St. Georges, Bermuda Monday, June 16, 2008 - Queen Elizabeth's Offical Birthday

Today is a holiday in celebration of Queen Elizabeth's Birthday. Bermuda has had its own parliament since the early 1600's, but continues to be a British Territory with a governor appointed by the Queen. The governor has limited power and can take action only under extreme circumstances. There has been occasional referendum for independence and the most recent outcomes are still in favor of remaining a territory.

The event is celebrated by a small sailboat race with the entire local motor boat fleet following behind. Many of the boats decorated, loaded with folks and playing music.

The entrance from the sea to St. George's Harbor is through a narrow cut, Town Cut, where a section of hill was cut away. Many of the cruise ships just fit as the following pictures depict.










The training ship for the Maritime School for the State of Maine was in port. She departed this morning.





Going through Town Cut.


Today is quite windy so we may stay on boat and the dingy trip to shore could be a bit wet. Also the cruise ship just deposited quite a few hundred passengers in the town.



We had been hearing a rooster on shore the last few days. In our walkabout yesterday I think we found the culprit