October 27 - at sea and Hamilton, Bermuda

Today we attended the second lecture by Bill Miller on trans-Atlantic liners focused on the 50's and 60's.  The SS United States was commissioned around 1954 by the government to be a troop transport "disguised" as a cruise liner.  It carried 2,000 passengers and could travel forward at a max speed of 43 knots (double any other) and a reverse speed of 20 knots, which is what current ships do forward!  The plan was that should WWIII break out, she could be converted in a matter of a few weeks to a troop ship carrying 15,000 soldiers.  The government supported her financially until the late 60's when it was decided she was no longer needed for troops and it wasn't long before she was retired.  Too expensive to run and the airlines were cutting dramatically into the ocean liners' business.  Many went out of business.  One of the ship's last crossings took only 150 passengers.

We also went to the lecture by Jack Hardy on the coral reefs of the world.  Had lunch with Pat and Jim from near Modesto who retired from the banking business and now grow Sumo mandarin oranges.

We arrived in Hamilton around 5:00 pm for the night. We had dinner reservations again at The Chef's Table so we stayed on board.  Another delicious dinner featuring veal tenderloin (and more interesting foam on the appetizers).  We have one more reservation later in the cruise for Asian night.

After dinner was a talk on Hamilton by a local that was OK.  The biggest takeaway I got was that the shops will be closed tomorrow, Sunday, and the average salary is $30,000, a loaf of bread is $6.75 and a gallon of  gas is about $8.  The population is between 62,000 and 65,000 depending on the season.  We'll wander around tomorrow.

Another nice feature of our cabin is the closet.  When you open the sliding door, the light goes on.  It's motion sensitive so if you don't close the door again, it goes on and off every time you walk by.  I think my only complaint about the cabin is that there are only 3 drawers for clothes storage and one small drawer in each of the bedside tables.  It's working for us, but we don't bring that much stuff with us.