Jay and Sasha celebrated their fifth anniversary --- Could it really be that long? --- in Bermuda, the place they exchanged wedding vows.
When they invited friends and family to join them, we weighted the pros and cons of going.
We'd love to see them. Bermuda is a shorter flight for Julie and me now than California. But hotels and meals would cost a lot more than Santa Monica, which is not exactly cheap.
Bermuda has awesome snorkeling, but California includes the opportunity to visit other family and old friends
We considered taking a cruise but decided that would be risky. The dates would be hurricane season when an ill-timed storm might result in the ship changing destinations to find calmer seas, which would obviously not work for our purposes.
After waffling too long, we booked air on the same flights as Gina and split her lodgings with her.
The flight from Philly was just long enough for me to watch The Fall Guy, which turned out to be much better than anticipated.
We caught a taxi from the airport to St. George's. The rest of the crew arrived a few days earlier.
I've described beautiful Bermuda and St. Geroge's Club previously in this blog, so I won't spend much time describing the setting. We took advantage of the larger of two pools daily.
Owen liked the playground equipment on one of the sprawling lawns near our cottages.
As with many friends and family vacations, shared moments brought smiles based more on proximity to loved ones than the destination itself.
Every morning, I would make coffee in our cottage, much as I do at home, and we would enjoy a cup with Gina. Then Jay and Owen would come over with a half of Owen's banana to share with his Granddad. I started making gorilla sounds and doing my best imitation of a friendly King Kong jumping around, that gave Owen giggles and his sign language for more.
Julie bought a box of animal cookies identical to the ones most of my generation remembers from our childhood. Owen loved not only the cookies but the red box with zoo animals on it and a handle like a little suitcase.
The turquoise water of Tobacco Bay was teeming with more fish than five years ago.
Parrotfish were particularly huge, with many looking to be the size of dolphins to me. What seemed like walls of tiny fish swimming in a dense pattern sometimes obscured views of larger fish and coral only a few feet away. Needless to say, the snorkeling was terrific.
Owen loved frolicking in the warm water and sand.
We took turns sitting at tables we commandeered in the covered beach restaurant near Owen's stroller and huge amounts of beach gear. Having that spot paid off during intermittent tropical rain downpours. Our group ordered enough food and drinks for that to be acceptable to that beach bar's staff.
I clearly remember Gina sitting in the bay at a submerged concrete table sipping an adult beverage, joined periodically by cruisers from an MSC ship that Julie and I had considered taking to Bermuda.
We could see an Oceania ship ported in St. George's Harbor one day from our cottage.
A highlight of the trip was a trip to the bountifully curated Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo. The admission price was only $10, reduced to $5 for seniors and children 5 to 12. Kids under 5 are free. In addition to lot of sea life that I was expecting, the zoo added interesting animals from other tropical regions.
As a bonus, there was also a small history museum.
Owen often goes to a little aquarium in Santa Monica, so he was very much in his element in this much larger aquarium.
Owen loves to watch animals and fish.
When we had dinner at bayside White Horse Pub & Restaurant, we took turns away from our outdoor table to bring Owen to see the large fish tank some cool denizens. Eventually he would point at something else to do, like an illuminated stage to dance on or a soccer game on one of the big TVs.
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Another highlight for me personally came with the sound of a ringing bell in the village below while in Jay's yard. On the spur of the moment, Jay, Gina and I walked rapidly downhill to watch the Town Crier do his daily historic reenactment, while the rest of our group napped.
We arrived too late for the show, but the cheerful Crier was very friendly, inviting us to come back the next day for a front row seat.
Alas, we didn't make it back for the next day's performance.
The guy on stage ended up spending more of his time talking with us about the internet and music industry than playing songs, but we enjoyed it. By the time Julie walked down to join us, he was finishing up.
Mine and Jay's half pints of Guinness seemed appropriate on this warm day, though Gina seemed happy with her wine and Julie sipped a Diet Coke ordered on the premise the singer/guitarist would come back for another set, which he didn't.
The food and service at all of the restaurants where we dined was very good.
The decor and atmosphere were attractive and comfortable at all three restaurants we dined at in St. George's.
In addition to White Horse, we walked to dinner at The Wharf and The Three Kings in that quaint seaside town.
One evening, we took a road trip by bus to Hamilton to dine at the fun and funky Swizzle Inn Pub, site of their Rehearsal Dinner five years earlier, again having a good meal in that rowdier scene.
If pirates came to Bermuda, I imagine they would dine at The Swizzle Inn Pub, billed as the Oldest Pub in Bermuda. Then again, White Horse is also advertised as the Oldest Pub in Bermuda.
We also had a few meals at home.
I brought oatmeal packets to eat for easy breakfasts similar to what I have at home, and some food was purchased in town. Jay cooked a few spicy vegetable dishes in their cottage for us to share at lunch a couple of times. Note that groceries are priced so high as to make dining at home rather than restaurants more of a convenience than a money-saver. I'm convinced locals must receive huge discounts.
We're very happy we talked ourselves into going.
It's easy to see why Jay and Sasha have returned to Bermuda every anniversary since they married.
Sasha & Jay's Anniversary Date Night
Other Photos By Jay
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