Europe 2019

Our travels in 2017 convinced us that an ocean voyage is a most pleasant way to cross the Atlantic, especially when the cruise company provides business-class air transportation in the other direction.  Having sailed westward before, we booked ourselves in the other direction this time.  The ship was the same, however, Regent’s Seven Seas Navigator.  

We left Sun Valley on May 7, driving to Anacortes, Washington, for a few days with son Andy and his family.  Flying to New York, we stayed with son Fritz and saw several friends in the city before sailing on May 15 on a 15-day repositioning cruise to Amsterdam with stops in Bermuda, the Azores, and several French and Belgian ports.

The photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Bermuda, May 17-18

Bermuda is not a single island but an archipelago—a number of islands and islets connected by causeways and bridges.  The coastline is indented by many bays and inlets that provide protected moorage for a wealth of small boats.  We found the pink sand ocean beaches remarkable for a virtual absence of surf, thanks to a barrier reef that rings the archipelago.

After squeezing through a narrow inlet guarded by an old fort, which greeted us with a cannon blast, the Navigator docked at St. George, the colony’s original capital at the east end of the archipelago.  A World Heritage Site, the town was founded in 1612, making it the second oldest English-speaking settlement in the New World.  St. Peter’s, St. George’s Anglican church, is the oldest continuously operating Protestant church in the hemisphere.  Its churchyard is the final resting place of an American naval midshipman wounded in the War of 1812 who was attentively cared for by St. George townspeople (according to the gravestone) before his demise.

Harbor entrance

Downtown St. George with pink St. Peter's on hill

Bermuda is very well manicured, and even the less opulent homes looked well maintained.  We drove through the nicer (perhaps nicest) sections where Michael Bloomberg, Ross Perot, and Silvio Berlusconi have places.  (One guide informed us, however, that Silvio had not used his house much—particularly, we assume, when he was in prison.)  Foreigners wishing to buy property are subject to a long vetting process—so tedious, we heard, that Oprah finally gave up in disgust.  

A posher part of Hamilton Parish

A British Overseas Territory, Bermuda is self-governing except for defense and foreign affairs, which are controlled by Whitehall.  The population is a bit over 70,000, and the per capita GDP is one of the highest in the world, thanks to tourism and the insurance and reinsurance industries.  Not surprisingly, however, the cost of living is very high.

In the two days spent here, we snorkeled and visited the Crystal Caves, a worthwhile limestone cavern with dripping stalagmites and stalactites and a deep water pool fed by the Atlantic.  However, our best adventure was a reunion with daughter Schroeder, who had come to Bermuda for a get-away with her college roommate.

In the Crystal Caves

Dockside in St. George

Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal, May 23

The Navigator had called at Ponta Delgada in October 2017 (see Portugal, Cont., October 2017) so we devoted most of our brief visit this time to whale and dolphin watching for almost four hours.  According to our guide, we were fortunate in seeing all three of the Azores’ resident cetaceans—sperm whales, common dolphins, and bottlenose dolphins.  The last were by far the most playful, diving under our zodiac from one side to the other.  The sperm whales did not show much interest—fortunately for us, as they were twice as long as our boat.

The Navigator in Ponta Delgada harbor

Bottlenose dolphins

Our shopping was limited to a small wine and cheese shop we had visited in 2017.  There we bought multiple jars of Doce Extra de Figo, an iconic fig preserve of the Azores.

Fig preserve shopping

Downtown Ponta Delgada