55+ Living Guide Magazine Spring/Summer 2018 Spring 2018 | Page 10

Travel
Cool breezes
pink sands
British Style
Pastel Houses
mopeds
Yacht Races
Dark & Stormy
world class golf
Bermuda
...It’s still Paradise
By Diana Loeffel CTC
Bermuda’s Infamous
Dark & Stormy Cocktail
10
The island of Bermuda holds a unique
and special place in this writer’s heart—
almost 60 years ago in 1958 I enjoyed
my first visit there, on my honeymoon,
and my parents had honeymooned there
in 1929. Having grown up with those
lovely hand-colored photos of this beau-
tiful place, it was an obvious choice for
my husband and I. Not to say Bermuda
is only for newlyweds—far from it, as
this article will attempt to emphasize.
Many people are hazy as to the actual
geographical location of Bermuda and
mistakenly place it in the Caribbean.
In reality, Bermuda is an archipelago
consisting of 181 small land masses
and rocks located in the Atlantic Ocean
600 miles southeast of the coast of the
Carolinas. The seven largest islands
are arranged in the shape of a giant
fishhook with bridges and causeways
linking them so that many people think
of Bermuda as a contiguous island. One
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of the bridges is called “the smallest
drawbridge in the world”; merely a few
feet long with a hand operated section
that lifts to allow the mast of a sailboat
pass through. The total land mass covers
a mere 21 square miles.
It is unclear as to the exact discov-
ery date of Bermuda but history has
attributed it to Juan de Bermudez, who
sailed by in 1503. The first settlement
did not occur until 1609 and consisted
of a group of colonists on their way to
Virginia and blown off course. Most of
these early settlers later moved on to
Virginia, having remained long enough
to repair their ship but two were said to
remain. In 1612 more English settlers
arrived and a true outpost was estab-
lished. Four years later the first slaves
were brought in, mainly from Africa but
also some Indians from North America
and subsequently Scottish and Irish
prisoners. Bermuda has a long colorful