I like patterns and symmetry; regular tiled floors, mosaics, houses with two windows upstairs, two windows downstairs and a door sitting proudly in the middle, pictures we all produced in school when you paint half a butterfly then fold the paper together to ‘blot’ the other side, my list goes on.
Today I recognised a new satisfying pattern – islands beginning with the letter B. My favourite islands in the Caribbean started with B, ….Barbados, Bequia and Barbuda. And Bermuda can certainly be added to that list. Okay, I know Bermuda is a strictly a North Atlantic island but it feels close enough to sneak onto my list.

Bermuda has been tremendous. i don’t doubt that we’re seeing it at its best what with the America’s Cup taking place. It’s a beautiful place and the Great Sound where the racing is taking place provides a sheltered bay where boats can anchor in about 10m around the buoys that mark the race course.

Weve been out most days on Steph and Brian’s boat watching the racing. We know a couple of the course marshalls quite well now and look forward to the daily banter as we look to anchor as close as possible to the racing area without drifting into the buoyed area.

Yesterday after waiting an hour for non existent wind, racing was cancelled for the day. Dave had clocked a rocky area in some of the tourist literature showing people jumping off cliffs into the water. So we motored off, found the spot and anchored there. No pictures to show here as we having too much fun to think about cameras. All 6 of us, me, Dave, Steph, Brian, Bill and Chris swam ashore. Dave and Brian did a bit of solo cliff climbing, having the option to bale out into the water when it got too much. The boys jumped from the highest spot, I’m guessing between 20 and 25 feet. My 3 jumps were not so adventurous but still good fun. There were caves to swim through and 15 year olds to watch as they hurled themselves without a care off the top like rag dolls.

Everyone felt totally elated and buzzy after a great afternoon. The celebrations continued into the evening on Bills boat as he fired up the BBQ and we watched the fireworks which were part of the Tall Ships Event in Hamilton Harbour. Bill got his guitar out, he’s pretty good, and Steph and I murdered a few songs. Another amazing day in Bermuda.

Today we plan to take a day off the racing and walk out along the disused railway trail to a lighthouse. Should be a little more sedate that yesterday.