A CHANGE OF PACE... Bermuda (Part 164k)

A CHANGE OF PACE… Bermuda (Part 164k)

We were excited about the boat trip to Somerset. The isle of Bermuda is actually in the form of a fish hook and the ‘locals’ call Somerset “the West end” although from where our hotel was located it was Northwest. In any case, the boat was to depart from downtown Hamilton at 10am. Included in the trip was some sort of lunch in Somerset Village. One thing I’d read about the place that intrigued me was the worlds smallest draw bridge was supposedly located there. There was a very small picture of part of it in one of the brochures we had picked up. The brochure also told us that at one time in the past the village was recognized for it’s fishing fleet but now it was mostly tourist cottages and beautiful beaches. I felt it was important to visit it just because we were there in Bermuda.

But there was something I wanted to do before we left for the trip. We opted not to play tennis and in place of it we took the stairs down to the water before breakfast. When we left the ocean patio the night before there was still a little visible sand where the beach had been. Upon our arrival at the bottom of the stairs we found there was nothing but water. I’d not intended to go down to the beach the night before and hadn’t brought the camera. In my rush to get there that morning I’d forgotten to bring it so all I had was the memory of what I’d seen… before and after. We were among the first to get there that morning but since we had to eat and get downtown to catch the tour boat we didn’t stay all that long. On our way up we encountered some people who were obviously on their way to the beach. I made a comment to one couple that they wouldn’t need all the ‘gear’ they were carrying as there was no longer a beach. They thought I was kidding. It would’ve been interesting to see their faces when they realized I was telling the truth.

At breakfast the activities director caught up with us. (I wondered a number of times if he ever took any time off) As he greeted us he told us that we should be on our way to the dock where the boat was moored if we wanted a good seat. I knew it only took a short time to get from the hotel to Hamilton so looked at my watch only to find it was almost 9am. He asked where our camera was and when I told him it was in our room he sort of grimaced. He then told us to meet him at the door and ran off. We quickly finished eating and at the door he was there with a small Minolta camera. He handed it to me saying to please take good care of it and sort of shoved us towards the front entrance. I’d not seen a camera like it and had no idea how to operate it but there wasn’t time to ask.

He’d been right about getting to the dock early. It was a wide, open flat bottom boat with, as I remember it, ten rows of seats with an aisle down the middle with glass for the deck (floor). There was room for three people on each seat on each side of the aisle. We were able to get seat on the outside where we could see the scenery but it was in the very last row which made our ability to see where we were headed difficult. Some people focused on getting seats that were adjacent to the aisle as they had the best view of the glass that allowed the view of the harbor bottom. There were a few late-comers who were upset with what seats were available but Elle was happy as she could look right over the side. While the last of the passengers were getting seated I took a look at the camera. It had all kinds of buttons and levers and I was happy to be able to determine which button to push to take a picture. A man just across from me saw me struggling and offered to give me a pointer or two. Every camera I’d ever used was ‘point and shoot’ but this one had a gizmo where you could actually get closeups (of sorts) as there were three lens choices. I experimented by taking some of the Hamilton waterfront while using all three. When I went to sit down I was greeted with a very pleasant surprise… the lady right in front of Elle was displaying a very nice DP (down pants). I still had the camera in my hand but Elle was right there so I knew I had to be careful. I pretended to be fiddling with the levers on the camera and, to make a point of my concentration on the camera to Elle, was mumbling some sort of complaint on why they had to have so many.  I sat down for a few seconds and then made a bold move by taking a picture of the back side of the lady but knew I hadn’t gotten very much panty as she’d turned sideways. I then stood up and continued to ‘fiddle’ with the camera and then glanced down to see pretty much the same scene that had garnered my attention in the first place. I casually pointed the camera down and took three quick pictures hoping that at least one would turn out OK. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’d gotten spoiled with the Polaroid camera where I could see the results after a little over a minute. But, with this camera I’d have to wait to have the film developed to know.

Note the water on the right

This helped make my day

Before we got under way one of the women asked where the rest rooms were. I’d not given it any thought but a quick look around made it clear there weren’t any. There was no superstructure that would house such a thing. That made me look at Elle and made me think back to the last time she’d used a toilet. I didn’t say anything to her though and she didn’t discuss it with me. All I could do was hope she’d be OK until we arrived at our destination.

Once we got under way I got a good look at the woman in front of Elle. A little older than us she was definitely attractive. She was with an older woman who I surmised to be her mother. The boat made its way across the harbor and into the main body of water known as Great Sound. We made our way through and around a number of small coral islands (some with names and some without) which gave those with views of the harbor bottom through the glass on the bottom of the boat some interesting things to see. (I got a few peeks) We had a guide who gave us some history on the various geographic points we passed while under way. Our first stop was the wharf at the Somerset Bridge, exactly where I wanted to be. Those who were interested disembarked for picture taking. The term ‘drawbridge’ is a bit misleading. It’s only 32 inches wide and meant to be opened only when a sailboat wanted to pass through, not very often we were told. I was hoping it would happen but our guide said it was now a rare occurrence. He told us there was a bridge keeper and when it had to be raised he would go out and lift up all the wooden planks that made up the bridge. I won’t say I was disappointed but I’m glad I saw it in person.

Wierd, to say the least

These boards had to be pulled up by hand