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Since it is Cup Match weekend – AND there are 2 cruise ships in port, we decided to go to one of the smaller beaches.  So we headed to Elbow Beach.  It has 2 porta potties, and a food truck.  That’s it.  No chair rentals or umbrella rentals or change rooms.  And because it was Cup Match, the food truck as well as all the nearby restaurants were closed. We found a shady spot backing onto the cliff/sand/stone hill and I set out my beach towel.  The second towel our pet owners set out for us was actually something that looks like a hooded sleeveless bathrobe type thing – or a giant pillowcase with a hood.  That thing did double duty for us!  We were able to put it on and change our clothes under it!!!

We had a “lunch” of our tin of honey roasted peanuts, and I was thankful I had packed them!

Then we went in the sea – beautiful turquoise waters, fun waves, no riptides.  It wasn’t the place for snorkelling though – I only saw one fish.  The water was warm and clear.  You could see the rocks – giant things – in quite a few spots along the horizon where the waves were crashing.  The reefs protecting the island were the cause of many of the “Bermuda Triangle” shipwrecks. 

 

Other things

The people here are very friendly!  You are expected to greet everyone (people you pass on the sidewalk, the bus driver, anyone you sit near, etc.) with a friendly smile and a greeting.  If you don’t you are considered rude.  During the first two days we had the taxi driver giving us a run down on the cricket games and the history (apparently his favoured team from St Georges hasn’t won a match in 15 years, but it has been close most times except last year, and he was happy to see that they recruited a large number of new players for this season and got rid of the ones who were on the team before, as they are quite worn out), tips about not going to Horseshoe beach when the cruise ships are in port, comments on the weather from the past week when it rained all the time plus a mention of where to watch the sky to see what was coming.  We were offered a ride down the big hill when we headed to the beach, (which we actually accepted – on advice ahead of time that it is completely normal and safe here to be offered a ride when you are waiting for buses, etc.)  I had a long conversation on the bus with a 75 year old lady about the safety of the buses compared to people getting hit on bicycles and mopeds (someone dies every summer, usually tourists) and the story of her family, and I got to see the photo of her granddaughter in her school uniform when she first started school, just before she turned 5.  We also had a lady basically doing our own personal photo shoot at the caves!  She took a LOT of photos for us!   

Sticker shock at the grocery store and restaurants

It seems like a very strange meld of brands and foods available here.  At the big grocery store we would see Dunkin Donut brand coffee right beside the Tim Hortons coffee, and alongside the PG Tips black tea from England.  We checked the flyer to see what was on sale, and were happy to get a pound of bacon on sale for $5 (regular prices are $9 and up).  Watermelons are on sale for $15, a savings of $5.  They had blueberries in pint containers for $6 each, which was regularly $7.  A head of iceberg lettuce was $5, saving $2.  If you wanted snacks, a bag of Humpty Dumpty  Chips, not Crisps - so North American, goes for $6.60 regular price.  One of the biggest shocks I got was seeing the prices for pop.  A 12 pack of Fanta Orange is on sale for $21.09, which is $5 off, and the 2 L bottle of ginger ale is $1 off, being $6.59 at the cheap supermarket, and $8.29 at the expensive one.  OMG.  We thought maybe we could just pick up some packets of kool aid or something like that, but they don’t have anything like it.  So – we had water this week. And occasional bottles of soft drinks when we were out and about and melting (and a small virgin Pina Colada at the beach, for $12).

Just a heads up – the government of Bermuda kicked out all the foreign franchises of food providers from the island decades ago – in 1977.  So you won’t see a lot of familiar names out there when you are looking for places to eat.  There was ONE exception – the existing KFC was allowed to stay, being grandfathered in.  That was it!  Did we eat there?  Nope.  We like finding the good local places. 

After 2 days of outings, with quite a bit of walking (we had forgotten Bermuda is largely covered with hills) in the 40 degree heat, we decided to see if we could find a restaurant which would deliver. There is no Uber on the island, of course.  It was a bit tricky to find what I was looking for and my phone was being a bit glitchy and the website kept closing.  So I went from ordering a pizza Cup Match special (a 14 inch 1 topping pizza with 6 wings and 2 bottles of pop for $35) to finding a Chinese restaurant with the basic dishes we recognized – each of which were close to $25) where I selected sweet and sour chicken, a chicken chow mein with noodles, and a couple of spring rolls.  Then it asked if I wanted dessert (and the answer is ALWAYS yes).  They had a pint of ice cream for just under $9 and I was able to order Apple Crumb with butterscotch. 

Mmmmm!  So by the time I was able to actually finalize my order, add a tip for the driver, the total was $118!!!  But we will actually had food for days – because it combined the pizza and the Chinese orders (although it reverted to the original sauce flavours even though I changed my mind on those several screens ago).  And every dish I had been looking at seemed to be selected.  I just went with it, being very hungry.  It also said it was going to take 90 minutes for delivery.  Even though you put your address, even with apartment info, they bring the food by moped and just park in the driveway area and toot the horn for you to come out to the bike and fetch it from them (which I did in my pajamas!)