Bermuda Misadventures!

One of the benefits of having a scooter is ease of transport.  No waiting on buses, no long walks from the bus stop to the final destination.  Being on a scooter in Bermuda is freedom in all it's 35 km/hr glory.  My friend Siobhan does not have a scooter, and as with some of the scooterless, does not always get into all of the nooks and crannies of the island to explore.  And so we decided we would have and adventure.  We pre-planned for a mutual day off with the idea to go exploring some new areas.  Long on my list to see was "Hog's Bay Park," which is a little sign I see just off the side of the road in Southampton.  The only feedback I have ever heard is that one should not go alone.  I need to start listening to subtle clues.

When the long awaited day of adventure arrived, I scooted down the road, thinking about the places Siobhan might not have seen that we could stop at as well, planning a lovely day in my head.  A few minutes later I realized that I had forgotten Siobhan, and had to turn the scooter around to go pick her up.  This is a good example of foreshadowing.  Once I had Siobhan and we carried down the road, she quickly forgot any hard feelings about being forgotten, and our excitement spilled over when we stopped for gas and answered "We're going on an adventure!" when the attendant asked where we were going.  He said to be careful, and next time to bring more ladies.  I don't think the scooter is really meant to hold many more people, but I left him to his whimsical ideas.

The first stop was the Fairmont Southampton Princess for lunch.  The lobby bar/restaurant Jasmine is always a nice place to stop for food.  Not speedy, but nice, and perfect when you have a leisurely afternoon ahead.  We were seated at the window, but the tourists were outside on the balcony enjoying what was relatively warm to them.  Dining with them, were...ducks!

Dining with ducks at the Fairmont Southampton Princess

And a few kiskadees.  These bright yellow and black birds have a distinctive call, and often wake me up mornings, occasionally photo bomb my pictures, and never let me get a good shot.  While they were focused on lunch, I finally got a few good shots.  Here is one.

Ready to dine and dash

Inside the lobby of the hotel I came across this neat 3D turtle.  It has an interesting story.  A sick turtle was found on the surface of the water around Bermuda.  A hyperinflation of the lungs made it so that it could not dive down below the surface of the water.  A good Samaritan brought it to the zoo, which has a rehab program for wild critters.  Rumor has it, that in their quest to find out what was wrong with it, that it was snuck into a CT Scanner somewhere on the island (and didn't want to sit still on the table).  The resulting CT films were used by an artist to do this 3D reconstruction...it is like wire inside a pane of glass to represent each layer, with the panes of glass stacked on top of each other.  The turtle eventually was healed, and released back into the wild, but this "sculpture" is on display to encourage donations to the rehabilitation program.

Off we went to Hog's Bay Park.  There was a Park's vehicle out front, which I thought was a good sign, indicating that upkeep was underway.  We followed a little trail...which ended a few paces later at a derelict house, with a lone ash tree, and the sounds of ne'er-do-wells inside the derelict building.  "What kind of a park is this?"  Siobhan said, clearly disappointed.  "I can't believe it," I said, as we walked back the way we came.

Shibby making the most of the adventure at first, standing in front of boarded up building

  But then I saw a little stepping stone path and thought we had gone the wrong way.  So we followed the stepping stones...around the other side of the derelict house and into the same dead end back yard.  Confused, and disappointed in our adventure thus far, we looked around to see if we had things wrong.  The sign clearly stated that this was the park.  A few rough looking youths peered out at us from trees and then ran back to the derelict house.  The only possibility was that maybe the park was beyond the field that ran alongside the parking lot and further back.

Derelict building and a lone ash tree on our quest for Hog's Bay Park

And so we headed down along the field, crossed it's end, saw the same girl pop out of the trees and dart back in, cell phone in hand, and became pretty sure our location was being reported and that little good could come of this.  Curiosity spurred us at a rapid walking pace through the trees at the end of the field...to which we found a lime kiln and numerous other paths between other fields.  I wasn't sure what a lime kiln was, but it sounded like a good place for a body dump, so I didn't linger too long.  Turns out that a lime kiln is used to make lime.  This is done by heating limestone, which Bermuda has, and the lime was later used in mortar for building.  A much less dodgy prospect that my original thought.

The Lime Kiln

Shibby's sense of appreciation for the alleged park had faded by now

It was impossible to enjoy the idea of walking along these other fields in the hopes that something park like would emerge as my mind was otherwise occupied wondering if my bike would be stripped or stolen by the time we got back, because the kids were clearly up to no good.  We walked as fast as we could back to the bike, past some more rustling bushes where the same kid furtively tried to hide when we turned back, and called that a write off.

However, there would still be time for other adventures!  We drove a little further up the road and saw the sign for Wadson's Farm.  I had never gone there before, but imagined a petting zoo of sorts, or at least free range chickens sunning themselves in lovely Bermuda and laying the odd egg in their free time.  Unfortunately all we found was a little store with a closed sign.  No sign of cage free chickens either.

I was starting to get nervous as I felt providing some new scenery was my duty.  I thought it would be nice to drive up to Port Royal Golf course and look over the edge of the earth.  It was kind of windy, and had someone else been around to take a picture we could have done a "Thelma and Louise" shot of the scooter and the edge and the sunset...but Thelma had to take the picture, and as Louise, there was no point in driving over the edge like kamikaze without Thelma, so we lived another day.

If I knew how to pop a wheelie, I would have done it for this shot

The day was not turning out to be the adventure we had hoped for.  But, a little further down the road we found the turn off for Vesey Nature Preserve.  I wasn't sure what was back there but it seemed like a good thing to check out.  We pulled into the parking lot and saw a little clearing, and had passed some ladies in exercise clothes on the way in so were sure we were off on a nature path this time.

Down the stairs looking for the trailhead

We walked into the little clearing, pushing aside some poky weeds that were as tall as us and made our way to what we thought was the trail head.  Instead we found a somewhat stinky little swamp and a dead end.  Siobhan was not impressed with the parks system at this point.

A disgruntled Shibby at the edge of the swamp

View from the edge of the swamp...leading back to the bike

The good news is that the clearing is a deceptive lead...if one heads up a little trail on the other side of a parking lot there is a reward.  To start with, there is an actual sign.

Entrance to the Vesey Nature Presume...a park at last!

In fact, we found several signs on the trail which loops around and gives you one or two options along the way.  We stuck to the left and made our way down the the cliff, past a limestone quarry, and back up to the lookout.  At this point we were actually having a really nice time, and had salvaged our adventure day.

Another sign!  Our lucky day!

Signs signs everywhere.  This one explains a limestone quarry at its edge

A gorgeous day...which has been lacking ever since...maybe tomorrow

An elevated platform to enjoy the view

Of course it was a little unnerving when we found this sign next as Siobhan was in sandals and shorts.  It may be beneficial to post this at the start of the trail rather than the end of the trail, but the powers that be apparently did not agree.  Fortunately we must have missed it because there were no complaints later on.

Perhaps more useful at the beginning of the trail rather than the end

We swore to have a better adventure the next time!  But in the end it was worth it for the view.

Smooth as glass in places on this fine day