I have procrastinated some in this post, because I was hoping I might find a way to get the underwater camera pictures developed soon. But if any of them turned out, I will just have to post again then. This was really one of the best days of our vacation. The Hartley Helmet Dive is amazing. If you ever get to go to Bermuda, do the Hartley Helmet Dive.
The main reason I chose this excursion is that it was the only one that provided wetsuits, and the water in Bermuda in mid-April is still rather cold.
This is the only fish you'll see in these pictures but we saw alot more than this. They come to Greg (the guy who owns and runs Hartley Helmet Dive now). He has "friended" them. That's what he says on his website. I would say he has trained them with food, but whatever you call it the result is neat.
I think this photo says it all about how cool I thought it was to hold the fish.
Actually looking at the camera in this one though, so posting it too.
The one good photo of mom where she is looking at the camera.
In all of the others, she forgets about the camera and is just looking down at the fish. But here is the best one of those with her holding the fish.
Us together with the fish.
Us holding the fish together.
I really wish at this point that I could show you some more pictures that would really express how cool this dive was. Greg has sticks with words on them to point what all the fish and coral are. And he has pieces of the coral that have broken off that you can touch. They each feel slightly different. Hopefully at least some of the photos we took with the underwater cameras will turn out and I will post them later.
The excursion went longer than it was supposed to and my mom was actually the last passenger on the boat before the boat sailed away. They actually had to hold the boat for our excursion. This was the other main reason I chose this excursion for that morning in Bermuda so that we would definitely not miss the boat.
After we had lunch, mom went to take a nap and I went up to the relaxation room in the spa (the only free part of the spa). It has a very nice view of the water. And mostly I'm posting this photo because I
A video of the view, just cause I like to watch the water, and who knows you might too. :-)
This is the Centrum, and I just think it was a cool view.
The only other towel animal we got. I think we decided it was supposed to be a rabbit maybe, but we were never really convinced on that point.
Due to the rough seas the day before, we actually got into Bermuda about an hour late. But as all we had planned for the afternoon was to ride around on the ferries and see the islands from there, it didn't really affect us.
This is a painting that was in the stairway on our deck. I just thought it was nice and so I took this photo of it.
This is from the cruise ship while we still sailing to the port. I just really like the lighthouse plus pastel colored houses in this one.
This is still from the cruise ship. But not long after that, we would be on a ferry just like that one, or maybe even that one for all I know.
This video is from the ferry. The first 15 seconds and the last 10 seconds are just of the wake of the boat. I just liked watching the water. I have lots of pictures of it, but they're mostly for just my own amusement and I am trying not to inflict my water fascination too much on everyone else. Anyway, the other ~30 seconds of the video show a rather shaky view of the Bermuda coast.
This is a view of our cruise ship, Enchantment of the Seas, from the ferry.
This was one of my favorite (yes, here I go again with favorites) parts of the ferry rides we took around Bermuda. The water is multicolored with many different shades of blue all around the islands.
In between the ferry rides, we sat a small park near the ferry dock. I just really liked this shot of a pigeon that I got.
After the ferry rides, we went to a small beach near the dock. I had brought along a snorkel mask just in case we had the time. I saw a few small white fish that seemed fascinated with my pale white skin. They just flocked around my legs. And three time I saw this mostly white with yellow and black stripes fish. It may have been just the same fish all three times, but it was fun.
This is my mom while we were waiting to go on the nighttime glass-bottom boat excursion. Notice the boat in the background named Powerful. I just really liked a number of the boat names we saw while there. Another that I remember was called Resolute.
This was near sunset from the excursion boat.
This was after sunset with a long exposure time.
Now I know you can't really see anything in this photo but it was the best one I got during this excursion. I gave up after this of trying to get photos and just enjoyed looking at the fish and the corals. The best part of this excursion was at one point when we a big fish come along and eat a littler fish.
At the end of the excursion they took us to see this sunken ship where the bow still sticks out of the water.
We had a really good time this first day at Bermuda. It's a beautiful place, and I definitely wouldn't mind going back someday.
