic architecture and the scattered plants growing right out of the stone added to the organic flavor. You gotta see it.
Later we zipped over to a beach on the south shore of Bermuda. What’s distinctive about beaches here, besides the pink sand, is the caves, rock pillars and lithified patios scattered across the sand. Its often like a maze–there is always a sand floor to walk on but you can almost get lost in the grottos and hardened sand dunes. The “Bermuda Stone” occupies a hazy place between sand and rock. It can be easily carved with a key and I have been disappointing to discover that it is not fit to climb on. An inviting hand hold will suddenly crumble in a puff of dust leaving me on my butt in the sand. All of Bermuda stands in a brief equilibrium between the sand it formed from and the sand it will eventually become. Its one big sand castle.
Adding to Bermuda’s unlikeliness, each grain of sand here was once part of the exoskeleton of some ancient marine organism. These organisms include clams, sea-worms, crabs, coral, homotrema (who make the sand pink), and pretty much anything with a hard shell. To one of these little guys the beach is a gigantic graveyard. They started building the reef that became Bermuda millions of years ago on top of a volcanic seamount. These reefs and the products of their erosion have piled up to heights of 400 feet on an island 27 miles long, all made from carbonate and calcium extracted ion by ion from seawater. These facts really give a sense of geologic time, especially considering this all happened after the breakups of Pangaea, and the even older supercontinent Amasia, and so on.
Last night some of us had the pleasure of heading back into Hamilton for a night on the town. We left the scooters in the lot, instead opting for a cab ride with a genial driver who couldn’t stop bringing up his love of spliffs. We got to town chests puffed out and looking dapper and all managed to have a good time. Whoever said Bermuda was expensive though was right. I’m not accustomed to spending $60 dollars for a night of drinks, and I didn’t, but it was in the realm of possibility.
Despite the scooter fumes being a little extra acrid this morning, today has been an equally great day. We made it all the way out the to west end of the island and back, a considerable round trip of approximately 150 minutes of scooting. I feel indebted to Bruce for taking us on this journey after having done it with his family just yesterday. Thanks!