Bermuda Stories

Stories from the Road

November 27, 2013

Bermuda

We awoke to sun and blue sky this morning on this 26-mile long island. After a bagel and coffee we took the shuttle to Belmont Hills to play golf. I asked the man in the golf shop if native Bermudians felt the island was as expensive as we Americans did. He said the island has strongly felt the worldwide recession in recent years. During the 80’s and 90’s tourism was up, and the island boomed. Of late fewer people come here, and many ex-pats have moved off the island, taking their capital with them. The island is hurting economically.

The golf course was busier today due to the weather I suppose. We had people in front and behind us, but we all seemed to play at the same pace, so there was little waiting for anyone. On hole 12 a man started to hit Vicki’s yellow ball, until the words, “ That’s my ball”, drifted across the fairway and caught his attention. He quickly moved downhill.

We talked to some people from Northern England this afternoon. The topic got around to golf, and the man told me either he or his father was playing in Scotland. I couldn’t tell because his accent was thick, and he talked quickly. At any rate the starter asked the party, if an American could join them. They said sure, and up stepped jack Nicklaus carrying his own bag. According to the Brit, Jack was courteous and gracious throughout the 18 holes. I told the man it was a nice story and wished him well.

This afternoon we walked a few miles on the rail trail which runs though much of the interior of Bermuda. I was surprised so many of the expensive homes along the ocean have so much land attached to them. Bermuda is a small place, but many of these homes have a couple of acres. As we walked inland, we were  again surprised to find small farms with horses, pigs, and corn fields. Bermuda is more diverse than one would guess.