Bermuda

So I know I'm supposed to be writing about Scotland, and probably having some sort of preflight emotional musing moments, but I'm saving those for tomorrow. I got back from Bermuda this afternoon, and I want to briefly talk about it while it's fresh.

Richard described Bermuda as Croatia meets Italy, but on the ridiculously picturesque taxi ride from the airport to his home, I already disagreed. After some deliberation, I've decided that - to the best of my experience - Bermuda most closely resembles Jersey meets Grand Cayman (or some other similar Caribbean island). It is incredibly lush, but also very small-town proper. Colours are intense: vibrant green foliage, gloriously swimmable turquoise water, silly-bright buildings with starkly whitewashed roofs. The people are distinctly divided into the chill islandy locals and the stuffy somewhat rich white folk, and the shops and pubs have this feeling of not-quite-England. The roads are those deliciously narrow, windy ones with short stone walls on either side - usually either spilling over with greenery or revealing some pretty, watery scene - that are best enjoyed on scooter (which we did). You can probably guess for yourself which of those qualities are shared with Jersey, and which with Grand Cayman; they're fairly equally represented, I think.

The vacation itself was glorious. We played in the waves, went out for dinners and drinks, scooted all over the island on Heather Four, cuddled more than I ever thought physically possible, and generally got saturated in sunshine and saltwater and pinkish sand. One noteworthy event was when we rented a kayak and paddled under a bridge, around an island, and into a little rock-sheltered cove (seeing a sunken sailboat, some flying fish, and a giant red crab the size of a human face on the way). From the shore of the cove, we snorkeled through gargantuan schools of little electric blue fish and saw other pretty aquatic life, including these adorably curious little black and white and yellow striped fellows, who would dart inquisitively closer as we approached instead of swimming away. And on the way back, the water level had risen a good bit and we had to lie down flat on our kayak to make it under the bridge! Another good episode was when I was sunbathing on a little beach, alone because Richard was at the office, and a random fellow who worked at the nearby resort talked to me for ten minutes and then casually proposed to me.

In the end, Bermuda is a lovely island paradise, but not one I'd normally be likely to visit over and over; it's a little too glossy for my tastes, but that's where the boyfriend lives, for now. It was definitely a sweet ending to a ridiculous summer. More on that tomorrow.