Bermuda: The Not-So-Stranded Island
Before this summer, all I know about Bermuda was the Bermuda Triangle and the water there was really blue. But after spending some time there this summer with my family, I now know the country has so much more to offer besides just pretty blue water.
The capital of Bermuda, Hamilton, was the traditional downtown beach city, which reminded me of Newport Beach, Long Beach, and Santa Monica. Most shops, tourism, and “hustle-bustle” happened there. But outside of Hamilton, the rest of the island felt like a never ending oasis full of tightknit communities.
We stayed the northern part of the island in a city called St. George’s, which used to be the capital of Bermuda. This well-preserved historic town is full of architecture, history, and culture from Bermuda’s time as a British Colony. The history of Bermuda is unique, and many pieces of it can be found in St. George’s.
Juan de Bermúdez, a Spanish explorer, initially discovered Bermuda in 1503. Then in 1609, the English Virginia Company took over the island, colonizing it just two years after they colonized Virginia. Interestingly, the English Virginia Company only settled on this island initially as a short-term relief from a rough hurricane. But after they experienced the island for a short while, they decided it was worth staying permanently. St. George was later established in 1612.
When Scotland’s and England’s parliaments were unified in 1707, creating the Kingdom of Great Britain, Bermuda became a British Crown Colony. Centuries later, after Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949, Bermuda became the oldest remaining British colony. Most recently, after the British Overseas Territories Act, Bermuda became known as a “British Overseas Territory” in 2022.
But back to the present, or the recent present, when I spent time in St. George. Our first discovery on the island was Tobacco Bay Beach, a small cove just a 3-minute walk from where we were staying. In this little cove, people swam, snorkeled, and enjoyed the scenery.
Another 10 minutes down the road into St. George was the Crystal and Fantasy Caves of Bermuda. After descending what felt like a thousand stairs deep into the ground, there were two caverns with beautiful limestone stalagmites formed after millions of years. But because of the water connected to the ocean at the bottom of the cave and the rate of sea level rising, there is a chance these caves will be inaccessible within the next 20 years.
But what I want to talk about most was the most unexpected element to this trip. As we walked into town for the first time, I heard the peaceful tide, excited birds, and incessant honking. Almost every time two cars passed by each other, they honked at each other. Every single car, bus, van, motorcycle, even bicycle would honk their horn or ring their bell at oncoming traffic or pedestrians. At first, we were confused why everyone was in such a bad mood all the time. But eventually we realized it was just the opposite — everyone was in the perfect mood, and they were sharing it with their community.
In conversation with one of our taxi drivers, our driver, Marcus, said this: “Technically only supposed to use [the horn] for emergencies, but no one here does that. We just use it to say hello to ours mates.” We asked a couple people on the street, even our server at a restaurant, and they all came up with the same answer: the honking was just their community, just friends saying hello to friends.
At first, I didn’t buy this. There was no way every single horn we heard was from two people who knew each other. But it really was. Not only is the entire population of the island just sixty thousand, but also the island itself is very small. Most importantly, the island’s economic stability is almost entirely dependent on their social network. Almost every major job in Bermuda (Bus drivers, restaurant owners, merchants, for example) all depends on their customer base spreading through word of mouth. Without a tightknit community to spread their opportunities throughout, their economy would collapse.
This completely changed the way I saw the island. Suddenly, every time a car honked, passengers chatted with the bus driver, or two drivers stopped their car in the middle of the street to chat (this actually happened a few times in front of us), I realized I was witnessing them empowering their social network.
I wonder how much our lives would change if suddenly we couldn’t depend on any foreign imports or exports, or even imports and exports from out of our state. I would expect us to grow exponentially as a community with better morals and stronger empathy and understanding of each other. I hope we everyone can experience beautiful connections within communities in one way or another like I did this summer.
