Adventures in Bermuda

Onboard the Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Location:  Atlantic Ocean, 33 N. 57.7 W, northwest of Bermuda

This is the first opportunity we have had since our embarkation on Sunday to add to our Blog.  Port Liberty, the cruise ship port of Bayonne NJ, is basically an industrial port located across New York harbor from the Brooklyn Bridge.  Looking out from the sports deck, we could view Manhattan, Brooklyn and get a rather distant view of the Statue of Liberty. The skyline was lovely and was back lighted by a perfectly blue sky. The new building replacing the World Trade Center is not yet completed but it already towers over all of the other structures in Manhattan and can be seen easily from our ship. The weather is wonderful for a September afternoon and there is no wind.

As we left the harbor, our ship looks like it will scrape the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, but the captain assures us we will have a number of feet to spare.

After checking into our inside cabin on deck 8, we await word from the cruise director’s office for our speaking schedule.  Eventually it is delivered and we discover that we have one presentation on Monday and two on Tuesday.  Very rarely have we had more than one presentation scheduled per day.  We also find that our venue is a rather small bar, as opposed to larger area.  Well, onward and upward.

We are pleased to have been given an early 6:00 dinner, something that doesn’t happen for us on most of our cruise jobs.  Our tablemates are two couples from far northern New York State and are pleasant conversationalists.  The food and service meet the high standards that we have come to expect from Royal Caribbean.

Monday, Sept 17

At Sea and our First Show

We slept well, did our morning one mile walk, and rehearsed early for our first presentation we call Beautifully British Bermuda.  We had a bit of difficulty with the a-v setup, since we are used to a large screen and not a television screen, but the room was packed to overflowing and more and we received wonderful comments from our audience.

We went to a wonderful ice show in the afternoon. It amazes us that these 10 ice-skaters are able to do such elaborate shows on a moving cruise ship on a rink which is ¼ the size of a normal rink. It was a tribute to the seasons of the year the costumes and moves were all wonderful.

This was the first of two formal nights on board so we dressed in our finery for dinner and then the captain’s champagne reception in the Royal Promenade. This area is nice for strolling and shopping as it goes most of the way through the center of the ship and includes all of the shops, many bars and pubs and a nice café for a quick cup of coffee and a snack and it open 24 hours a day. We then went to the first stage production show. This excellent presentation showcased the Royal Caribbean singers and dancers and they were excellent. We try to go to the show each night since we can’t go out at home in the evenings due to our limited evening ferry schedule.

Tuesday, September 18

A Busy Day

This was a busy day for us.  We had two presentations today, quite unusual, but the show must go on.  Immediately after breakfast at the Windjammer buffet, we rehearsed for our morning show, Buccaneers, Brigands and the Bermuda Triangle.  Since tomorrow is “Talk Like a Pirate Day”, Donna’s pre-show was a short lesson on the essentials of pirate talk.  We had a nice turnout for this early show and this it was well received by our audience. 

Following the morning show, we decided to postpone lunch and rehearse for our 1:00 pm program, The Immigrant Experience and the Great Liners.  Since so many of our fellow passengers are from the greater New York area, we received many personal comments about this material.

Wednesday, Sept 19

Ahoy, Mateys, We Be in Bermuda!

We got our first off work day and we decided to tour Hamilton, Bermuda’s capital city today. The best way to get around this fish-hook shaped country is either by ferry or bus since they do not allow rental cars. The country is only 22 miles long by we are docked at the most westerly point and Hamilton is in the middle so we decided to take the ferry to the city. We are experienced ferry riders so it was any easy way to get around. We purchased a 3 day pass for $28 each as it is good on all of the ferry and bus routes throughout the country.

The ferry gave us a good view of the harbor as we approached the city. When we arrived in Hamilton, we decided to walk around the downtown area first since it had been so many years since we were last here. Our next adventure took us up the tallest hill so we could visit one the many forts and get a wonderful view of the city and the harbor from which to take pictures. It was a nice walk up the hills to the fort and we weren’t a bit disappointed with the view. The weather is wonderfully warm and the day was lovely so we enjoyed this time in Hamilton.

We decided to take the bus back so as to get a view of the various neighborhoods. Even though it took about twice as long as the ferry, the experience gave us the opportunity to see the wonderful colors of the houses as we meandered through all of the small villages. Everyone paints their homes with lovely pastel colors and it is not unusual to hear directions given by house color instead of addresses in each neighborhood.

We didn’t meet up with any pirates but it was fun to be able to use a few expressions on this being “International Talk Like a Pirate” day.

The evening show was a silly juggler and his show was much like many of the other jugglers that we have seen on other cruises but the other guests seemed to have enjoyed the show. Afterwards, we went to one of the lounges and thoroughly enjoyed listening to the big band music preformed by the ship’s orchestra. We even got the chance to dance so it was a nice ending to a lovely first day in Bermuda.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Bermuda

We spent the day in the charming town of St. George’s.  It is at the other end of the country and can be reached either by bus or ferry.  The ferry takes 45 minutes and the bus two hours, with a transfer in Hamilton.  We chose the passenger ferry.  The trip was very smooth across the open ocean and gave a beautiful view in the wonderful, sunny weather.

St. George’s was the capital of Bermuda until the late 1800s.  It has been preserved in much the same way as it was when it was built and there are many buildings from the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.  St. George’s has a town square, complete with pillory, stocks and a ducking stool.  The Anglican church has been in continuous operation since the time of the Pilgrims and has been honored personally by the Queen. 

We spent four hours walking the quaint streets and had a light lunch at Tavern by the Sea, overlooking St. George’s wonderful harbor. John even dared to drink a rum swizzle, the national cocktail.

We then visited the Heritage Museum.  St. George’s was honored as an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000and it was well earned.  If you ever travel to Bermuda, don’t miss St. George!

Donna fell asleep for a few minutes in the warm weather on the ferry ride back and were are now planning for our evening’s activities.

Friday…. Beach Day and our last day in Bermuda.

In Search of an Ancestor

In Search of an Ancestor

Cinnaminson NJ

By John

During the past decade I have been involved in expanding our family tree.  Each year we attend a reunion near Anacortes, Washington of our oldest American branch of the family, the Ginnetts.  My mother’s mother was born Sarah Ginnett and we were always told stories about how the family worked its way to the West Coast, with various stops along the way. 

Several members of the family tried researching the family’s roots and we found the name of a Moses Gennet (spellings changed over the generations.) who was born in the late 1700s in Cinnaminson, Burlington County, New Jersey. 

Since we had a spare day, we drove the 75 miles from Newark to Cinnaminson, which is located not far from Philadelphia.  There is not much to say about the central part of the state, but approaching Cinnaminson we were pleased to see beautiful the farmlands that explain why New Jersey is called the Garden State.  The surrounding towns and suburbs were similarly scenic.

We were able to find the name of the Methodist cemetery, Ashbury, on line, with the help of our GPS, that we have named Susie.  The burial ground is still in use and dates from the early 1800s, but the headstones did not seem to be in any order. 

Looking at older stones, Donna’s sharp eyes soon spotted a monument to a Moses Ginnett and one for his wife, Elizabeth.  Upon closer examination, the dates did not seem right and we came to the conclusion that this must be the grandson of my great-great-great-grandfather Moses.   We spent another hour inspecting the cemetery and eventually found a Robert Gennet, the son of our patriarch.  We determined that he was my great-great-great uncle.  Later research determined that he was the father of the Moses Gennet, whose headstone we had found earlier.

We stopped by the town library branch for more research, but found nothing except for one listing in the local telephone directory with the same surname.

We were planning to drop our rental car off at Newark airport on the way back to the hotel.  Our goal was to keep the tank as close to empty as possible. A short distance from the airport, the tone sounded indicating low fuel.  Another $5 and we finally made it.  Note: The approaches to Newark’s airport are among the most confusing we have ever seen.  Fortunately, Donna is a very skillful driver.

We celebrated our 44^th anniversary with dinner at an airport restaurant.

Our working cruise to Bermuda leaves on Sunday, the 16^th, so we will offline for some time.

Look for us down the line.

John and Donna

Into the Big Apple and Beyond

Friday, Sept 14^th--Into the Big Apple and Beyond…

Today we drove into New York City and we are glad that we don’t have to do that again on this trip! The drivers in this metropolis are nuts when they dart in and out of the traffic and no one follows the speed limits. Many of the drivers must think that their car horns will help them get through the traffic…the more they honk, the faster the people in cars and crosswalks will move J

We drove into the city so that Donna could visit her cousin, Diana, whom she has not seen in 7 years. Diana lives in Queens so it meant driving into the city to pick her up for lunch at a kosher deli. Thank goodness we brought Susie, our trusty GPS along with us. She was able to get us down the turnpikes and parkways and right into traffic in the city with very few mistakes on her part. Yeh, Susie you are super!

Donna's cousin Diana (left) and Donna at kosher deli in Queens

 We had a wonderful visit with cousin Diana as she had a whole folder of family records that she found in her mother’s things after she passed away a few years ago. These included the grandparent’s marriage license, immigration papers and other records and many very old family pictures. Some are not identifiable by us but we hope to find who they might be. The documents might help Donna uncover some of the mysteries of the ancestors that have thus far been unknown.

typical Queens neighorhood

We had to finally stop and buy gas but the prices in New York were in the mid $4.00 range so we didn’t fill the tank. We decided to wait until the next state as we had heard that New Jersey is much cheaper and more similar to what we pay in the northwest. We also experienced just how expensive the tolls are on the bridges and turnpikes in this area as it cost $13 for one way on the bridge and $10 for about 1mile of the NJ turnpike. That makes our local Narrow’s Bridge toll seem a lot more reasonable. J

Crossing the $13 Varrazano Narrows Bridge at 10 mph

Tomorrow we are going to spend our last day in the NE researching John’s great-great-great grandparents who were born in the late 1700’s and are buried in western New Jersey. They are the patriarchs of the family on his mother’s side. We know where they lived and have also found the cemetery that they are buried in so it will be fun to see what additional information we can gather when we drive out there. We both enjoy learning about the genealogy of our families. It is like a detailed puzzle that we are solving.

We also plan on finding a nice place to celebrate our 44^th anniversary tomorrow here in New Jersey. It is hard to believe that we have been married for that many years but we both love each other and our lives together.

Sunday we board the cruise ship from Cape Liberty, NJ for another adventure with a cruise job of lecturing to Bermuda. We will be presenting programs for the guests and also enjoying the beautiful cities and beaches of this lovely island. It will be a weeks’ cruise and a wonderful way to complete this amazing adventure.

September 13 in Pictures

Thursday, Sept 13,
Belleport, Long Island NY

Boarding the Ferry John H in New London CT

John enjoys the beautiful 90 minute crossing.

We meet an interesting boat on its way back to New London

Donna still texting

a "moderate" million dollar home in the Hamptons

Donna enjoys the beach at South Hampton, Long Island.  Note "summer cottage" in the background.

Tall Ships in Mystic

September 13

Tall Ships in Mystic

We are in our fourth state in two days.  Yesterday we filled the gas tank in Maine and drove to New Hampshire.  Today we drove from there, across Massachusetts and crossed eastern Connecticut to the seaside town of Mystic.  The gas gauge on our rented Chrysler is only slightly below the half mark.  It shows how small these New England states are.

Mystic is the home of one of the finest collections of sailing vessels anywhere in the world.  Once the home of a whaling fleet, Mystic hosts a fine living history museum, not just a few musty building, but an entire village.

The featured attraction at the Mystic Seaport Museum is the Charles W. Morgan, the last remaining wooden whaling ship. The Morgan was built in 1841 and is in the process of restoration as a genuine operating square-rigged ship. 

Enjoying the fantastic September weather, we were entertained by a singer who specialized in nautical music.  He explained the different types of work songs used by the sailors, some of which were familiar to us and others which were not.

We went onboard the square rigged trimester, Joseph Conrad and were quite impressed by the knowledge of the men and women working there. If you are a fan of nautical history or are just interested what life was like in earlier times, we give Mystic two thumbs up.

After four hours we worked our way back to our hotel, only one mile away from the seaport.

Oh, if you are a movie fan, we did pass Mystic Pizza as we drove through town.

We plan on taking the ferry from New London to Long Island tomorrow morning.  We will keep you posted.

John and Donna,

on the road and on the sea

Too Late, Too Early, Just Right

Too Late, Too Early, Just Right

Sept 11, 2012  

Leaving the southern coast of Maine, we decided to take the secondary roads, the noted “blue highways” that William Least Heat Moon used as the subject of his travel book of the same name. 

After passing through a number of quaint Maine mill towns, villages and farms, we crossed into New Hampshire for our first real destination, Wolfeboro.  The town is located in the Lake Country of that state and borders a number of lakes including a very large lake, Winnipesaukee.  The lakes in this region are quite popular as summer vacation destinations for people living in the larger metropolitan areas of New England and New York.  Fortunately for us, we were a week “too late” and the winding country roads were nearly empty.  Most of the resorts and tourist attractions were also closed for the season. The next invasion of city folks would take place several weeks from now as the Leaf Peepers, would pack the byways of the area as soon as cooler weather caused the leaves on the millions of hardwood trees in the area to change color.  We were “too early.”

We thoroughly enjoyed the nice, sunny weather and the slow pace as we traversed the back roads that wound from villages to farmsteads, up and down the mountainsides and around the lakes. The rock walls, reminiscent of Robert Frost’s classic poem, have been worked on since the time of the first pioneer farmers came to the area.  They are still used and maintained.

Those of us who hail from the Pacific Northwest are astonished by the historic heritage of New England.  Homes, barns, churches and villages that date from the Colonial period are not rare.  Buildings that predate the Civil War are common.  With the exception of power lines and asphalt roads, it would be easy to imagine oneself in the Age of the Horse.

We stopped for a picnic lunch in the town of Meredith, a beautiful resort town on the far shores of Lake Winnipesaukee.  We witnessed a 9-11 memorial taking place at lakeside. Because of the season, all lakeside recreational facilities were closed on weekdays.

The end of the day found us in Concord, New Hampshire’s quaint capital, where we enjoyed a short walk around the grounds of the Statehouse.  

We were pleased to be able to wish Kari and Jim a happy third anniversary on the phone!

Off to Connecticut tomorrow!

The Great Northest -the Beginning

Sept 6-10--A Great Start to Our Newest Adventure

We flew to Boston Logan Airport with a stop in Minneapolis for just enough time to stretch our legs and get some lunch. After arriving in Boston, we picked up our rental car and drove to Malden, MA to our first motel. We had made reservations so we didn’t have to search in the dark for a place to stay. We brought “Susie” our GPS, with us so we just told her the address and she got us there with very little trouble. She will be a life saver each day we are sure.

On Friday, we drove into the city to pick up family and headed for Cape Cod for our niece, Catherine and her partner, Sarah’s wedding. On the way to Provincetown, at the tip of the Cape, we decided to stop first at Hyannis and visit the JFK museum. We walked around this cute town and then spent a time at the museum. It brought back lots of memories with all of the wonderful pictures of this family. It was sad to see how many of these family members have met such tragic ends to their lives. We have always felt that this family had a curse on them with the loss of so many at such young ages.

We drove down the Cape and arrived at charming Provincetown. It was great to be with John’s sister, Susan and her husband, Carl and the whole wedding party at the same lovely beachfront hotel called the Crown and Anchor. It is a lovely older hotel and was the location of most of the wedding activities for the next few days.

That afternoon was the rehearsal on the beach. That was to be the location of the wedding the next day so everyone involved needed to practice. John was asked to read the translation of a Hebrew prayer so he was there for rehearsal. During practice time, a dozen or so friends arranged all of the flowers which centered on sunflowers and wild flowers.

We all walked to the rehearsal party at a nearby restaurant. It was fun to meet so many of Sarah’s family. Most live in the NY/NJ area but others came from Europe and other parts of the USA. Both of the brides’ friends came from many areas of the country so it was nice to see so many at the party.

Wedding Day: We spent the day shopping the many stores in Provincetown until it was time to dress for the big affair. The wedding started at about 5pm with about 150 guests on the beach. The brides were both so radiant and their dresses were gorgeous. They made such a lovely couple and their smiles showed their love for each other.

After the beautiful ceremony, which included many Jewish traditions, we all were served drinks and snacks until the sit-down dinner/dance was ready. The whole evening was wonderful from start to the late finish. We are both so happy for the new married couple as they are both so sweet and happy together.

 

The morning after the wedding saw John and I driving north to the coast of Maine. We enjoyed the lovely drive through the Colonial towns and marveled at the houses that were built before our Pacific NW was not even a thought. We drove along through the coastal towns and especially enjoyed the fishing and lobster town of Gloucester where we saw the famous Fisherman’s monument. This is a memorial to the over 5300 fishermen who were lost at sea from this town.

Further north we found a delightful motel on the beach in a town called Old Orchard Beach. We decided to book for two nights so we could spend the next whole day touring the area without searching for a place to sleep.

Monday found us driving a little north through Portland ME. It was fun to see the signs directing us to Portland. It was kind of weird since we had lived for so much of our lives in the other Portland.

We wanted to see what Freeport ME was like after hearing so much about it on all of the LL Bean advertising. This town is all outlet stores and makes our NW outlet malls look like corner markets! LL Bean itself has over a half dozen huge stores. It was fun to walk around the town which was so tastefully done and not a bit tacky but this was definitely like an outlet mall on steroids!

We drove along the beach route so we could stop and see the Portland Head Lighthouse, the second oldest lighthouse on the east coast and probably the most photographed one in the US! We got back in plenty of time to walk again on the lovely soft sand in Old Orchard Beach.

Tomorrow we are going to head west into New Hampshire to explore the mountains and lakes that everyone says are so beautiful.