On Wednesday and Thursday we enjoyed some time ashore exploring the small quaint historic town of St. George and its surrounding area. Its beginnings went back to the 1600�s and the settlement of the Jamestown Colony in America. In 1609, the Sea Venture, carrying supplies to the starving colony in Jamestown, was shipwrecked off the uninhabited Bermuda coastline. While ashore, we saw a replica of the Deliverance, one of two ships built by the stranded survivors to continue their journey to Virginia in 1610. This led to the colonization of Bermuda by the British in 1612. In the town square we saw some of the 17th century forms of punishment from the stocks to the ducking stool, used first to �swim� those suspected of witchcraft and then later for those women convicted of �gossiping and nagging.� The ducking stool punishment was now reenacted for the tourists at different times during the week.
On Friday we planned to do some sightseeing, but �Mother Nature� decided differently. A front was to pass through during the day with 25 to 30 knot winds, and it was necessary for us to stay onboard the boat in case problems arose. So instead of sightseeing, we watched the state funeral of President Ronald Reagan on board the boat via local TV. In Bermuda there were three TV channels; all carried it live. It was a beautiful ceremony, and it was a wonderful respite from all the �other� U.S. news constantly being heard.
By early afternoon, with the winds picking up to 30 knots, there were some exciting moments in the anchorage when a few boats dragging their anchors headed our direction. Even the Bermuda police boat was helping in the situation as one of the boats dragging their anchor was not on board. By late afternoon, we finally decided to move across the bay to a less crowded yacht anchorage with more swinging room. Now, the dinghy ride to town was 8 minutes versus 4 minutes. We stayed at this new anchorage the rest of our stay in Bermuda. These strong wind conditions continued on throughout Friday night with gusts to 40 knots. That night KUHELA rocked and rolled and the wind howled through the rigging. Saturday afternoon the winds subsided to 20-25 knots, but these winds continued on until midday Sunday as the direction of the wind backed around. |
