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Reflections of Bermuda
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I present you this page to share the impressions and pictures of Bermuda
I got during a field trip to the Islands.
In the time between Septermber
19th of 1998 and September 29th of 1998 a group of 10 students and our
Professor, Mr. Chris Bridges, from Heinrich Heine University of Duesseldorf
visited Bermuda on a field trip concerning marine biology. We had a really
great time there till September 27th. On September 27th one of us, Catrin
Schaefer, was killed in an accident. On that day most of my fascination
for the island suddenly vanished, but I think it would be wrong to forget
the time we had until then. Concerning the days after Sept. 27th., I would
like to thank the staff of BBSR, my fellow students, the people at King
Edward Memorial Hospital in Hamilton, the female taxi driver who got us
there, Bermuda police officers, British Airways staff and all I forgot for their support and their sympathy.
Special thanks to Mr.
Bridges, who did not let us down in these difficult days.
On the field trip to Bermuda there were lots of beautiful things to
see along the way, and some of them I would like to share with you.
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Harrington Sound: View from the Aquarium.
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The first days of our trip were a little covered in clouds and included a tropical storm named Karl. On the upper right, you see a photo of Harrington Sound, taken during a visit at Bermuda's Aquarium.
It was on
the third day of our tour, and the image shows the first patches of blue
sky we saw on Bermuda. Til that moment it was a little grey with lots of
rain, but look at the colour of the water. I never saw something like this
before.
If you ever visit the aquarium, you have the chance to see some
really nice tanks with focus on Bermuda, including an 'eelnormous' green
moray. Don't forget to visit the discovery room, where you are allowed
to touch some of the local animals.
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The right image shows a view from Shelly Bay using linear polarisation
filter (the reason why the water is not reflecting as it should be).
Shelly
Bay was the location of our second snorkeling trip on Bermuda. The interesting
parts of this beach are the seagrass beds on its right side and the rocks
on the right and left of the beach.
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Shelly Bay: First snorkeling.
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They have a nice white sand on Shelly Bay, just in case you want to
take a sunbath after swimming or snorkeling there. Don't forget to wear
sunscreen - serious sunburns are a common disease among tourists.
Next image shows a somewhat tired Catrin
right after snorkeling on Shelly Bay, followed by a photo of the entrance
of St. George's Town Hall. If you visit St. Georges, it is a good idea
to drop off your cycle somewhere near the cruise ship terminal and walk
whereever else you want to go. King's Square is located not far from there,
and you can't miss it, because it lies on the only way you can go from
there. On your right you will then be able to see the Town Hall, the Bank
and the Stocks, which may be worth a photo...Other interesting places in
St. Georges are St. Peter's church and the gift shops on Duke of York street.
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Shelly Bay: Some time later.
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Now to something completely different. Now we will get somewhat scientific,
but not too much. What you see on the left is the interior of the Clark
Laboratory at BBSR, filled with highly
motivated students from the Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf.
In the first row you can see (from right to left) Julia, Catrin and Rosario.
In the second row you can have a faint look at Frank and Sabine, Markus
ist partly covered by the column.
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BBSR: Clark Laboratory
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Our visit to North Rock the next morning was a lot more fun.
The right picture shows Melanie and Nicola
wearing a white T-Shirt to avoid a nice sunburn snorkeling at North Rock,
the world's northernmost coral reef. Speaking for myself, I found it a
bit strange to jump overboard about an hour off the coast, but the sight
of the reef and its inhabitants was far more than rewarding.
It is terrific sight to see several corals grow on a piece of rock
and a common sea fan with its purple colour between them. Or to see the
SCUBA divers of our group pass below you, bubbles of their air ascending
to the surface.
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North Rock: Snorkeling
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However, they do have really nice water currents there,
so be advised that you should snorkel in a direction appropriate to drift
back to the boat when you are exhausted. After about one and a half hour
we left the water because we were getting cold. This proved to be a mistake.
While driving to north rock we did not take much notice of the waves around
it. With the boat just floating, most of us got a little seasick immediately
after returning to the vessel. Thorsten was worst, he lost his breakfast
after a short intense struggle. On the left picture you can see Catrin,
eyes closed and suffering from sea-sickness...She remained in this position
for a long time, without moving at all (and I guess she would have killed
me for taking this picture if she made it back...).
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North rock: Seasickness
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Most of us sat down a bit more quite than the rest of the time, struggling with their last meal and waiting
for that sensation of seasickness to fade.
But none of this could prevent Melanie to enjoy the sun on our journey back to the
biological station.
On the journey back, I took this photo of a more or less typical bermudian
house. Most houses on Bermuda are painted in pastel colours, mostly pink,
blue or yellow. And all of their roofs are white. The roofs have a special
function on the typical bermudian house.
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North Rock: Returning home.
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As far there are no fresh water
supplies on Bermuda and there is only one desalination plant in Hamilton,
people have to collect rainwater on their roofs and store it subterranean
cisterns. To improve the quality of the water, the roofs are painted with
a special paint, which is, as you might have guessed already, white.The
rest of our journey home was not thrilling, but we were suprised that we
all were looking forward to lunch just minutes after leaving the Henry
M. Stommel, the boat that took us to north rock and which carried us to
Nonsuch Island some days later.
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Bermudian houses
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New day, new picture. First off, we made a small visit to spanish rock.
It is said that some years ago, a spanish captain managed to find a reef,
a fact that put an end to his journey, because most ships tend to sink
when filled with water...So our brave captain left and came to the coast,
where he wrote his name into the rock. Today it seems to be a tradition
that visitors write their own names into the stones. We were a little short
on time to write our names there, but it is likely that you find a writing
saying HHU'98 there...perhaps the guys on the next field trip from Düsseldorf
will hammer the letters HHU '00 into the rock, to keep up with tradition...O:-)
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Near spanish rock
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The next two images show the waters near spanish rock and checkerboard
geological formation, two really impressive places, where you should have
been when you visit Bermuda. But be aware that you better bring along water
resistant shoes, because there may be some water covering the way to checkerboard
geological formation. On the right you can witness most of us on our first
visit to the Swizzle Inn. Some of us made the experience that Swizzler
can be really devastating that evening. But it was quite funny there and
you can't say that you don't meet people there. Of course, we left our
own visit-cards there and signed the guestbook. We had to, because they
have all their guestbooks for public display and we found out that only
an insignificant number of germans had been there in the last few years.
Also we discovered Paul McCartney's signature in one of them books, but
yet we were unable to check if it was THE Paul McCartney...
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Swizzle Inn: Home of the swizzler.
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On Thursday, September 24th we had to deal with sandy shores. Of course,
whe had to visit some of them on that purpose. The photo left shows the
first beach we visited for that purpose, Stoney Hole Bay. Near the dunes
we digged for some crabs, and obiously found one or two (there was no need
to dig out further ones), as Catrin is holding
one of them, even without getting bitten. If you ever meet Rosario, you
might ask him how this feels...
After seeing the first of these beaches, there was no way to hold us
back. After a short time there was a strong demand for a lunch break -
and some swimming.
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Sandy shores: High energy beach.
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Southern shores: Land crab
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But as all good things end, we had to continue our work. And no, the
man on the left image is NOT playing in the sand, neither is he building
castles out of sand. He is a fine example of a marine biology scientist,
working very hard in the unpleasant climate of Bermuda on a heroic quest
to find a ghost crab...O:-)
On the right there is a beautiful rock formation with some pretty waves.
But I would not like to go swimming there...
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Southern shores: Ghost crab search
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After lunch and collecting of several samples of sand we returned to
BBSR, because we didn't want to miss our dinner, and because we had some
work to do in the lab. But there was still time to take a few photos, as
you see on the left. The right one is from the next day. We took a boat
trip to visit Nonsuch Island. If you are going to Bermuda on your own,
forget about Nonsuch Island.
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Southern shores: Terrifc landscape.
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Nonsuch is a nature reserve and local scientists
and goverment don't like people wandering around there, so you need permission
to land there by boat. If you have the chance to get there legally, like
us, then you should have seen it. Nonsuch is untouched in most places,
and only very few species that were imported by humans can be found there.
When you are lucky on your visit to Nonsuch, you might be able to spot
loggerhead turtles when you look down to the sea from the cliffs. Nonsuch
Island is also equipped with two camouflaged sheds from which you can observe
local birds without disturbing them. But I have to admit that we were pretty
unsuccessful in spotting birds there. Occasionally you might find bananas
growing on Nonsuch. One of our male students, who was suspected to be pregnant
during our time on Bermuda (this guy ate almost everything that didn't
run away), reported them to taste somewhat like zuccini, but they were
still unripe, I think...
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Southern shores: Ideal ground for taking photos.
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On the right picture you see part of a beach on Nonsuch, which was
quite an incredible sight at the time of our arrival. Not a single footstep
in the sand.You may find it interesting that Nonsuch was, for some time
a quarantine station for yellowfever victims, later they made it the location
for a school for delinquent boys, who had to dig the tunnels to the boat
terminal. While we were able to get to Nonsuch on the way sheltered by
the lagoon, we had to return to BBSR along the coast to the open ocean.
So the way back from Nonsuch was quite a rough ride, but some of us, like
Thorsten, took it quite easy. I was amazed that none of us got seasick
this time. But it was still funny enough to watch people clinging to several
parts of the boat when a wave splashes onto the deck...even if you can't
take a photo of this...too much water...O:-)
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Nonsuch Island: A preserved area.
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On the afternoon we visited Tobacco Bay for another snorkeling experience.
Of course we used the rocks on the left to get into the water, not the
sandy beach Tobacco Bay is famous for. This must be the difference between
science and tourism. Tobacco Bay is a good location for unexperienced snorkelers,
because it is relative shallow and protected by rocks. On the other hand,
there are still a several types of fish and corals to make it interesting.
And for the experienced snorkeler, there is still the area around the rocks,
where the currents are a bit rougher.
Right after we climbed out of the water, we made an experience which
could be related to Murphy's law: The waves always will reach the stuff
you carry to the beach, regardless how far away from the water you put
it. The probability of waves stiking your bag is proportional to the value
of all non-water-resistant items in your bag. This will also work on rocky
shores, even a few meters above water level, so look out.
The rocks in Tobacco Bay were pretty hard, so we decided to get a little
more comfortable and gave the sand a try.
But good things don't last for ever, so suddenly we heard the words
'Ok, kids...' which meant that it was time to move on.
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Tobacco bay: Time to catch some sun.
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Planned for Saturday the 26th was a visit to Walsingham Pond and several
other mangroves on the island. Near Wahsingham Pond we found this land
locked marine pond with crystal clear water and a cave. There are several
other caves in that area, containing some fish populations that might be
interesting for snorkeling, but at this point it might have been a good
idea to bring a stron source of light, for it is dark as night in there.
Wahsingham Pond itself is a mangrove lake and the home of a very large
barracuda. This animal was described by locals as very curious, but it
made a fast retreat into depths of its pond, when we approached it.
On the floor of Walsingham Pond you find large numbers of Cassiopea,
a jellyfish that lies upside down on the ground. So it is a pretty bad
idea to bring along fins of make too much use of your legs swimming there,
or they might start floating around. On a previous day Catrin made her
very own Cassiopea experience and suerely didn't like it. These jellyfish
are able to give you irritated skin for several hours
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Walsingham Pond: Land-locked beauty.
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After we took our lunch near Tucker's Tavern, we visited a mangrove
and tried to walk...err...climb several meters into the mangrove. The roots
not always supprted the full weight of an average student, so some of us
got a little dirty there. Perhaps I shall put a question here: How many
students do you find on the right picture ? O:-)
Left one shows Melanie with a recently picked flower.
But somehow these flowers never survived the next trip on the motorcycles...
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Mangroves: Trees in salty water.
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The last two pictures show the group after the last snorkeling trip
on Bermuda, and the place according to this.
In the meantime, I added more pictures of our field trip. They are
availiable here
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Post-snorkeling: Seaside
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