Bermuda, part one

Talk about a beautiful place! I knew very little about Bermuda prior to my journey. I usually research a place to death but not this time. I knew it was somewhere out in the Atlantic-that's about it. I figured there were multiple islands but didn't realize it is an archipelago encircled by shallow reefs which are home to over 500 shipwrecks. One of the most notable shipwrecks is the Constellation, a wooden-hulled schooner built in 1918, used during WWII as a cargo vessel. It's a primary shipwreck in Peter Benchley's book and later movie, "The Deep". We docked on Ireland Island at Dockyard where the Maritime Museum is located.
Jim's sister and brother-in-law went with us, we have such a great time with them, so that made for an extra fun trip!
The ship, Norwegian Dawn, sailed at 5 PM out of impressive New York City, down the Hudson and past Ellis Island and the stately Statue of Liberty. Very cool.

We cruised the Atlantic Sunday night, Monday and Tuesday arriving in Bermuda on Wednesday at 8 AM, a simply beautiful day.  It was pretty breezy and chilly on the trip there, but still there were some wind protected areas outside that also were away from the music and masses by the pool.  If you cruise with young children (and I don't see myself ever doing that-I can think of a lot more kid-friendly vacations) there is a very cute kiddo pool area with dinosaurs.

These are the views from the ship of St. George's Island. The color of the water is truly incredible.  It was too cold to snorkel or swim but you can see the beautiful coral reefs, the darker areas in the water. I'd like to go back in warmer weather to snorkel above the shipwrecks.


On the first night, I found the tiniest bit of white china in my food. Which presented no problem, but I did bring it to the attention of the dining room captain when asked if I didn't like my unfinished meal.  The chef sent these lovely desserts to the room and the staff must have memorized my ship ID photo as from then on we were seated at an aft window table in the dining room!  The one night Joan and Mike got the table first, we weren't, from then on, it didn't matter who got there first, we have an excellent table. The second night we got a fabulous seat we were suspicious they "knew" us.

Since I KNOW you are waiting to hear-the food was very good. Nothing has yet lived up to the food on the Dawn Princess ship that I took to Alaska, but this was still quite good.
My favorite dessert (doesn't everyone like dessert best?) was the baked apple in a yummy crust (I took one to go for a late night snack), my favorite breakfast- freshly made waffle with banana compote, yogurt with delicious granola and strawberry/ blueberry mix. My favorite salad was a quinoa with roasted red peppers and a delicious vinaigrette and my favorite main course,  maybe mahi mahi.

More to come, stay tuned....