BERMUDA: King’s Wharf & Hartley’s Helmet Diving

I spent 14 Summers of my youth during one of the golden ages of this beautiful island. Sadly many cultural changes have altered Bermuda in numerous ways to the point of being unrecognizable. There are so many wonderful memories that I chose not to venture out and have my heart broken. Instead, I explored King’s Wharf which has actually improved over the years and also had the good fortune of spending the afternoon helmet diving with a friend that I grew up with.

Gareth Oliver & Wife – A talented avant-garde ventriloquist who performed with his wife the night before. I ran into them in New York at Ellen’s Stardust Diner, and again at breakfast before disembarking in Bermuda.

Bermuda – King’s Wharf

ARRIVAL BUILDING

Hartley’s Undersea Walk – My friend Greg’s dive operation advertisement inside the arrivals building.

RAINBOW RUNNER – Just a hundred and fifty meters away, I was picked up by the Rainbow Runner. Carrying on the family business, Greg has been doing this for ages.

Here’s Greg giving the pre-dive briefing just as I had seen his father Bronson do so many times before. Unfortunately, I don’t have a CD port on my computer, so I won’t have the underwater pictures up until I get back to San Diego to upload them. There’s a nice shot of me hugging a grey snapper.

Underwater Photo’s To Come

 

Andrew has worked for Greg for eight years. Heading back to King’s Wharf the Eclipse can be seen in the distance.

Thar She Blows

After dropping off tourists we headed back to where Greg moors his boat.

 

Captain Greg – Just like he was 40 years ago.

A charming sand ringed bay where the boat is kept nearby his home.

Scuttlehead & Scuttlebrain – Our nicknames for each other when we worked on his Dad’s boat 40 years ago. Here we are together for the first time in 35 years.

 

Parking the boat before we went to Greg’s house to chill out and talk about old times and shared amusing anecdotes.

On the next day, we left fairly early so I just popped into Kings Wharf, to stroll through the mall.

Clock Towers Mall

 

My freshly purchased asymmetric treasure coin ring next to the Celtic ring I picked up in Edinburgh. A ten-minute impulse purchase.

 

Rushing back to the ship to make it before departure by five minutes.

Leaving Bermuda – Barely visible on the horizon due to its lack of altitude.