Haylee's 8th Grade Dance

Bermuda Bound

20 year anniversary

We sailed from Bayonne, NJ to Bermuda for our 20th anniversary. It was a wonderful trip and we are so glad to have celebrated this big mile-marker with a bucket list adventure. We've had a lot of adventures together, and this one didn't disappoint. Very relaxing! We were at sea for 2 full days, then in Bermuda for almost 3 full days, then a day at sea on the way back. This was our first time on Celebrity and our 11th cruise. We enjoyed the Celebrity line, but wouldn't really pick it over another. We are sailing with them to Alaska next September, too. We have gained a ton of loyalty points with Carnival and didn't find a difference in the service or food on this trip. Carnival actually has more to do/see on the ship and we thought Carnival actually has a little better food with more options, so I guess going forward will be on a case-by-case basis. Here are some pictures! 

Our views while leaving the Hudson. The captain got permission to go up and make a U-turn at the "Ol' Gal" as Billy calls her. (I think he feels comfortable with her since he looked up her dress a few trips to NY ago.) 

 This is a golf club that you can see from the port.

 Verrazano Bridge that you pass under on your way out/in

 Ellis Island

 Ellis Island

 The Ol' Gal

I always love the pilot boats as we dock. This is the morning of our third day into the trip. We docked at 8:30 and headed off the ship and into the Dockyard to catch the ferry to St. George's for a day of wandering. We bought a day pass for the public transportation and enjoyed our conversations with the locals along our journey. We ferried to St. George's, took the bus to lunch, a bus to Hamilton and ferried back to the Dockyard.

 Pilot Boat

 View of our ship from our high-speed ferry as we left the Dockyard

 A random pic of the great colors of the homes against the water/sky (I took lots of these)

 Governor's House from our ferry

 Pulling into St. George's

 St. Peter's Church in St. George's (don't know the lady...lol)

 Just a cool tree

 The original Swizzle Inn - home of the Rum Swizzle - where we had lunch

 Some pretty views from our lunch seats

 Swizzle Inn between St. George's and Hamilton (this was taken from the ice cream shop across the street - so good!)

 Views from the Hamilton harbour on our ferry back to the ship

 Views from the Hamilton harbour on our ferry back to the ship

 Views from the Hamilton harbour on our ferry back to the ship

 Views from the Hamilton harbour on our ferry back to the ship

 The US boat from the 35th America's Cup race in Bermuda

 Clocktower Mall at the Dockyard (and marina)

 Billy Miles being adorable

These are a few shots from our cabin. The view was amazing and we were in a great spot to enjoy seeing the ferries and fishing boats go in and out every day, but not stare at the Dockyard and it's crowds. We were in Bermuda for the full moon and it was a sight to see! I love the zoom on my camera! :-)

Our second day in Bermuda was one spent in the water. We found a snorkel guide whose family has lived in Bermuda since 1610. Bermuda was "claimed" in 1609 and his ancestor was on the first ship of 25 men (the women would follow a few months later) to begin to occupy the island. Bermuda's story is a very interesting one and one that is tied very closely to Jamestown, VA. This guide took us about 6.5 miles out for snorkeling on the farthest edge of the reef around Bermuda, at what they call the Blue Hole. 2 more miles further from where we stopped, the "edge" drops off about 2 miles down.

A quick side note about Bermuda - no predatory animals. No snakes, etc. Sharks do not come into the area during the day as the reefs are numerous and would entail too much energy be used to catch smaller fish that they can more easily find outside the reef system. They do wander in at night (their hunting time), but there has not been an attack there in years and years and years. Porpoise also don't navigate the reefs, so there is one family of porpoise outside the ring and they protect their territory and circle the full volcano area regularly. 

Here are some pix of a very healthy reef. Belize is the only other snorkeling that we've done that had similar health.

Here are our final pix from sail away. This was a wonderful trip and a great memory to take forward with us. We enjoyed spending time with Tom and Chrissy and loved meeting their friends. We are very lucky to have spent the time and look forward to doing so again!

We had a good day at sea on the way back and docked at 8:00 the following morning. We were off the ship and on I95 South by 9:00. We picked-up our little Quigley and headed home to dream about our trip to Germany in December. Back to work work work....