Fit For A Queen

What started out as an ordinary day, (you know get up, dress, and grab your bag as you run out the door to catch Continental Flight Number 3088 to Newark. That kind of a day!), turned out to be extraordinary. With the exception of being delayed on the tarmac for 45 minutes in Newark, the trip to Bermuda was relatively uneventful. Hindsight, I wish I had asked the flight attendant for a newspaper instead of a peanut snack pack. It was newsworthy to write about the Queen’s visit (yes our Queen) to Bermuda, but it would seem that I was the only one who had not read about it. The cabbie didn’t think it was a very good idea to go to Ordnance Island what with the Queen’s visit. With this little tidbit of local knowledge, I knew two things to be sure. The first was that my boat was tied up at the wharf at Ordnance Island. No, I wasn’t really sure of that. The first was, the Queen of the Commonwealth was visiting St Georges, at Ordnance Island, coincidentally at almost the same time that I was scheduled to be at Ordnance Island, St Georges. Weird, eh? Had my flight not be delayed for that forty five minutes, I would have arrived at precisely the exact time as the Queen was shaking hands with her loyal subjects. The second thing I was absolutely sure was that I didn’t have a clue where Ryen’s Quest was. Time to get directions; I know when I am lost. I was a little timid as I approached the Customs Office and smiled at the young man with the corn rows as he played Solitaire. I kept smiling as I cleared my throat a lil bit but was getting absolutely no where with this young man. Playing solitaire is intense. The humid Bermuda air was starting to get on my nerves. The temperature was like in the 80’s or 100’s and my throat was parched from eating the salted peanuts on the plane. I had been in this heat for almost an hour by this time. So I spoke a little too loud as I asked for directions. He pointed his mouse in a direction over my head so I turned and followed the imaginary line. The place he pointed was as quiet as a tomb. There was no Ryen’s Quest, there was no Queen, and there were no Royal subjects. There was just me and the young man playing Solitaire. Rather than disturb him again, I took another route and entered the exact same building, from the front. There was a reception counter, a rather obtrusive print of Her Majesty the Queen, and the sweetest looking young man in an official Customs uniform. When he asked if he could help me, I think my face gave me away. I needed his help badly. I didn’t know where the boat was, I didn’t know where Allan was, I didn’t know where the Queen was, and I wasn’t real sure where I was. All of a sudden my eyes filled up with tears, and my mouth was drooling out incomprehensible sounds. I managed “boat”, “Ryen’s Quest”, “storm”, “Halifax”, and in a matter of seconds, he had my luggage and me in his office. He radioed Al, and as always Al was on the other end of the call. He had been waiting for me and was unable to tell me about the Queens visit and that he had to move the boat for security reasons. YadaYadaYada! Could he come to pick me up? Negative I could hear Al respond, but he could walk down to pick me up. The Customs man looked at me, I sniffed again, and he asked Al to stand-by. The Rescue Pilot Boat was offered up to take me to Ryen’s Quest. I nearly fell in the water trying to get on that boat before someone changed their mind. Guess who the driver of the boat was? Yep, the Solitaire guy! Weird, eh? We didn’t talk much on the trip over. I asked him what the charge would be for his service and he said I didn’t have to pay. Maybe the stuff you have to pay for in Bermuda is expensive, but getting a free ride in the rescue pilot boat was pretty special. I should have offered a tip maybe but it never occurred to me.

I was most grateful to be aboard Ryen’s Quest. Mack had gone to dinner with folks we had met in Dartmouth. Allan and I took a rain check on dinner and just spent some quality time catching up and listening about the intensity of the storm they had just been through. There is nothing funny to write regarding the storm. It was unpleasant, and something they hope never to have to do again. Chances are good that their passage to the BVIs after December 9 will be better than their last passage.

As we were lying down in the aft cabin with the hatch open wide and the breeze flowing nicely over our sheets, we could see straight up through the hatch. The stars here are incredibly intense and vivid. Constellations are seen far more clearly. Bermuda is growing on me. It is beautiful, and clean, and the locals are some of the nicest people we have met on this trip so far. Although they are going into their winter season and are finding the temperatures to be cold, Bermudians have the warmest hearts of all.

God Save our Queen!