By Keith Archibald Forbes (see About Us).
They are sought and valued. When they meet internationally-accepted standards we publish them below with the flag of your country (where you live) and show by date of receipt. Send them in plain text please, using subject "Bermuda Online Guest Book" - to https://www.royalgazette.com/contact-us/ Please give your name, email address and name of town or city or its zip or postal code, where you live (a standard online request). We reserve the right to modify or shorten comments and cannot use any deemed offensive. (Please do not send photographs without asking us first as our system automatically blocks all unauthorized attachments). We comply with international data regulations and will not hold or show or retain or use your email address or pass it on to any third party.
Guest Book years
I
write with three purposes. First, to compliment Bermuda
Online (BOL) unreservedly for the often-unique, and sheer quantity and
quality of your many files. Second, as you obviously have such a commanding
role in supplying all the information about Bermuda any visitor or newcomer
could possibly want to know, why is Bermuda Online is not included on the Media
Council of Bermuda listing? Entities with less clout than you have been so
recognized. Three, I note with both approval and satisfaction how you welcome
links from and will gladly reciprocate links to other Bermuda-based
organizations but don't link to hotels or other organizations that don't
or won't link back. Good for you, there's no point at all in providing any
link to or indeed any in formation at all about any entity that won't link back
unless they are prepared to pay for an advertisement or presence on your
excellent website. Let's hope you'll soon be deleting all those places that can
but are not presently paying their way by either reciprocating the link to you
or being charged for it. Raymond Challis, The Mall, Southgate, London N14,
England, 14th December 2011.
Let
me begin by thanking you for such a spectacular website about Bermuda!
My wife and I have wanted to travel to Bermuda for years but always put it off
for someplace else. FINALLY, 3 years ago we made it and have been back every
year. In preparation, I've read many books on Bermuda, but your website has been
invaluable. I do have a question that may be of interest to you. Just tonight,
while looking at Bermuda related material, I came across a postcard for sale on
Penny Mead and they had a postcard for sale labeled Abbotsford, Bermuda.
I've attached the photo of the card from their website. I have not been able to
find anything regarding this place in Bermuda. Are you familiar with this place?
Thanks again. Sincerely, Gordon Sweinhart, Fredericksburg, PA 17026, USA,
November 16, 2011.
Found
your Bermuda Online website
when I was researching a trip to Bermuda. In 1966, at the age of 19, I was
on a Royal Navy ship called HMS Dainty. I painted the ship's crest on the end of
a large diesel tank on the jetty. In 1976, I returned to Bermuda on another
warship, HMS ESKIMO, and discovered that the original crest had been removed. I
then painted HMS Dainty's crest again on the side of a building in the dockyard.
You can see both of these crests online. A colleague who visited recently, took
a picture of the second crest, now in a worn and sun-bleached state. I am now
fit and health at the age of 64, and I would like to return to Bermuda to
repaint this crest - this shouldn't be a problem because, as a British citizen,
I do not think I shall require a visa. I do not know who I should approach, to
obtain permission to do this. I am hoping you may be able to help me with this? Philip
Blagden, Germoe, Cornwall TR20 9AA, UK, 15th November 2011.
Thanks
very much for your impressive Bermuda
Online narrative of Mark
Twain's presence in Bermuda; it is a valuable resource on the web. I am
a scholar of nineteenth-century American literature curious about Twain's
archival materials from his Bermuda days. I wonder if you can describe for me
(or, if you would kindly direct me for more information about) the materials
related to Twain that are held in the Bermuda Archives? I'm grateful for any
insight you are willing to offer. Emily E. VanDette, Ph.D. Assistant
Professor, English SUNY Fredonia, 259 Fenton Hall, Fredonia, NY 14063, 17
October 2011.
It
was interesting - but significant too, in a less flattering way - Bermuda has
once again been named ‘Best Island in the Caribbean/Atlantic’ by readers of
Condé Nast Traveler. It was noteworthy but not entirely true in all ways
when Tourism Minister Patrice Minors was presented with the award for Bermuda at
Condé Nast Traveler’s annual Readers Choice Ceremony in New York by NBC Today
Show host Jenna Wolfe. Condé Nast Traveler and NBC must surely be aware
that Bermuda is now rated as not best island in the Caribbean/Atlantic but worst
by far in one major respect - duty-free customs allowances for returning
residents. I've made a point of verifying that without exception all the other
islands, all much less affluent than Bermuda, are generous compared to Bermuda
with their customs duty-free allowances for returning residents. Only in Bermuda
are returning residents allowed only a paltry $100 per person until November 3,
after which I've read it will be further reduced to a really stingy $100 not per
person but per household. I understand it used to be $400 a person. Not an
incentive to want to re-visit already very expensive Bermuda compared to
elsewhere. Here in the USA, residents can claim up to $800 duty-free when they
return home from Bermuda or elsewhere after a trip and friends of mine in Canada
tell me they can claim up to CA$ 750 when away for more than 7 days or $450 for
less. Even visitors from Britain, when they visit to York and then fly home, get
a British customs duty concession similar to Canada's. New York-based
electronics stores that sell a load of stuff to people who live in Bermuda are
not pleased but angered that the goods they sell in and are taxed by New York
are now going to be further taxed at the rate of 35% by Bermuda Customs. The
Mayor of New York, whose salary is paid by New York taxpayers, should object.
But he won't because he has a conflict of interest, he has a luxury home in
Bermuda. Thomas B. Smith, Brooklyn, NY 11208, October 7, 2011.
I
am about to take my fifth or sixth commercial cruise to Bermuda next month and
I had the occasion to consult your Bermuda
Online web site. It is just terrific....obviously a labor of love, full of
relevant information about Bermuda.
I truly benefited from the
information that you have assembled. Thanks a lot for providing this service. Larry
Doff, living and cruising aboard Voyager, Virginia, USA, September 14,
2011.
Re
Bermuda's proposed new National Tourism Plan, I agree 100% with the comments of
Thomas J. Greene. I think it's important to get the feed-back and
suggestions of those seeking to vacation or those who have vacationed in
Bermuda. After all, they are the folks, not those who reside in Bermuda, who
give Bermuda her tourism bread, butter and jam. Here's another comment. To
me - and I'm sure to many other US visitors - open and transparent government,
including the ability to contact local legislators by phone or email or text,
has long been a democratic and political fact of life irrespective of political
party affiliation in every state of the union and as such should be an integral
part of any national tourism plan. It's disconcerting that this is not the case in Bermuda. I urge your legislators
to make it so. I'm glad you guys at Bermuda
Online have noted this. Well done! Donald J. Jackson, Wayne,
NJ 07470, USA, September 4, 2011.
I
write to express my sincerest thanks for your constructive Bermuda
Online contributions to Bermuda's proposed new National Tourism
Plan. Yes, I'm an outsider looking in, not a Bermudian (thanks for the
correct word, not the uncouth Bermudan) but an American, a frequent world
traveler including to Bermuda. I too don't think it is primarily Bermuda's fault
that the industry has suffered from the closure of hotels and guest houses as
well as a decline in tourist numbers. Rather, I too believe Bermuda's tourism
problems have been largely the result of severe economic problems here in the
USA from where you in Bermuda get 85% of your tourism business. I believe you
did a huge service in focusing on specific issues in the way you did. Yes,
accentuated by the present great economic challenges in the USA especially, and
because of the latter an increasing USA and worldwide emphasis on tourism value
for money, to refine, re-develop and sustain Bermuda's tourism image as one of
the pre-eminent and envied tourist destinations of the world. Your Tourism
people should revise their tourism methodology and instead ask all the major
Bermuda-based and if not Bermuda-based then Bermuda-focused/Bermuda-interested
web sites to agree to hyperlink (link) to each other. I believe this would be a
huge step forward and be in Bermuda's best interests. Presently, Bermuda is
badly served, not well-served, by websites that don't look at the big picture,
namely to project Bermuda uniformly and well. Instead, so many individual
Bermuda websites refuse to link to each other, when by doing so they could
hugely improve Bermuda's tourism prospects. For example, Bermuda's Tourism
website does not link to the Royal Gazette newspaper (RG) or your Bermuda
Online (BOL), despite the fact the RG and BOL have huge files
Tourism and other Bermuda sites don't have. Who loses out from this unnecessary
prejudice? Bermuda and your potential visitors. Your hotels and guest houses are
not doing themselves any favors by not linking or linking only to inferior
sites. Thanks for stating you at BOL will immediately and gladly link to
Tourism, other Bermuda websites and all hotel sites when they link to BOL as
your additional contributions to Bermuda's future tourism success. And yes, yes,
yes! you highlight your concern over Bermuda's lack of free WIFI at any of
Bermuda's ports terminals, for the benefit of cruise ship passengers, most of
whom now bring with them their own laptops or notebooks. Yes indeed,
Internet-savvy cruise passengers now routinely get free WIFI in
Internet-enlightened ports, cities and towns in the Caribbean, Europe,
Singapore, South Korea and beyond. Bermuda must offer at least the same level of
service, to help justify the costs incurred by cruise ship operators and their
passengers. Having free WIFI at Hamilton, Dockyard and St. George's, at their
port terminals, would be terrific free tourism promotion plugs for Bermuda. I
too very much doubt that gambling would be good for Bermuda. I believe Bermuda
can earn an enviable cachet by being gambling-free. Bermuda's ports should
certainly be duty-free, to compete with the likes of St. Thomas, USVI, etc. Well
done and keep up the great work on your fabulous website. Thomas J. Greene,
Philadelphia 19151, USA, August 25, 2011.
Re
your Bermuda
Online. I have been trying to locate Lone Palm Drive in
Pembroke Parish and should be greatly obliged if you could help. I have a copy
of the Dept of Tourism “Handy Reference Map” but Lone Palm Drive is clearly
too small to feature. Could you tell me the nearest main road? (Or a Google
Earth reference would be ideal). I have visited my sister on the island some 26
times over the years, even holding a Bermuda driving licence for a time, but
I’m afraid age has caught up with us all and I don’t think there will be
another visit. Don Brealey, Guildford, Surrey, GU3 3LX, England. 23rd August
2011.
I
write to express my regret if Bermuda, one of the places I've long wanted to
vacation in, like the rest of the USA suffers negative financial implications
following Standard and Poor's reduction of the US credit rating. But it had
to be done, to fairly highlight at long last the mess the US economy is in due
to the abject failure of US Senators, Congress and Treasury to address and
correct the problems in timely fashion. Regretfully, in Bermuda's case it may
well have repercussions for now in visitor arrivals due to the increased
overheads of so many Americans already far less affluent than you guys. But it
could be a silver lining in one way, to help stimulate creation of opportunities
as never before to give US visitors and other visitors noticeable value for
money, especially when compared to competing jurisdictions. I really believe
this, more than any other incentive, will now be the key incentive driving both
US visitors to places like Bermuda and folks from your island and elsewhere to
the USA and elsewhere. Robert Adams, Water Street, New York, 10041, USA.
August 6, 2011.
I
read in your superb Bermuda
Online and in the island's Royal Gazette newspaper how, once
again, the Bermuda Government's failure to offer a timely death certificate is
causing a huge problem for a widow. When I was in Bermuda in August 2007 -
four years ago - I noted at that time with horror and
subsequently wrote about it in a column I issue for elderly readers back home
how delays in issuing death certificates were causing legal and financial
problems for bereaved widows and widowers trying to claim on their spouses'
pension and life insurance policies or get mortgages paid off. I reported
at that time how " a massive backlog of case
files has built up because the island does not have a specialist coroner's
investigation unit. Instead, regular police officers investigate the
circumstances of certain deaths on top of their regular duties. Only once an
investigation has been completed to the satisfaction of Senior Coroner Archibald
Warner can a death certificate be issued. Assistant
to the Coroner Sergeant Adrian Cook said there were a number of factors causing
a delay in death certificates being issued but that a manpower shortage was a
key factor. Sgt. Cook said
police officers "have to compete for time during their regular street
duties to try and complete and assemble a relatively complex report.
And I can tell you that writing
and compiling the covering report is an intimidating task and takes a lot of
time and concentration." Sgt.
Cook pointed out that his office does not issue death certificates but reports
to Mr. Warner, who is also Senior Magistrate, or one of three deputy coroners
who in turn complete the necessary documentation required for a death
certificate to be issued by the Registry General. Sgt.
Cook said, adding that a form would then be sent to the Registry General which
will issue a death certificate. When
asked why it took so long for the report to be completed, Sgt. Cook said that,
because of the two positions he holds,
assistant to the Coroner and officer in charge of the Judicial Support Unit,
there was simply never enough time. "Both
jobs compete with time for each other," he said. He noted a death
certificate is usually issued to a family within two to three weeks, but the
more factors that press upon the case, the longer it will take. There may
be a wait up to six weeks for toxicology tests, something required by law in
cases in which the nature of death in unknown, or needs further investigation.
Only then, he said, could he send a final
report to the Coroner who would have to sign off on it. And even that, he said,
could take a few months." All this is pure BS compared to the speed - days,
not weeks or months - death certificates are issued in the USA and I believe in
Canada and the UK as well. Lack of manpower and any closure or reduction in
funding of any office for budgetary reasons are not acceptable excuses. As an
American Society of Retired Persons (AARP) member for many years all this
makes me very nervous about once again visiting Bermuda, knowing if I died there
it could take many months for my family to get a Bermuda Death Certificate and
with this problem not having been resolved in four years. Others I know in my
age group will feel similarly apprehensive. And that's not good for your tourism
promotion. Dorothy M. Smith, Newton, MA 02458, USA, August 3, 2011.
Cheeky
this may be, but it is nonetheless sincere, coming from a territory competing in
every way with Bermuda in international business and tourism. All of
us here in Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman are truly envious of the
manner, expertise, extent, quality and quantity of the 125+ web business,
commerce, tourism and everything-in-between files of Bermuda
Online. We would really like to have something similar here
if you feel so inclined to help us. We hope your site is getting the financial
support it richly deserves from your government, principal media and Bermuda
generally. If not, we'd love to meet with you. J. Bodden, Grand Cayman,
July 17, 2011.
Thanks
a million, Bermuda
Online! I'm physically handicapped from New Jersey,
hoping to go with my similarly physically handicapped wife to Bermuda for our
wedding anniversary in September 2011. Together, we are firm believers that
people with disabilities should not allow their disabilities to stop them from
enjoying themselves on cruise ships and when visiting new places via cruise
ships. I've read with great appreciation and interest your file on
disability
conditions in Bermuda. I'm dismayed to note it's the only one at this time
with any really useful information of specific interest to the disabled. You've
done some great research in this, both in your information and in your
recommendations. Other local websites that claim to have disability-related
information don't link to it. Thanks for replying to my gripe about this and
saying you'll be happy to offer a free courtesy link to any Bermuda site that
links back but that it just isn't practical to link to any site that won't
reciprocate the link. Understood completely. Is it possible, please, to use your
influence to get all Bermuda disability-informative websites to link to each
other? It will be a huge service to disabled visitors if this can be done. As an
earlier visitor to Bermuda noted, which you - thank you for doing so - did not
omit to mention, it's just not affordable or practical for any disabled tourist
to be limited to an expensive taxi to see Bermuda. Buses must be made more
disabled-friendly. It's good ferries are, on their main floor. Thomas J.
Graham, Jackson, NJ 08527, USA, July 16, 2011.
As
a retired news editor who has visited Bermuda often I've many good reasons to be
thankful for the quality and quantity of the material contained in your
excellent Bermuda
Online. With my background, I've been reading with some
amusement and concern the hot topic of the media on both sides of the Atlantic,
the press coverage given to the News Corp revelations both in London and New
York. It's my considered view there never was any corporate policy condoning or
encouraging phone hacking. Instead, it was most likely the efforts of individual
journalists to be the first to have scoops. For politicians to act as
witch-hunters, particularly in the UK, is disgraceful. They should first clean
up their own excesses when it comes to ripping off taxpayers. Politicians are
paid by taxpayers and the public surely has every right to know almost
everything about them in the interests of political transparency. Thanks to the
efforts of the News of the World and other Murdoch-owned newspapers and journals
- including the All Street Journal - the world is a far better place, with
corporate, political and other scandals properly aired. In Bermuda, your Media
Code is admirable in many ways but under Privacy in addition to telephoning I
respectfully suggest you ask your media representatives to add "phone
hacking", not currently stated, as something specific to avoid at all
costs; and to be more specific in regard to telephoning, such as by stating by
line or cell or mobile phone. Kevin J. Morgan, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA, July
15, 2011.
I'm
really grateful that Bermuda, which I plan to visit soon thanks to your website
but not from the UK instead via Europe and USA, does not follow the UK habit
of jacking up travel and other taxes by leaps and bounds but instead takes
a more measured approach and puts them up in moderate amounts US-style to be
more acceptable to consumers. It's totally outrageous how our British government
taxes everyone to death, with over 300% increases in Air Passenger Duty in three
years and so much more, and expects visitors to pay through the nose on
passenger fares by tube and rail, especially when compared to fares in Europe. I
hope Bermuda is a huge beneficiary of travel in 2012 especially by those who
won't go to the Olympics in London to get further ripped off. The Americans had
the right idea with their 1776 Revolution, so did the French with their Bastille
Day. I'm not proud to be British but ashamed and hope Bermuda becomes American
instead of staying British. David Mitchell, Palmer's Green, London N13, UK.
12 July 2011.
Hi
Bermuda
Online! I write to express my sincere thanks, and those of many
others in the Philadelphia physically challenged community who have expressed
interest in vacationing in Bermuda, for your thoughtful, in-depth, honest and
frank portrayal of disability
conditions in Bermuda. I agree 100% with your May 20, 2011 correspondent
from Sarasota. It's great you publish all these facts in ways other websites and
organizations in Bermuda don't. You've summarized the situation extremely well.
Let's hope the Bermuda Government, prompted by it's National Office for Seniors
and Physically Challenged, whom you refer to in your website but who
unfortunately don't have their own website, will soon follow your
recommendations that Bermuda enacts legislation similar to ADA laws instead of
that UK garbage which so disappointed and disgusted us when a bunch of us went
to the UK and Europe last year. You're spot-on in noticing that and so right in
saying Bermuda should follow the USA, not Britain, in effective disability laws
that help the disabled. When appropriate disability laws are enacted in Bermuda
as we hope they soon will be we'll be very happy to arrive en masse or in groups
or as singles or couples and enjoy Bermuda's facilities known to be so nice in
so many ways for the non-disabled and agile. In the meantime, it is just not
affordable or practical for any disabled tourist to be limited to an expensive
taxi to see inland Bermuda. Thomas R. Brown, Philadelphia PA 19151, USA, June
30, 2011.
Thank
the Lord you guys at Bermuda
Online give such factual information about Bermuda not
found elsewhere! I'm physically challenged, knew from a
similarly-handicapped friend in Bermuda of the existence of the Bermuda
Government-staffed and operated National Office for Seniors and Physically
Challenged and hoped it would have its own website with good up-to-date info
on Bermuda for people like me. Sadly, no, but it was great to find your disabled
in Bermuda website with all the wealth of information it has,
even if it confirms Bermuda does not yet have many services for the disabled.
You are so right, Bermuda needs it's own version of the USA's Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA), with all its repercussions in so many related areas,
plus effective policing to ensure physically handicapped conditions are
protected. Bravo for for not hesitating to note (which did surprise me!) that
the English Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) is a piece of totally useless
crap (pardon my plain speaking, typical of many of us with limited or no
mobility) compared to ADA. I can personally attest to that from having visited
England and Scotland in 2010 and been disgusted by what the Brits don't have in
their DDA that we have with our ADA both nationally and here in Sarasota. James
A. Duncan, Sarasota, Florida 34238, USA, May 20, 2011.
Your
Bermuda Online website is amazing!
So packed with impartial, consumer-oriented, up-to-date and accurate
information on so many unique aspects of Bermuda. I hope you are
extremely well compensated for the quality, quantity and variety of information
you provide on your website. It's no wonder so many people from all over the
world regard you as a textbook example of a fine-tuned online encyclopedia. As a
reasoned and seasoned IT specialist who prefers accuracy and reliability to
flash I really like it that you go the reliable-information route rather than
the fancy gismos one, using standard and not specialist online software. I've
also noted with great interest and huge approval in your
Links and Mentions sub-site how in your concise descriptions you've gotten
the topic of the purpose and nature of websites, why they should always be
managed from within instead of from without by non-management. You got the
principals, practice, purpose and prudent application of electronic linkage
exactly right. Clearly, you offer great expertise on these matters. I hope your
advice is valued and followed. I for one - and I'm sure there are many others
too - follow your links carefully, will stay at places you link to but not at
places you don't. I hope your hotels, guest houses, B&Bs, apartments,
businesses, civic groups and government offices will all take due note and that
your government's Tourism agency will also make a point of linking to you for
all the quality information you carry on Bermuda that their own websites does
not. When it does so it will be a major milestone in its own credibility and
impartiality. And it will acknowledge another service you provide that it
does not, namely, it seems you invariably answer your emails the same day or day
after at the latest, even on weekends and public holidays. David A. Morgan,
Central Park S at 7th Avenue, New York NY 10019. May 19, 2011.
I
really appreciated all the valuable information Bermuda
Online (BOL) provided me
with over the course of my research! Using
BOL again today reminded me that I needed to send this to you! In late 2010, I
was awarded my PhD for my study of maritime heritage in Bermuda, with my thesis
approved by my examiners 'without corrections.' This followed my earlier M.Phil
degree in 'Archaeological Heritage & Museum Studies' for which I received
Cambridge's highest graduate mark of 'High Pass with Distinction.' Beyond
my contact with all of you, I am also very privileged to have received
the Bank of Bermuda Foundation Sir John W. Cox Scholarship for Postgraduate
Studies; attended the University of Cambridge within the renowned Department of
Archaeology there and studied Bermuda
in-depth focusing on the personal and collective heritage uses that shape our
lives and community. Considering all this
support and opportunity, it is only right that I share my work.
Now based back in Bermuda, I am most fortunate to
be working again with the National Museum of Bermuda and on an exciting new
exhibit featuring Bermuda's early history,
from discovery in 1505 to the wreck of the Sea Venture in 1609 and resulting
settlement, to the lead up to the maritime revolution in 1684; earliest
shipwrecks and the underwater archaeology and related community heritage and
museum methods which explore, preserve and share them. Charlotte
Andrews, PhD, Consultant-Researcher-Curator of Heritage-Museums-Culture,
Consultant Curator to the National Museum of Bermuda, April 15, 2011.
I
found Bermuda
Online while looking for information on the Smith's Parish coat
of arms for an article that I'm writing. I was very happy to see on this
page the following text: "The Bermuda Government appoints a Parish Council
for each Parish. The chairperson or members of each will give further
information about the crest to students and others, including meaning of the
motto." However, I couldn't find an e-mail address (or site address) for
the Smith's Parish council. I did find a postal address elsewhere on the site.
So my question is - do they have an e-mail address and/or a website? Any help
will be appreciated. With my best wishes from Israel, Nahum
Shereshevsky, English to Hebrew Translations, POB 3214, 31032 Haifa,
Israel, April 14, 2011.
I
write to say how much I like the way you have updated and added more information
on your nice Bermuda Beaches
website. I'm glad you have accentuated the fact that Bermuda beaches are both public
and private as it was clearly the case that many visitors were under the
impression all Bermuda beaches are public. It's good you have made clear that
not all of the public beaches are shown on various online maps. Well done on
giving a decent mention of those off the tourist beaten track. Also finally,
now, thanks to you, there's a decent and I believe accurate grading of Bermuda
beaches! I chuckled over how you've revealed some facts about Bermuda beaches
that some of us who have often been to Bermuda and sampled the Tucker's Town and
Coral Beach, etc. private beaches in the past have long known - that some of
them are in fact of a higher standard than the best Bermuda public beaches and
their hotels have restaurants as good as and often better than the non-hotel
restaurants. I'm sure that most if not all the private beach hotels will give a
warm welcome to visitors not actually staying with them at the time of their
visit but perhaps later. Keep up the good work! Kevin C. Doyle, Third Avenue,
New York, NY 10158. April 7, 2011.
In
your Royal Gazette newspaper and also
reported in your excellent Bermuda
Online I
read with interest and concern how American Citizens Abroad (ACA), which claims
to be "the voice of Americans overseas," recently sent a statement
in response to President Barack Obama’s editorial in the Wall Street Journal
(WSJ), 18 January 2011, “Toward a 21st-Century Regulatory System.” I'm an
American citizen not abroad but in the USA, as are all the folks in my
organization (affiliated with the AARP). None of us agree with ACA. All of us
believe absolutely that the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is both
much-needed and long overdue. There is no way they can be truthfully described,
as ARA rants, as "discriminatory to American citizens living abroad."
We further believe that those American citizens who live in Bermuda the world's
wealthiest country or other tax havens should be keeping very quiet about this,
not bleating their protests to further incite matters. We want to be able to
visit you all in Bermuda one day, when we can afford it, not be alienated by the
comments of a minority of Americans living abroad who avoid or evade the taxes
the rest of us have to bear. FATCA finally rights wrongs. I'm one person, and I
know there are millions more of us, who wholeheartedly support President
Obama’s efforts to streamline the nation’s complex and often redundant
regulatory system and believes serious reform must have measures including
FATCA. Doris G. Edwards, Columbia, MO 75201, USA, March 11, 2011.
As
a potential visitor, I've been following your Bermuda
Online and
Royal Gazette newspaper reports on
Bermuda's economy with much interest. With most if not all who live in Bermuda
having incurred quite severe economic problems of one type or another, just like
us here in the USA, would it not make sense for you guys to drop your massive
import duties that so inflate the cost of living in Bermuda for residents and
visitors and instead seriously think of having a direct income tax? It
isn't as if you all are tax-free, after all you have your payroll tax, in effect
already a tax on employment income. If it was increased somewhat to compensate
for the withdrawal of import duties (which you guys quaintly refer to as customs
duties, I gather) wouldn't it serve as a much-needed stimulus, while at the same
time make costs of living for residents less expensive and trips to Bermuda
cheaper for tourists? Plus, introduction of a direct income tax could mean
recognition of it in countries like the USA, Canada, UK, Europe, etc and
possible avoidance of tax problems in these countries and here by Bermuda-based
international insurance and other entities licensed to operate in various US
states. Donald S. Talbot, Boston MA 02222, USA, February 25, 2011.
Your
interesting and comprehensive Bermuda
Online article
about the RN base in
Bermuda has been of great use to me researching one of my direct
ancestors who was transported to Bermuda from UK in July 1840. I understand that
convict records of the time are in the Kew National Archives, not in Bermuda,
but I wonder if I could take a moment of your time with a general question. You
state that the great majority of the convicts transported to work on the RN base
either went to America or back to UK at the end of their sentence. In the
case of those returning to UK, would the authorities have provided their passage
or would perhaps they be required to work their passage home? My
great-grandfather returned home (otherwise I might be writing this from
Bermuda!) and I am trying to piece together as much as I can about his history. Max
Double, Amesbury Wiltshire UK, 10th January 2011.
I
write to say how glad I am that you alone on Bermuda
Online - alas, not on other Bermuda or Bermuda Tourism websites - have
accentuated the need for all hotels, guest
houses, bed and breakfast premises and apartments (I believe "self catering
to the Brits) to let you and their guests know they are WIFI Internet-friendly. Yes
indeed,
properties
must state if they offer Free WIFI or WIFI or other Internet services to their
clients. Yes, it is hugely important to offer wireless (WIFI) Internet
either as a standard or an optional extra in guest quarters, giving clients the
ability to send and receive not only emails but ftp files and attachments
including digital photographs they want to take during their Bermuda stay. Yes,
many clients assume they will have this same ability during their business
visits or vacations via laptops they bring, as they now mostly all do in their
homes and places of employment. But some Bermuda properties may not routinely
offer WIFI or other Internet-connectivity. Yes, their guests or prospective
guests who travel to wonderful places like Bermuda want to be able to email
photos, including where they stay of course, back home to their families,
friends and colleagues. Yes, if they cannot, it's a significant opportunity
wasted for both clients and properties in terms of publicity and more clientele. And
oh-my-yes, it's noted that while some guests write nice web reviews of Bermuda
overall they invariably also state whether or not they've
had WIFI or other Internet access at where they stayed.
This is hugely important to laptop or tablet-carrying guests and has
often materially affected their reviews. Well done in stating all this so well
on all your Bermuda Accommodation pages! Having these facilities are vital to
people like me. Eugene B. Blake, Boston MA 02222, USA, January 10, 2011.
We were reading with great interest a part of your Bermuda Online website regarding Restaurant information. Noted you wrote expect to pay 17% service charge on top of your food bill in restaurants. Our question to you, does that apply to the tip, or the tip is on top of the 17% service charge? We are preparing our itinerary and choosing places to dine. Our first time vacationing in Bermuda Dec. 21-29 celebrating our 26th anniversary. Look forward to your reply. Mr. & Mrs. Aubrey Palsgraaf, Nanaimo, B.C. V9T6B5, Canada, 14 December 2010.
As
a former Canadian teacher I've followed with concern the wanton destruction
caused by British university students in London. Don't they know how lucky
they are that their university education and staffing and upkeep of universities
are mostly paid for by taxpayers? This is not the case on this side of the
Atlantic. In your Education in Bermuda file you noted that in November 2006 tuition fees were drastically cut for Bermudians
studying at colleges and universities in the United Kingdom. Annual fees –
then nearly $19,000 – were reduced to about $5,700 from the next academic
year. Bill Rammell, then UK Minister for Higher Education, announced the move as
part of a drive to encourage people from British Overseas Territories (BOTs) to
study in England. Mr. Rammell said at that time that students from all BOTs,
including Bermuda, would be charged home rate fees for further education and
undergraduate degree courses in England from September 2007.
Now that the UK's economic situation has required the UK Government to inflict
huge cuts in students' financial privileges (not rights), are Bermudian students
still getting UK home rates for their UK university courses? It seems wrong that
they should. If so, does the UK government exempt them from the new contingent
liabilities imposed on every student to pay back when they can? Or do they now
have to pay in full? Mary Bradshaw, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, December
10, 2010.
All
who work in or have business dealings in Bermuda
or who visit there on vacation should note that Bermuda, uniquely in the
economies of the international business centers, has a Foreign Currency
Purchase Tax (FCPT). It applies to the purchase of all non-local currencies
including the US Dollar. In theory the Bermuda Dollar is on a par with the
US Dollar but in in fact it is worth less. Why? Mostly on account of the
FCPT, also because of
Bermuda bank currency processing charges, in addition to the FCPT applied on
every transaction. On
February 26, 2010 the Bermuda Government doubled this tax, from one half of 1%
to a full 1% per transaction. This includes all purchases of foreign
currencies for travel and business purposes and all telegraphic (wire) transfers
of monies from Bermuda to individuals and businesses abroad. This means
that in addition to bank charges built into the cost of wire transfers,
government alone will now charge consumers $1,000 for every $100,000 taken or
wired abroad. To the best of my knowledge and belief no Government Receipt is
issued to the customer/consumer incurring this FCPT charge. The local-only
Bermuda Dollar is not exportable. It is not used by traders
world-wide. It is not cashable or exchangeable by any foreign banks. It
is used only by local citizens and residents - not by international companies
based in Bermuda (all of which use US dollars). I have several questions
about this FCPT. As the US$ is Bermuda's only legitimate international currency,
is it legal for the Bermuda Government to charge FCPT? Surely, as the owner of
the US$, the USA, not Bermuda, should impose this tax, if payable? If legal for
the Bermuda Government, not US Government, to impose it then surely the Bermuda
Government should at least issue an official receipt for when the tax is paid?
People living abroad like me, in a direct-tax jurisdiction thousands of miles
from Bermuda, whose family lived, worked and died in Bermuda, may have to pay
Capital Gains Tax (CGT) or other taxes to the UK Government when we receive our
inheritances. If we have to pay an FCPT to the Bermuda Government we should
surely be able to claim the cost of that FCPT as a tax-deductible expense? But
we'd need an official receipt to do so. One should be issued. Any comments? Bertram
Miles, Inverness, Scotland, November 30, 2010.
It's
great you at your superb Bermuda
Online encourage debate among tourists and others, past, present and
future. I'd like to add my dime's worth, as a businessman who goes to
Bermuda periodically on combined business and a short vacation, then proceeds
directly to Amsterdam via London before flying back to the USA, New York, then
home to Delaware. I write to suggest that Bermuda, with its World Bank ranking
as the most affluent of all world countries, seriously consider creating its
very own airline, say Bermuda Airways, initially serving Bermuda, J. F Kennedy
in New York, Boston's Logan and if all goes well then Bermuda to Amsterdam,
bypassing London completely. I mean no disrespect to British Airways but with
the British Government's completely asinine and shamefully profiteering decision
to further increase in just a year by another 50% the Air Passenger Duty taxes
on all long-haul flights into and out of the UK, who wants to go to the UK any
more? Especially on a British airline that has no option but to inflate its
prices despite its recorded objections to its passengers being ripped of by a
tax-greedy British government in every conceivable area of UK business and
commerce. If one must go to London or wherever else in the UK, let it be via a
short-haul flight from a major European city, which will attract a much lower UK
tax. I believe the creation of Bermuda Airways that will avoid UK airports at
all costs and instead go directly to western Europe could revolutionize your
tourism and international business industry. I know that a few years ago a
German airline was interested but to have a Bermuda Airline involved would add a
unique must-have cachet. Bernard Matthews, Wilmington, Delaware 19801, USA,
November 4, 2010.
Your
Bermuda
Online website was terrific and fabulous in getting my step-son a
good deal in great employment in Bermuda as a senior IT specialist for the
next few years. Thanks to your sensible information and advice on employment
conditions there and cost of living, he succeeded in getting a far better
employment contract than the one he was originally offered, plus a partly
employer-subsidized housing allowance. I know he's going to thank you personally
when he settles down but in the meantime I just wanted to say thanks, now his
dad and I get to go to Bermuda too to visit him for a couple of weeks!
Call me a grateful mom. Marylou Harris, Winchester, Virginia 22601, USA,
October 18, 2010.
I
am writing a biography of my great grandmother who was married to an English
Army Surgeon Major. They spent 10 years in India and 5 in Nassau. Their last
posting was to Bermuda in 1888-1891. I am finding it very difficult to get
an impression of what Bermuda would have been like at that time. Could you point
me at any literature or photographs? Anything to do with the army, where
it would have been located, accommodation for wives and families, day to day
life, social life, etc etc would be my focus. Eve Gillmon, JP, MA, FRSA,
FSSAT, Woodriding, Hale, Hants, UK SP6 2QZ. 4th September 2010.
I'm
really pleased and grateful that in your fine Bermuda
Online encyclopedia on all things Bermudian (not "Bermudan"
as the Oxford English Directory, Webster's, New York Times etc so wrongly say)
you mention the appalling state of affairs relating to the huge - 4+ months - time
delay in getting Certificates of Death in Bermuda. You are quite right when you
state they are issued promptly here in the UK, you obviously have a good source
of information on UK matters. I sincerely hope this wrong will be righted
shortly. I have had long-term friends living in Bermuda before they died whose
families have been much affected by this. I understand you have an Age Concern
in Bermuda. This should surely be a matter for them to take up with your
government. Or perhaps your Royal Gazette newspaper? Richard Prescott,
Haymarket Yards, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH12 5BH, UK, August 5, 2010.
I
am from the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health in the United Kingdom.
Do you happen to have an email address for the Department of Environmental
Protection in Bermuda? Paul Prior, Chartered Institute of Environmental
Health, Chadwick Court, 15 Hatfields, London SE1 8DJ. Telephone 020 7827 9929.
Fax 020 7827 5865. 7th July 2010
Editor: No email address seems to be published on the Government web site, only the postal address and phone number.
I
have a question that I can't determine from your Bermuda
Online
map on the Railway Trail. We will be in Bermuda from the 11-16 of July and
will be staying at Grotto Bay Resort. Is there a way (with out navigating thru
to much traffic) to get from Grotto Bay Resort to part of the trail? It looks
like it goes close, but I can't tell even from Google Earth what would be the
best way. I would like to ride (peddle-bike) some of it while we are there. We
have a similar type of trail here in Missouri that runs some 250 miles across
the state. I enjoy riding parts of that and think this would be a fun way to
explore the island. Thanks for your time and effort providing the information
that you do have on the Railway Trail. I find things like this are what makes a
trip more interesting getting to know a place from off the beaten path. Jim
Lowary, 610 Wildrose Place, Columbia, MO 65201 USA, June 27, 2010.
I
was hugely intrigued by your Bermuda
Online link to your daily
newspaper report of June 18 2010 that trade
relations between Bermuda and the US were worth $64 billion during the global
economic crisis of 2008/09 and that
in
US-Bermuda relations since 2007 two-way trade and investment between the two
countries has averaged at least $60 billion annually. For such a small island of
only 21 square miles in total land area you guys have a lot of economic clout.
It would be hugely interesting to have a comparison between the USA and Bermuda
figures and those between UK and Bermuda. My guess is that the latter are only a
tiny fraction of the former. I believe this has been the case for many
generations. I wonder if any thought has been given to Bermuda relinquishing its
UK links and becoming American so that it joins the likes of Hawaii, Puerto
Rico, St. Thomas, St. Croix, etc? Could the overall impact of this mean huge
potential economic and tourism benefits for both Bermuda and the USA and further
enhance the incredible socio-economic benefits already enjoyed? Michael
Dawson, Providence, Rhode Island 02903 USA, June 20, 2010.
I'm
cruising in July and was reading all about the different beaches in Bermuda
Online. I'm docking at Royal Naval Dockyard and was wondering if
I should take the bus on Wednesday to Warwick Long Bay (you mentioned personal
favorite and superb)? On Thursday, bus to Horseshoe Bay (I know it is popular
and maybe crowded) but I'm with my two teens and I know they'll want a lot of
people around them. On Friday, we will take a snorkeling excursion to one of the
shipwrecks. I thought that would be a treat for them and the best snorkeling
under supervision. Would you suggest taking a ferry to the beaches instead of
buses? I only have 2 1/2 days in Bermuda and thought this would be a good
start for a family that loves beaches and snorkeling. Joanne Botwina, Third
Avenue, New York, NY 10158. June 10, 2010.
I just enjoyed a nice read of
"Mark Twain and Bermuda" which I found on Bermuda Online
after doing a quick search on Twain and Bermuda. I was in Bermuda last week on a
cruise holiday and happened to stray into the Fairmont Hamilton Princess where I
bumped into Mr. Twain sitting on a bench in the lobby. I was born in Hartford,
CT and grew up just north of there and have always been a big admirer of Twain.
His Hartford home at Nook Farm is an amazing piece of architecture well worthy
of a visit by anyone whether or not they appreciate Twain's work. I knew he had
been to Bermuda but didn't realize that he'd spent that much time there. When
I'm next back on the island I'll investigate some of the other Twain
"sightings" as outlined in your piece. Thanks again for an interesting
overview on Mr. Twain. Well done. Richard Rabbett, Boston, MA, USA, June 8,
2010.
I'm
coming to Bermuda as a cruise ship passenger aboard NCL's Spirit. Although
your Bermuda
Online site says that there no free wifi sites in St. Georges,
Hamilton or West End, I posted a request for info about free WiFi sites to one
of the travel boards and somebody responded that they were able to find a free
WiFi site that they could access from their stateroom's balcony facing shore. So
I'm wondering if there are currently any free WiFi sites at the West End.
The cruise ships get a huge amount of money to use their communication systems,
so it would be very nice to be able to avoid using them at least while on shore.
One thing that I did not see mentioned is availability/quality of cellular
service. My prepaid includes international calling so I'd like to be able to at
least text folks at home. Joyce Keay, 90 O'Donnell Avenue, E. Falmouth, MA
02536. April 28, 2010.
As
your excellent Bermuda
Online is so clearly the definitive website on Bermuda as well as its
only gazetteer, I write to ask some questions about your Bermuda about which
I've heard and now read (thanks to your site) so much and would very much like
to visit one day. Why is it that Bermuda is never mentioned in the travel
sections of any of the principal UK newspapers, only on websites such as yours
and British Airways? I've looked in vain in the Times, Daily Telegraph, Daily
Express, Daily Mail, even the Observer. Surely your tourism authorities are
interested in luring more people from the UK? Or is it because your people feel
there's no point in doing any Bermuda advertising at all anywhere in the UK when
this present rip-off UK Government taxes people to death for going to Bermuda?
I'm sure you in Bermuda all know that the recent UK Budget for the period April
2010 to 31 March 2011 confirmed that a family of 4 leaving the UK for a holiday
in Bermuda now incur Air Passenger Duty 325% higher than in 2006. Now, in
Air Passenger Duty alone, this family of 4 can no longer realistically consider
going to Bermuda. Instead, the beaches of Spain or Italy are more UK
tax-friendly. And, frankly, for the same reason because the same taxes will
apply for your nationals going back home from London or elsewhere in the UK,
there's no longer any incentive for anyone from Bermuda - or anywhere else in
the world - to visit the UK, the most heavily and viciously taxed country
on earth. I'm so ashamed, not proud, to be British, wish I was American or
Australian or Canadian. If ever any of you folk want to stop being British
Overseas Territory citizens and become American instead, I'll applaud you. Gilbert
Talbot, Grant Way, Isleworth, Middlesex TW7 5QD England, 6 April 2010.
I
write to commend you for your hugely informative and fantastic Bermuda
Online website.
I understand from UK-based news-media authoritative sources that your daily
Royal Gazette newspaper has been repeatedly and constantly denied any
Bermuda Government advertising while a newspaper that is only twice-weekly gets
it all, is the Official Government Gazette and has been so for years. Here in
the UK, such discrimination and inequality would not be allowed, it would be
deemed anti-democratic. Your people in Bermuda may not know that here in
Scotland - and I believe in England, Wales and Northern Ireland too - local and
national authorities have made a complete u-turn on plans to stop advertising in
newspapers. Moreover, they are obliged to be fair to all, not to select some for
favourable treatment but to discriminate against others. Public authorities are
obliged to put all statutory notices in newspapers, specifically including daily
as well as weekly and somewhat more frequently. It seems so daft and petty, not
a good advertisement for Bermuda at all, that your government takes such a
hostile line. Your tourism motto is "Feel the love" but isn't your
government actually saying "Feel the hate" with this kind of
vindictiveness against not only your national daily newspaper but also your
visitors? This is what my business contacts in Bermuda say. It is hurting
Bermuda's international business prospects and reputation, with actions more
like a banana republic than a world-class business centre. By any standards,
according to them, the Royal Gazette is a world-class newspaper, trusted
everywhere outside Bermuda and provides a uniquely valuable service. Plus, of
all the news-media and websites on Bermuda it has the biggest surfing readership
by a huge margin. Even when UK newspapers are fiercely critical of the UK's
national and local politicians, newspapers are not ignored and prejudiced
against. Andrew Innes, Dunkeld Road, Perth PH1 3AA, Scotland, UK, 31 March
2010.
In
my capacity at the Consulate General of Canada, New York, I'm writing a
Canada-Bermuda brochure along the lines of the Canada-NY one I wrote, with
similar pieces for Canada-CT and Canada-NJ). I'm eager for any
Canadian-Bermuda information that addresses the kinds of things I touch on, i.e.
Canada-Bermuda import/export, mutual tourism, academic info, case studies of
Canadian businesses in Bermuda and vice versa, that kind of thing. I've read
thru your entire Canada-Bermuda website and found some intriguing and very
useful historical background on the relationship, but I'm wondering if there's
any current info on hand that I might make use of in the brochure. Can you
lead me to any sources? Thanks in advance for any advice. Jeff
Breithaupt, Head, Communications & Culture, Political/Economic Relations and
Public Affairs, Consulate General of
Canada in New York, 1251 Avenue of the Americas, New York NY 10020-1175, USA, 8
March 2010.
I
was surfing the Internet and came across your Web
Sites on Bermuda, in particular the one on Bermuda's
War Veterans. As an ex-Bermudian, I was really
pleased to see this. I also checked out a few of your many other sites. Just
wanted to say "Well done. Take care. Kenneth
G. Doe, Toxicology Laboratory Environment
Canada, Science and Technology Branch, Environmental Science Centre, P.O. Box
23005, Moncton, New Brunswick E1A 6S8, Canada, 13th January 2010.
Thanks so
much for the information on disabled
access you posted on your
Bermuda
Online
website. My husband and I have traveled through over 60 countries around the
world, and 14 months ago we had our first child. Our real adventure has
begun with the birth of Leo. He has severe cerebral palsy. He is now medically stable and we chose to take our first
international trip to a wealthy, tame country because we thought (wrongly it
turns out) that there would be adequate disabled access. We were saddened and
angered to be lectured by a Bermuda bus driver who told us that he could reject
us as passengers, even when Leo was accompanied by two able-bodied adults,
because Leo's foldable stroller was large (it still fit in the container).
The absence of sidewalks was also a problem. I just did a quick search and
found your website. I am working with the Harvard Program on Disabilities and if
you come to Boston one of these days, it would be great if you want to give a
talk at Harvard Law School. If there is anything we can do to help advocate
for access, please let us know. Of course, we are still fighting many battles in
the US, too. Cora True-Frost, Climenko Fellow and Lecturer on Law, Harvard Law School,
1525 Massachusetts Ave., Griswold North 102, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA, December
28, 2009.
I
read with great interest in your Royal Gazette newspaper linked on your
always-fabulous
Bermuda
Online
website how Bermuda's Premier Ewart Brown in Copenhagen joined leaders of
the other British Overseas Territories in calling for urgent action to address
climate change - and how a local environmentalist says Bermuda "must practice
what it preaches." I gather Dr. Brown joined leaders from Anguilla, the British
Virgin Islands, the Falkland Islands, Montserrat, the Pitcairn Islands, St
Helena and Tristan de Cunha for the United Nations Climate Change
Conference.
I
have been searching the web for sources and came across the Bermuda
Online site. We (Dr. Robert Brownell, National Marine
Fisheries Service and I) are trying to sort out strandings of whales that
occurred in Bermuda. Two events that seem to be confused supposedly occurred on
15 January 1971 and 15 January 1981. Both are reported to have involved multiple
individuals of goose beaked whales. Unfortunately there have been a number of
other years proposed for the these events. Can you confirm for us if there were
indeed two strandings each on 15 Jan, in years 1971 and 1981? If so, could you
provide references (newspaper articles etc?).
I've
noted from your excellent Bermuda
Online files how Bermuda 80+% depends on American tourists
compared to less than 20% from the entire rest of the world. I'm personally
so sorry Bermuda, once a truly lovely place, is therefore still so badly
affected by the USA's continuing depression compared to the end of the
depression in Europe with the notable exception of the United Kingdom whose own
ridiculous taxes most notably recently its new 150% Airport Passenger Duty
excesses and 73% gasoline tax rip-offs, attempts to hike the price of liquor to
unprecedented levels when the root causes are the enormous excesses and expenses
of all its legislators and other government cost increases ad nauseam that are
all now the major contributors by far to its own
well-deserved decline from a one-time world leader to a 5th-rate undemocratic
power. But it
has to be said there are also some problems not outwith but within Bermuda that
are adversely affecting both tourism and international business prospects.
Unfortunately, the word has gotten out and has spread like wildfire that Bermuda is playing a race card at
official levels. It has to stop before it ruins Bermuda. When Americans, mostly
white by a huge margin, by overwhelming majority decision can peacefully elect on his merit
at long last a hugely talented black man as our President without it causing any kind of horrific earthquake,
it's high time for Bermuda to get rid of its monumental official government
anti-white prejudices and both elect and trust people from Bermuda on merit
irrespective of color. When this is done, Bermuda you'll once again be a truly
unique place for all the right, not wrong, reasons. Henry B. White (my name
not my color), Baltimore, Maryland 21212, November 15, 2009
I lived in Bermuda from 92 - 95. I
was 11 the day I arrived, and 14 the day I left. I remember stepping off the
plane when we first arrived, what I was wearing, and how HOT it was! (Moved
there from Maine.) We were fortunate enough to live in one of the 3 houses
which were located right on the beach, very close to Clearwater Beach. I
have such fond memories of my time there - the island, the people I met, the
things I did...It was just amazing. I talk about it often. Living on
a small island certainly creates a bond between those who shared time there with
you. I do keep in touch with many of my peers from my time there. I
remember the Wharf Tavern, St. George's, Hamilton (shopping along the road by
the ocean where the cruise ships docked), taking the bus around the island, the
moped, snorkeling, the crystal clear ocean water, how warm it always was, etc.
What a wonderful time! Emily Link, daughter of John R. Link, (CDR at
the time), Callaway, MD 20620, November 2, 2009
I
am trying to gain information regarding the state of waste water treatment in
Bermuda. I have come across reference to secondary treatment facilities at
West End Dockyard, but in other places have seen that “there are no wastewater
treatment facilities in Bermuda.” I am wondering if you have a reference
web-site that would describe what, if any, facilities are available? Thank you
in advance for your assistance. Jonathan
Turvey, Senior
Manager, Auditing, Training and ISO 14001 Certification, Holland
America Line, 300
Elliot Ave, Seattle WA 98119, October 22, 2009.
Have
just come across your Bermuda
Online website. The photographs of Bermuda, the Dockyard and the
Ships crests certainly brought back some memories. I was stationed on the island
at H.M.S. Malabar from May 1981 until August 1983, my rate was LRO (G), I left
the island as a Radio Supervisor. My family and I had some wonderful times on
the island. One of my daughters (Amy) was born on the island 13 March 1983.
After I left the Royal Navy we went back in March 1989 for a holiday which also
included Amy's 6th birthday, Sunday brunch at the Elbow Beach hotel (brilliant).
If I could I would love to visit the islands once more, you never know, it could
happen one day. If I don't make it memories of the islands will always remain
with me. Ian Macfarlane, Chatham, Kent. ME5 8UX. England,
19 October 2009
I
am writing an academic paper about naval hospital buildings, their staffs'
contributions to medicine and surgery, and new uses for the buildings once they
are no longer naval hospitals. I note your reference to the hospital in the
British base in Bermuda. Could you let me know its date, who built it, and what
it is used for now? A photograph would also be much appreciated. Best
wishes, Celia Clark, University of Portsmouth, 8 Florence Road, Southsea,
Portsmouth PO5 2NE, England, 8th October 2009.
As
a Scottish avid web browser and mature student of aviation history I write
to say how thrilled I was to find Bermuda's
Aviation history and Pioneers on your brilliant and comprehensive Bermuda
website. It deserves a special international award for the enthusiasm, time,
patience, perseverance, photographs and energy that went into it and how well it
is maintained and updated. How truly mean your Bermuda Government's Department
of Civil Aviation is not to link or refer to it. Nor does the DCA show any of
the facts or figures or accounts on its website that the author Forbes show on
yours. Bravo for giving such a unique and factual account of how Bermuda, a tiny
island of only 21 square miles, blazed such an an amazing aviation trail in the
1900s. Paul Watson, Aberdeen AB10 1SH, Scotland, UK,
October 3, 2009
I write to
compliment Bermuda for having a decent and equitable way of handling taxes on
your homes. I have a nephew working in Bermuda. I gather from your excellent Homes
in Bermuda web file that the taxes on Bermuda homes, whether single-family
or flats or condominiums don't get arbitrarily jacked up when they change hands.
But here in rip-off Britain they do. In my area of the UK, the Highland Council
is the regional tax authority and levies the Council Tax - equivalent to your
land tax. People who have been here since the 1990s pay their Council Taxes at
the 1993 evaluations. But those who buy in say 2009 will pay a far higher rate.
Their tax rate automatically goes up when a house is sold, even when no
improvements have been done. Newcomers don't just pay higher taxes than 1990s
residents on their homes, they also have to pay higher prices for their
water (now averaging over £1 a day now just for water, supplied solely by
Scottish Water, a government entity) and their waste water/sewage. This two-tier
system, instead of one uniform system, ought to be
illegal. It is discriminatory, unfair, not democratic but autocratic. But then no one
can ever claim accurately that the UK is or ever has been a democracy. Plus, your house taxes in
Bermuda are less than half ours here in Inverness. Richard Mackay,
Inverness, Scotland.
Re
your Bermuda
Online, I
am a radiologist constantly combing the web for information about internet
speeds in foreign lands because I can do my work from afar that way. The
information is rare and your web page was a welcome reprieve as you do such a
nice job informing the world as to the capabilities of Bermuda in being ‘wired.”
Thanks so much!! I would ask if you know of any hotels or resorts on the island
that offer broadband with downloads speeds of anything approaching the 6Mbps
that BTC offers. I could actually work with most speeds over 3MBS. Thanks
again! James Fleckenstein MD, E Plus Cancer Care, Nashville, TN,
September 9, 2009
Comment:
I think the Bermuda
Online
website is brilliant! I
was born in Bermuda on 19th November 1984 to Fiona Baxter and left around the
age of 18 months old, I haven't been back since but Bermuda Online helps me
learn about the little place that feels like home. Thank you! Tizzie-Elizabeth
Baxter, Sevenoaks, Kent TN13 3NQ, England, August 19, 2009
Note: Hope you can come back soon to our island once your home.
I
read with huge dismay in your excellent Bermuda
Online
files on the City of
Hamilton and St.
George's how your government wants to get rid of the Corporations of
both Hamilton and town of St. George. Why! In both the UK and USA and I believe
in Canada too, important cities and towns have always had their own mayor,
councillors and aldermen or equivalent. St. George's had its own system of
governance before the Bermuda Government itself was formed. For Bermuda to
invite folk from Admiral Sir George Somer's historic town of Lyme Regis in
Dorset, England, to the Town of St. George for its 400th anniversary only to be
greeted by government-wanted abolition of the historic form of administration of
the town, is an insult, not an invitation. If part of the reason was to make the
town and city more transparent to the public, I suggest you start with your
government which with its total lack of Freedom of Information and Right to Know
makes a complete mockery of democracy in Bermuda. Cindy Marsden,
Farnborough, Hampshire, England, 27 July 2009.
I came across your
Bermuda
Online site whilst I was researching information about Sir
George Somers. The reason being is my daughter is a direct descendant of
Sir George Somers. Unfortunately, my daughters father Benjamin Summers died some
years ago. However, I am hoping to explore the Summers family tree with my
daughter further. I intend to visit Bermuda with Talia my daughter and her Uncle
Henry Summers and was curious to know if there are any special ocassions or
events relating to the history of Sir George Somers that would be of interest. I
look forward to hearing from you. Claire Dinmore, Poole, Dorset, England BH12
3LD. 21 July 2009.
I
am a Bermudian teacher working for the Ministry of Defence, in Northern Germany
at one of their schools. I have been a regular visitor to your
Bermuda
Online web site over the years and I would like to take this opportunity to
thank you for preserving and constantly adding to such a detailed history of the island. I am
continually fascinated by the content and enjoy the photographic glimpses of the
past. All the best with your endeavours. Sincerely, Russell David,
Bishopspark School, BFPO 22, Germany. 18 July 2009
Thanks
to the link from your terrific Bermuda
Online I read in
the Royal
Gazette newspaper
how visitor spending plunged more than 45 percent in the first three months
of 2009.
I
am taking this opportunity of dropping you a quick line to say what a
pleasure it has been to relive my time spent as a resident of Bermuda by
reading your Bermuda
Online
web site. From 1978 to 1982 I was the Supply Officer, Royal Navy, HMS Malabar, who
had his office at the entrance to the dockyard. My home was at Prince
Alfred Terrace, Ireland Island. The memories have come flooding back, as not
only did I have the pleasure of representing the island at field Hockey, at
various events, both at home and abroad, but I have a life long affinity
with Bermuda, as it is the birth place of my son, Charles. I even still have the
Royal Gazette sports match reports, edited by David Pethan, who at that
time was part of the finance department of the paper. It is my intention
to visit the island in the not to distant future. Maybe we could meet up?
Again thank you for affording me the opportunity to reminisce. Kind regards, Barry
James, Gosbecks, Colchester CO2 9PS, England, 22 June 2009.
Dear
Bermudians, I have been to your wonderful island 5 times in the past and would
like to visit again. However I was put off by the fact the local government
has accepted these Guantanamo “detainees”. I can’t imagine what would
possess you to do such a thing. To me its seems like a marketing blunder of epic
proportions! Perhaps it’s time to strongly express your opinion to your
government. Until these people leave the island I will travel elsewhere I’m
afraid… I’m sorry. Brian Kelly, Warwick, NY USA, June 15, 2009
My
family and I used to be regular Bermuda visitors and were planning another
vacation there. But I read in your daily newspaper that Bermuda's political
leader had no authority or right to ask for or agree to accepting those released
by the US from Guantanamo. Under no circumstances will any of us ever go again
to a country or stay at its guest accommodations where known terrorists, now
forbidden for cause to ever enter the USA again, are given official shelter by
an arrogant and clearly greedy foreign entity looking for handouts in return for
accepting, without proper authority, our nation's rejects who were trained as
terrorists. Unfortunately, it reflects equally badly on our own President,
Secretary of State and government for either not knowing as they
should have, a huge and unforgivable oversight, or deliberately and
maliciously overlooking the fact that Bermuda is not an independent country as
the State Department well knows but a British Overseas Territory with
Bermuda not able to make decisions like this, only Britain (in the same way as
local politicians in Puerto Rico, St. Thomas and St. Croix do not make
international decisions about their islands, only the USA does). Our State
Department completely failed to comply with normal protocol and consult
beforehand with the British Government in London, or with the British Ambassador
in Washington DC or the British Governor in Bermuda who represents the British
Government. It seems our Republican US Consul General in Bermuda must have
played a leading role in this debacle, should accept the blame and be replaced
for the
international offense and concern caused. Kevin A. Jackson, Montview Place, Pittsburgh, PA 15218, June
14, 2009.
Greetings.
I am researching certain aspects of Bermuda's maritime history from 1804 to 1811
for publication. I came across the following entry for 1810 May 4 in your
Bermuda's History for 1810.
"A Royal Navy Captain
of H.M.S. Swiftsure jumped overboard, "in a fit of temporary
derangement" and was drowned, off the Bermudas." This was Captain
John Conn, I would very much appreciate knowing the source for this piece of
information, if it was published in the local press, and if any further details
are available. Professor Clive Caplan, 133 Guilford Avenue, Oakdale, NY USA,
11769-1915. June 12, 2009.
I
found your story about a Luscombe airplane on Bermuda's
Aviation History and Pioneers. The caption states "2008.
June. Wing Commander E. M. Ware's old Luscombe 8a Silvaire(1946) in pieces in a
Bermuda garden" and "Can somebody find it a home until it can be
restored as an exhibit. Don't let go to the dump. Combining the parts from the
Luscombe at Colin Plant's house with this fuselage would make a fabulous
exhibit." I am restoring a 1947 Luscombe 8E and would like to find out what
happened to that Bermuda Luscombe. Did it find a home or end up in the
dump? If you are still looking for someone to restore it let me know.
Thanks, Greg Murray, Napa, CA 94558, May 25, 2009.
We
recently visited Bermuda and your
beautiful Botanical Gardens. We were fascinated by the Garden for the
Sightless. Can you please tell me something about the history of the garden -
whose idea was it, when it was created, any background information? I am an
ophthalmologist from Australia and think that there should be more of
these gardens. Minas Coroneo, Professor & Chairman, Department of
Ophthalmology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, May 24, 2009.
Re
your Bermuda
Online, relatives of mine who live in Bermuda (St Georges)
celebrate their golden anniversary in August and I would like to give them a
suitably special or exotic plant or shrub. Could you perhaps suggest something,
and also let me have the name and web address of any nurseries you can recommend.
Thank you for any help you can give. Tom Haddon, Uplands Road, Saltford,
Bristol BS31 3JJ, United Kingdom, 20 May 2009.
I
was reading your Bermuda
Online post on
the website titled “
I
write as a UK parent with a son working in Bermuda for a multi-national
insurance company. I have to say I hope he leaves soon. I'm appalled by
the racial climate in Bermuda and the nastiness of your government to your
hugely internationally respected and only daily newspaper. None
of the present generation of white Bermuda natives or those who are not local
but work there to contribute hugely to your local economy had any part in the
racial injustices of the past. Is Bermuda really a British Overseas
Territory international business centre or a sleazy tax haven run by an
absolute dictator? You may have been reading of
the horrible revelations in the UK's Daily Telegraph of how UK Cabinet Ministers and Members of Parliament have been milking the far-too-patient British public
for far too long, complete with detailed facts and figures on cooked
taxpayer-paid expense reports. That newspaper does what a free press in a
democracy is supposed to do. No British Government, even when whipped by the
free press, would ever dare take the action your Premier Ewart Brown has taken
against the RG for not going nearly as far. Your government seems so spiteful,
anti-newspaper, anti-business and anti-tourism in comparison, especially since
the recent hits on Bermuda as a "grey" tax haven. The Daily
Telegraph has not had its government advertising stopped and its access to
government restricted or denied out of spiteful racial malice.
It continues to have the same access as other media to all government
sources of information. The UK pretends to be a democracy, it isn't and
never has been, it's an autocracy compared to the USA, Canada, Australia,
etc. But it is far more democratic than Bermuda which has become a
dictatorship with a British Governor clearly too feeble and to unwilling to act,
just as the US Consul General in Bermuda is too feeble and too unwilling to act. It's
my guess the present Bermuda government would go crazy with rage, racial riots and
vendettas if the Royal Gazette tried to find out in Bermuda what the Daily
Telegraph has done in the UK, namely, expose some Cabinet members and Members of
Parliament as
corrupt thieves. But is is surely time this
happened in Bermuda as well. Too much has been covered up for too long, you have
no Freedom of Information or Right To Know rights as other countries do to act
as checks and balances. It's about time you did, if you want Bermuda to be
regarded as a decent place by the international community in business and
tourism. Jane Simons, Great Russell Street, London
WC1B 3DG, UK, 14 May 2009.
I
read with great professional interest in your excellent Bermuda
Online, in your aptly named
Newcomers to Bermuda web file, that in
2009 Bermuda signed a series of similar Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs)
with Australia, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Germany,
Iceland, Greenland, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden. These supplement the
TIEAs already signed with USA, UK, etc. More yet are planned. You
stated that these TIEAs are part of a joint
campaign by the parties to stop tax evasion and will enable the authorities to
access information about anyone seeking to evade payment of tax on income and
capital investment and help disclose assets that have not been reported in their
home country. I'm curious to know how the Information
to be exchanged, said to include information on beneficial ownership of
companies in the whole ownership chain; settlers, trustees and beneficiaries of
trusts, and information held by banks and financial institutions, will work in
practice. I know you said the process
will enable tax authorities in Bermuda and all the countries mentioned above to
access information about tax evaders and disclose any assets not reported in
their home country. Is it really going to be a two-way deal, with Bermuda
volunteering the information to foreign tax authorities? If so, how will the
Bermuda Government get that information? Or will it actually be a one-way deal,
merely with the IRS in USA, etc. having the legal right to access all bank,
trust, finance etc. corporate records in Bermuda for those deemed by the IRS to
be suspected of tax evasion? Pray tell. Richard
Johnson, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15218,
USA, April 16, 2009.
I
write as a Briton hugely impressed with quality, quantity and variety of your
astounding Bermuda
Online. I've
been considering a partnership with a friend from the USA in the prospective
purchase of a home with some sea frontage in Bermuda and really like the way
you've dealt with the matters of costs and systems in your Bermuda
Homes report. I also noted how you dealt so adroitly with how Bermuda homes
don't have mains water or waste water or sewage systems but have septic tanks.
Speaking of sewage, you must be so truly thankful you there in Bermuda don't
have the sewer-rat system we in once-Great Britain now have here, which is so
disgusting. I refer to the fact that from 1 December 2008 every property in the
UK must have a Home Report paid for by the person or family selling the
property. A Home Report is a new document designed to provide buyers with more
information about homes they are thinking of buying before they submit an offer.
It is part of a series of measures said to be introduced across Europe reflected
in legislation to help cut out carbons emissions and tackle climate change. The
Home Report is reputed to provide a measure of the overall energy efficiency of
the home and its environmental impact and is required whenever a building is
built, sold or rented out. The property's performance is rated in terms of
energy use per square metre of floor area; energy efficiency based on fuel costs
and environmental impact based on CO2 emissions. You or more likely your selling
solicitor will be required to have a copy before your home is advertised for
sale and to make a copy available to interested buyers of your home. The Home
Report includes three separate reports; the Property Questionnaire; the Single
Survey; and an Energy Report. Bermuda, keep to the American way of doing
things. They don't do things that way. Don't become as horrible and
bureaucratic as our irresponsible government is here. Kind regards, T. H.
Davis, Robertsbridge, East Sussex, TN32 5HP, England, April 4, 2009.
First
I must compliment you on your incredible
Bermuda
Online website! What an amazing wealth of information—and
clearly a trusted source of unbiased material.
Question:
Re your www.bermuda-online.org/wheels.htm
I have relatives in Bermuda who own a car. I am Canadian with a valid
driver's licence. Am I legal to drive their car during a visit? I know visitors
are not allowed to rent cars but are we allowed to borrow a car and drive it?
Thanks very much. Alexandra Eadie, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, March 29, 2009.
Bermuda's policy is to allow only Bermudians or residents with valid Bermuda Drivers' Licenses to drive automobiles in Bermuda, not visitors with non-local drivers' licenses. For further details visitors should check the Bermuda Government's Transport Control Department referred to at the top of the above-captioned website.
Re
your website on St.
George's Parish and the former Club Med, I have been looking for
information as to why the Club Med actually closed. There is a great deal of
information about attempts to reopen but no information about why it closed. I
understand it was damaged by Hurricane Emily and then repaired but no details
are given as to why it closed. I have heard number of rumors ranging from the
property was trying to set up a nude beach, which was denied to the property,
also it only wanted operate seasonally and the lease did not allow for that. Do you have
any insight? Also do you know why it closed as a Holiday Inn or Loews? Or was
the simply property (leasehold interest) sold? Christopher Cylke, REVPAR
International, Inc. 4 West Las Olas Boulevard, Suite 504, Fort Lauderdale, Fl
33301, March 27, 2009
Can
Bermuda
Online verify if the radio station ZFB 1230 am is currently on the
air in Bermuda? Since Nov 1999, they have been airing The Salvation Army
radio program, Wonderful Words of Life. However, we have not been
successful in reaching the radio station. We would appreciate any status
information you can provide. Thank you! Janet Kelly, The Salvation Army,
Radio Ministries, 1424 Northeast Expressway, Atlanta GA 30329., Phone (404)
728-6700 ext. 485, Fax (404) 728-1398. March 27, 2009.
I
remember checking the Bermuda
Online
site as far back as 1997 (I think). I just referred to this site again
for government information and once again I am so pleased with the manner
information is made available for all who wish to be informed. Thank you once
again for being so consistent in the upkeep of relevant information. This is
still one of the best reference sites for information on
My name is
Kota Inoue, and I am a sales staff member at Sumitomo Corporation, Tokyo Japan.
I am in charge of exporting Japanese car to Bermuda, and I would like to study
the Bermudian market as much as possible. Your homepage Bermuda
Online has
been very helpful to deepen my understanding of the market. About the content in one of your other pages,
Bermuda's
Personal Transportation Options for Residents I would like to ask a
question. From your information, I learned that the only one vehicle per
household is allowed in Bermuda. Your information says there are 47,000
registered vehicle in Bermuda, and the break down for the number is 14,500
motorcycles, 22,600 private cars and 1,800 trucks. I suppose the
regulation is for private cars only. Therefore, there are 22,600 households in
Bermuda? Also, what is the grouping for the rest of 8100 vehicles? I would be
very grateful if you could answer to my question. I will be waiting for your
reply. Best regards, Kota Inoue, Sumitomo Corporation EHWHZ section, Tokyo, Japan, 13th March 2009.
As a Scot -
one of the many I gather who thinks your Bermuda
Online is
Bermuda's veritable Bible of reliable and always up-to-date information not
covered by other sites - I congratulate you on such a comprehensive and
rapidly evolving website that I consult often. I also have a question to ask. Why is it that
British insurance companies that have or have transferred their domicile from the United
Kingdom to Bermuda are authorised and regulated by the UK's Financial
Services Authority (FSA), as they say on their websites? It was
always my understanding that the FSA's remit covered only the operations
conducted in the UK. See the websites
of the excellent companies Catlin, Hardy Underwriters, Hiscox and Lancashire as
cases in point. Bermuda is fortunate to host them but they
all note they are authorized and regulated by the FSA, without any provisos
re non-UK operations. Shouldn't this be made clear? As they are
Bermuda-registered shouldn't the Bermuda Monetary Authority, not the FSA, be the
relevant government authority and regulation agency? Any comments? Bertram Forbes, Inverness,
Scotland, 8th March 2009.
I
am in the process of writing brief biographies of the war dead of the village
where I was born, Norton Nr Evesham Worcestershire, England, with the
intention of displaying them in the local church or library. I think it is
also appropriate to include the crew of a Royal Canadian Air Force Wellington
bomber which crashed onto the village 1st March 1945 shortly after taking off
from nearby Honeybourne. Amongst the crew was Flying Officer J/43783 Frank
Scott, the son of Arthur Havelock and Rena Scott, Tucker's Town, Bermuda.
I would be very grateful if any of your Bermuda
Online readers
could provide me with any additional information or a photograph of him. Yours
sincerely, A. W. Stephens, 22 Brookedale, Harvington, Near Evesham,
Worcestershire, UK, 23 February 2009.
I
write as a proud Canadian, with my own coterie of friends and fellow-travellers
who feel the same way. I sincerely
hope someone from Canada will want to fly our flag with both
your truly excellent Bermuda
Online and the
government folks in Bermuda Tourism. Once, many Bermuda hotels and tourist
properties used to have Canadian reps. I was one of those who answered their
calls. I accept what you say, that only a very small number annually of all Bermuda's business
and tourism visitors come from Canada but, as you also state, the plus
factors, seemingly as yet unexploited, are many. Yes indeed, they include that
because Canada's banking systems and economy generally are in much better shape
overall than the USA (with over 90% of Bermuda's business visitors and tourists
traditionally coming from there), there ought to be considerable scope,
especially now, for far more potential from Canada. I believe Bermuda
should be spending just as much, if not more, in Canada as it is in New
York, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington. Also, as many Bermudians go to
universities in Canada as they do in USA and more Bermudian cabinet ministers
were born in Canada than in USA. Yes, in 1996 a teenager Canadian tourist
visiting your island was raped, sodomized and murdered by Bermuda men in the
most brutal way that has happened to any woman anywhere in the world and her
parents received only a nominal sum by way of compensation from your government.
But that was 13 years ago and hopefully Bermuda has paid the price and learnt in
all ways from that. What can and should be done by Bermuda to attract and retain
significantly more Canadian tourists to Bermuda, to have the same numbers from
Canada as the governments of Antigua,
Barbados, Grenada, St. Lucia etc., all so much further away from Canada than
Bermuda, claim? They all say that somewhere between 15% to 25% of their
visitors come from Canada, compared to Bermuda's mere 5% or so. I gather there
were more tourists to Bermuda from Canada in 2008 but it seems they made little
difference in actual percentages of Canadian visitors. I know we Canadians are known as
TACs because we are careful with our money but I don't think it is solely
because Bermuda is very expensive compared to the Caribbean. Elaine J. Mackay, Halifax, Nova
Scotia, Canada, 18 February 2009.
I've
enjoyed reading your expensive Bermuda
Online articles on every aspect of Bermuda for quite some years now.
My wife and I try to visit at least once a year and we've been doing this now
since 1987. It's become an event before each visit to brush up on anything new
and search around for something new to explore. We're coming back this June
along with 6 others and the topic of Club Med has come up, we all remember the
building from previous trips. We all watched the implosion last August and again
as a one hour special on the Discovery channel a week or so ago. I've
read your articles on Club Med and have one question.....when was the building
constructed and when was it first opened for business? I have searched quite a
few websites and unless I overlooked it, no article has mentioned a construction
date. Can you give me a figure? Paul Poleski, Bayport, New York
11705-1315, February 17, 2009
Although
I've just begun to explore your wonderful Bermuda
Online site,
a question arises you may be able to answer if you would be so kind. The second
entry at Bermuda
History 1900-1951 is about Sister Jean de Chantal Kennedy. One of the
Bermuda books you cite her as having written is about one of my ancestors,
Hezekiah Frith. Would you know what became of Sister Kennedy? Thank you so much
for assisting me however you can. William Brewer, Owego,
NY 13827, February 17, 2009.
FYI,
I just checked with USA3000 (2/11/09) and they have cancelled their service
entirely to BDA this season. The announcement is not on their website
yet, but the agent I talked to said a memo just went out about it. You might want
to update your own Bermuda
Online website.
Which, may I add, is an excellent product. I will soon be doing a post on
Bermuda (we were there for the triangle challenge last month) and will be
linking to your site. Congratulations on having created an extremely useful
resource. Steve Blakely, Galesville, Maryland, USA, February 11, 2009.
We
would like more detailed information on whether Bermuda is handicapped
accessible for my husband who uses a 3 wheel motorized scooter to get
around. Will he be able to use the scooter while in Bermuda? Will we be able to
get to a local beach during our stay? We have planned a cruise to Bermuda but
are not sure that it will work with his physical limitations and the information
we saw on another website. Any information you can give would be great as we
want to be sure to have a safe, enjoyable vacation. Susan Romanoski, 1 Danube
Dr. Niskayuna, NY 12309, USA, February 1, 2009.
Well done on creating a permanent record of Bermuda’s history!
I drove round the dockyard with my mother last July and was sorely disappointed
at the state of the crests (and of the Malabar office building where my dad used
to work). Your pictures have the crests in remarkably good order. I
presume you took them a while ago or have they been recently fixed up again? I
was in HMS Arethusa in 69 and thought we painted our crest too but I did
not see it in your pictures and did not specifically look for it on my drive I
must admit.
I
wanted to say thank you for the information and photos about NAS Bermuda on your
Bermuda
Online website. They brought back wonderful memories. I was
stationed there from 1989-1990 as a Navy Journalist at the base radio &
television station (it was located directly behind the hospital and the two
buildings were actually connected by a breeze way).
Bermuda
Online and
its US Military Personnel
Based in Bermuda. Wonderful sites for a wonderful island. I
would like to supply more info if you'd like on Kindley AFB during my two years
there. I also have a "squadron history" book from my father (Capt.
Russell A. VerNooy) on the 53rd Weather Squadron that flew the WB-29s during the
early 1950s. I can add more names for you and a lot of information on our
perceptions at the time. I attended both Cavendish School (still have photos of
the Maypole events and students) and Lyceum in the 1951-1953 timeframe. What
would you like from me? Russ VerNooy, Plymouth, MA
02360-7751, USA, January 22, 2009.
You
have a terrific Bermuda
Online, and great Guest Book. In yesterday's inauguration
speech, President Obama said: "And those of us who manage the public's
dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our
business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust
between a people and their government." It is time to tell our politicians
that this is the attitude we're looking for in our leaders." So why, then,
in the UK, are MPs tomorrow going to vote to change the law to keep their
expenses secret after all, just before publication was due and after spending
nearly a million of UK taxpayer's pounds and seven months compiling the data. Is
it because they want to keep autocracy not democracy in their government and
opaqueness instead of transparency? And why does the Bermuda Government have to
follow the UK's bad example, instead of the USA's? J. P. Waterman,
Baltimore, MD, January 21, 2009
Thanks
to your Bermuda
Online and its link to The Royal
Gazette newspaper, I read with huge interest that in the new
Administration's report on tax havens it states
the 100 largest US corporations have a combined total of 229 subsidiaries in
Bermuda, with the GAO stating 83 of the 100
companies have at least one subsidiary in there. It was revealing to read
Citigroup has 19; Wachovia 18; ConocoPhillips
17; Chevron 16; Merck 14; Caterpillar
13; PepsiCo 13; AIG 5; General Motors 3; Bank of America 2; AIG 5, Merrill
Lynch 2; and Morgan Stanley 2. From my own quite extensive knowledge of US
corporations which have practised corporate inversions in tax havens, many
others are obviously not reported here. It is significant that senators have
estimated abusive tax havens and offshore accounts cost the US government at
least $100 billion a year in lost taxes and the US Treasury is quite rightly
clearly dissatisfied by the GAO's methodology with the latter's Deputy Assistant
Secretary for International Tax Affairs Michael Mundaca having expressed his
concern. I bet the Obama Administration will shortly be preparing the
legislation to effectively cancel or limit all Federal funding given to US
corporations headquartered offshore. I hope the Bermuda public will not regard
this as anti-Bermuda, merely to ensure the USA funds onshore corporations as a
matter of priority and encourages corporate deserters to return, possibly with
tax inducements, to stimulate our economy and help put our citizens back to
work. Only with a healthy economy and long-term prospects for employment
security will we be able as a nation to once again return to vacationing in
Bermuda, to resume the statistics you quote of Americans being your best
customers by a margin of over 85%. Arthur B. Anderson, Seattle, WA, USA,
January 21, 2009
What
a top website you are running. Bermuda
Online contains such a wealth of information - one could hardly
ask for more! I came upon your website as an Australian Chartered Accountant who
is looking for a sea-change. I found an advertisement for an accounting
job in Bermuda in a local Australian website. This caused me to research
Bermuda. It will be much appreciated if you will forward me details of the
website addresses of recruitment agencies servicing accounting and finance
professionals. Sincerely, David Elliott FCA, Chartered Accountant, 45
Rembrandt Street, CARINA, Queensland, Australia 4152, January 20, 2009
With
one of the many unique aspects of your superb Bermuda
Online website being comparisons in costs
of living and costs of
homes, I thought it would interest you to compare Bermuda with various
parts of the USA, your main tourism market by far - about 75% based on your
findings. The median household income amounts for each city are based on
my personal late 2008 estimates given the statistical data supplied by
their states. Their median home values for the third quarter and annual prices
are based on economic downturns estimates for January 6, 2009.
Again, thanks for your terrific Bermuda website, I believe the only one of its type in the world to date in its honesty, accuracy, objectivity and impartiality and intended to give pretty much all the information every visitor needs to know instead of just some. Anthony B. Foster, Greenwich, CT 06830, USA, January 7, 2009
Fascinating information, much appreciated, a lot of thought and time went into this I know, thanks very much.
I
simply can't let December 2008 go by without thanking you unreservedly for
Bermuda
Online being the top Bermuda information website for both
general and specific information. It is of huge benefit to every tourist,
professional newcomer and business visitor. I know I've gained hugely from your
always up-to-date information on every aspect. You cover Bermuda superbly and
professionally from A to Z. If there are ever Bermuda Gold awards for being such
a good ambassador in every way for Bermuda, you'd win them all, congratulations!
Don Saunders, 21 Shaftsbury Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M3T 3B4, Canada,
December 21, 2008
Congratulations
Bermuda
Online on being Bermuda's biggest asset by far as a constantly reliable and updated impartial and purely factual website information
on Bermuda from A to Z. With websites like yours to set such a fine
example, Bermuda's relationship with the new President Obama Administration here
in the USA should be a smooth one. Yes, there are issues to work out and I
expect in due course all those US entities that have undergone corporate
inversions in Bermuda will no longer be eligible for any US defense contracts.
I'm told there will also be some major changes in the US-Bermuda Tax Act 1986.
Very likely too, American taxpayers will no longer have to bear the burden
carried for so long of subsidizing insurance losses incurred by Bermuda-based
but mostly American owned multinational insurance corporations. We here in the
USA need every cent we can get to fund our new Administration almost bankrupted
by failed economic policies of the past and we have to come up with new ways to
create more employment with long-term prospects. But I hope that in other
respects there will not be much pain and Bermuda will benefit from renewed
healthy income from American visitors. I'm giving you my new address from January
20, 2009. Ron Perlman, Lachine Court, Upper Marlboro, Maryland, USA,
November 21, 2008.
Thank you for providing this
wonderful Bermuda
Online source of information about Bermuda! I've been
attempting to learn more about the Bermuda Building and Life Safety Codes. I
looked through your files about homes, apartments, etc. but did not see any
specific references. My immediate concern is learning what are the Bermuda
requirements for smoke detectors in rental properties, and if this is a legal
requirement, how it is enforced. Any assistance you could provide in learning
more about this would certainly be appreciated! Ron Harelstad, Port
Captain, R/V Atlantic Explorer, Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, Inc.
Ferry Reach, St. George's GE 01, Bermuda. October 18, 2008.
I
read with some concern in your excellent and unique Bermuda
Online that your Bermuda bank savings are not guaranteed at all by
your Bermuda Government. To help protect and not hurt Bermuda as an
international business jurisdiction in this time of world economic uncertainty
and bank failures I recommend your government agree to do what the American,
British, German, Irish and many other governments of world trade centers have done, namely guarantee the
savings of your bank depositors. I believe in view of the World Bank's review of
Bermuda as the wealthiest country on earth your government should at least match
the new FDIC guarantees of US$250,000 per account, and not follow the
unfortunate new UK-British guarantee of only £50,000 sterling per account, so
paltry in comparison. Should the complete lack in
Bermuda presently of any similar to the USA and UK , etc. bank
deposits/depositor insurance guarantee/warranty worry international investors
with Bermuda bank accounts and Bermudians/local residents, especially if Obama
gets on the presidential toilet from 2009 and craps on Bermuda as an
international business center/ tax haven? Hope this will be taken seriously. Anthony J. Johnson,
Maiden Lane, New York, USA, October 6, 2008.
Many
thanks for your insight into the Astor house at Ferry Reach, St.
George's Parish. I think that you are most likely correct - local
architects were selected because they understood indigenous building techniques
- and besides, it would be hauling coals to Newcastle. A local firm would have
also understood local ordinances and how to gather the requisite permits -
besides, for all the building that went on between Vincent and Helen Astor over
the course of their 25 year marriage, they rarely worked with an architect a
second time. As per your suggestion, I will contact the Bermuda National
Trust - I am very grateful for your attention to my questions and I do hope you
will contact us when and if you come to New York City. If not for individuals
like you, my work would be diminished a good deal, and a good deal lonelier.
Kind regards and thanks, Derek Ostergard, New York City, USA, September 30,
2008
Mr. Ostergard very kindly contributed his knowledge as an art historian to add valuable new information to the former Astor estate mentioned in the captioned Bermuda Online separate website.
I
have recently spent a fair amount of time with Bermuda
Online. It is a well designed and comprehensive site. Very impressive. I
am involved with a renewable energy company in Stamford, CT, USA and we are very
interested in the Bermuda market. Through your site I've learned of
Belco's interest in this area (large scale renewable energy projects) and the
high cost of electricity on the island in general. I also found information on
new business creation with regards to Bermudian ownership rules &
regulations. At first glance, our business would not fit Belco's SOI for
large projects nor does it fit the category for the small business. Do you
have any suggestions for obtaining information on starting a medium sized,
energy related business on Bermuda? Regardless, great site. Sincerely, Tony
Eason, Tern LLC. P.O. Box 207, Westport, CT 06881, USA, September 29, 2008.
Thank
you for offering and maintaining a thorough and professional Bermuda
Online
website. Lately, my wife and I have been wondering whether a trip to Bermuda
would suit us. Thankfully, your site anticipated our initial questions and
concerns about climate (especially humidity), and presented the information in a
useful and informative manner. We will return to the site to further
explore what Bermuda has to offer. Again, kudos for providing this service. Dennis
Fitch, 734 Glenwood Drive, Ashland, Oregon USA, September 4, 2008.
Have
been visiting your Bermuda Online (BOL) site for several years, and find it
absolutely fabulous. My wife Margaret & I have visited Bermuda about a
dozen times since 1972, and feel so "at home" with BOL. We even have a
pen pal via e-mail, and are members of FOBA (Aquarium). BOL is a great credit to
Bermuda, and is second to none in its informative capacity for Bermuda's past
and present. We follow the news via The Royal Gazette website, and noted how you
are right up to date with the demolition of the Club Med. Actually, we remember
it from the time it was a Holiday Inn, although we never stayed there. We did
stay at the old Belmont, back in 1972, however, thereafter found comfortable
accommodations in various guest houses and apartments, and have met many real
Bermudians, instead of expat hotel staff. Lately we have been gazing at the
gorgeous photos on Google Earth and other websites. Eagerly looking forward to
our next visit. Best regards, Margaret & Omar Jette, 4890 Cumberland
Avenue, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H4V2N6. September 3, 2008.
I
have been reading the Royal Gazette
for about three years from the link on your Bermuda
Online
web site. Let me start by saying it was your site that brought me to the
island (Bermuda) three times in the last three years in a row. Very good web
site for information, job well done. I stayed at Munro Beach Cottages
(behind Port Royal Gulf course) two times. Can you tell me what is going on with
this property? I read some things in the Royal Gazette about improvements to the
place and a bid for it. Kay and Dawn at Munro were so nice to me that I want to
know what happen to their place and them. They told me before I left they were
going to sell it. I saw a chain link fence up at entrance when I left and that
is when they told me they were closing the day after I left. Anything you could
share with me about this would be greatly appreciated. Can you recommend another
place to stay on the island like Munro Beach cottages? Would love to stay again
on the island. Derek Blackwell, East Palmetto Street, Florence, South
Carolina 29506, August 27, 2008.
Comments about why the place closed and what it has become will be welcomed here. It had a truly unique place in Bermuda and everyone who stayed there loved it.
Thank you
for such a great Bermuda
Online
resource. My great-great grandfather Richard Brackey and
family were in Bermuda with the 42nd Regiment (Black Watch) 1847-1851. They had
a son Richard born Bermuda in 1850 but I think he must have died there as there
is no further record of him. So it's possible that a distant relative of
mine lies mingled with Bermuda's soil. Eva Berriman, 18 Bowtell Dve,
Highfields, Toowomba, Qld 4352, Australia, August 25, 2008
All surviving members of the Black Watch in Bermuda, including their wives and children ( born in Bermuda or otherwise) were transported back to the UK. Suggest you contact the Black Watch HQ in UK, they will have a record.
Thank
you for creating such a comprehensive
portal on Bermuda! As someone who visits the island each
year (I teach a course at BIOS). I was searching in the BOOKS section for a
new book that I just published on Bermuda and did not see it listed. I
wanted to let you know about it so you might include it in your book list.
It is called Coastal Bermuda 10 Walks and 73 Plants...you'll see along the way,
written by me. There was a review of the book in the July 18, 2008 issue
of the Royal Gazette in the Lifestyle section. Copies are available at the
Bermuda Bookstore, BIOS, BAMZ gift shop, Book Cellar, A.S. Cooper, and the
Bookmart. If you have any questions I can be contacted at the address and phone
below. Thanks very much for maintaining such a valuable online resource. Amy
K. Pearson, BioQuill Publishing Co. PO Box 157, Princeton, MA 01541.
Phone: 508 847-9910, August 6, 2008.
I
have looked at your extensive Bermuda
Online, and I wonder if you have any advice
about this special circumstance. L.A.D. Reporting is a court reporting company
(stenotype court reporters). One of our clients -- a law firm -- is considering
asking us to send a stenographic reporter to Bermuda sometime in the near future
to record and transcribe depositions of one or more persons who reside in
Bermuda. The reporter will be performing work in Bermuda, but will be working
for a U.S. firm (L.A.D. Reporting). I have not been able to find elsewhere
whether any kind of special visa or work permit may be required for this
circumstance. In addition, the Reporter would bring her stenographic
machine (the "writer") with her and would not wish to encounter delays
or penalties. If you have information about "doing business in
Bermuda" where that business is for an American firm, I would greatly
appreciate your insight. Richard Pedersen, Executive Assistant to
Lisa A. DiMonte, L.A.D. Reporting & Digital Videography, A Merrill
Communications Company, Worldwide Court Reporting, Videography,
Videoconferencing and Document Management. One Church Street, Suite 601,
Rockville, Maryland 20850, USA, August 4, 2008.
A Work Permit should always be applied for before anyone who is not Bermudian performs any work or service in Bermuda. (This is stated in our Employment in Bermuda of non-Bermudians).
Your
Bermuda
Online
got it right - as
usual - but Forbes Magazine from right here in the USA is so wrong in this
particular matter! In the Bermuda
Royal Gazette daily newspaper, Business Section, of yesterday Forbes
Magazine was quoted as saying Bermuda was the business jurisdiction of choice as
it had no income tax. Excuse me but it does, it's had it for many years. It does
not call it an income Tax but it is a direct tax on income from employment
for sure, the Bermuda Government tax on income called the Payroll
Tax. See the Bermuda Government's own weblink. Has Forbes Magazine acknowledged its error? Not to my knowledge. Scott R.
Harris, Lachine Court, Upper Marlboro, MD, USA, July 15, 2008.
I
commend you for your wonderful Bermuda
Online
site. My husband
and I dearly love your beautiful island and are blessed to come to
Replied with a website link to the Bermuda Heritage Passport, believed to be still in operation.
On
reading your Bermuda
Online
pages, I came
across the item about television licences. In the UK and Isle of Man, from 1st
April 2008 the cost for a colour set will be £139.50 per year. I don't have a
TV myself, but until recently got a threatening letter, in red ink usually,
about every six weeks. With the aid of an MHK I think I've got those stopped. I
know that one of the teams that go round catching people visited a sheltered
housing complex covered by a blanket licence and intimidated a 90-year-old woman
at 10pm. I have never visited Bermuda as yet; I have the aim to get away from
the Manx winter, which is very dull and windy, to somewhere warmer but not too
warm, maybe in the 60s. But Madeira and Malta sound likely, and cheaper,
candidates! Thank you for providing the pages, they are excellent. John
H Atkinson, Douglas, IM2 5LJ, Isle of Man, July 5, 2008.
I
am an American sailor who has been lucky enough to sail to your wonderful Bermuda
on more than a dozen occasions. While I was there on vacation last week
(a little break after the Newport-Bermuda Race) I was amazed to come to find out
that Bermuda has no plastic recycling facilities. How can this be? I
spent some time touring the BIOS center as well as visiting a number of the
nature preserves and I find it difficult to believe that an island that is so
dedicated to the preservation of its natural resources could possibly have no
way of recycling plastics. I'm sure that this is an issue that's been raised on
more than one occasion, but as a sailor and nature lover I am wondering if there
is anything that I could do to rectify this situation. I am not an
"environmentalist" by training or trade, but I would be more than
happy to do anything I could to help Bermuda retain its natural beauty. I
can't accept the idea that one person cannot make a difference, so please let me
know, if you're able, who I would need to be in contact with to bring this
matter to the attention of those who might be able to do something about it.
Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you. I am a resident of Newport,
RI, USA, hence my deep interest in seeing what I might be able to do among the
local sailing community to rally behind a way to keep Bermuda beautiful. Jay
Sharkey, Newport, Rhode Island, USA, July 2, 2008.
Re
Bermuda
Online
I write from Newfoundland in my capacity as a member of the organizing committee
for the Winterset in Summer Literary Festival, which is held in Eastport,
Newfoundland, on the second weekend in August each year. For our 2009 festival we plan a program reflecting upon the 60th
anniversary of Newfoundland becoming part of the Canada. As part of that
exploration of writing, we plan to invite a writer from each of three other
parts of the British Commonwealth (Scotland, Tasmania, Bermuda) to talk about
the role that national identity and place has in their writing. We
chose Bermuda because of its strong ties with Newfoundland: the Anglican Bishop
of Newfoundland was Bishop of Newfoundland and Bermuda from 1839 until 1919;
several Newfoundland families including the Harveys, the Outerbridges and the
Goslings carried on business and had branches of their families in both places;
the Atlantic fishery; J. B. Hand; Sir Francis Forbes. This, coupled with the
hope of the part of your Keith A. Forbes as a Bermudian writer in 1975 and some Canadian and British politicians that Bermuda
would one day become part of Canada, and its decision to retain separate status
within the British Commonwealth, in effect a small island state going it alone,
make Bermuda an ideal choice to be part of this literary festival. Can you
suggest some writers, preferably fiction writers, whose work lends itself to our
discussions and who might be interested in making the trek north next August?
Any assistance will be greatly appreciated. Yours truly, Bert Riggs, Head, Archives and Manuscripts, Queen Elizabeth II Library, Memorial
University, St. John's NL, AIB 3Y1, Canada, June 27, 2008.
I
always turn to your Bermuda
Online website first for Bermuda information. I read with great interest and increasing
concern the Royal Gazette story of how a Mr. Palmer who died recently
in Bermuda was found to have had his organs missing from his corpse before his
planned burial in the United Kingdom. I'm distressed to learn that no
satisfactory answers seem to have been given to date. Was it done by your
hospital, as there is a standard policy at all hospitals to remove organs
immediately at death or within minutes afterwards, to give them the best chance
of being re-used? Or is there an illegal trade
in body parts in Bermuda? Or has the Bermuda Government quietly both agreed with
and implemented the 2007 plan backed by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown to boost
organ transplant donations by automatically taking organs from the dead, without
the explicit consent of next of kin? If so, is this what folks from the USA can
expect if their mothers or fathers or children die in Bermuda while visiting, to
have remains shipped home minus organs? I gather the policy of "presumed
consent" in Britain means that unless people opt out of the donor
register or family members object ahead on time, hospitals would be allowed to
take their organs. Sir Liam Donaldson, England's chief medical officer, has been
quoted in the British press as saying he too will back the findings of the
British Government's taskforce on organ donation, but wants to go further and
introduce a new system of donation because the shortage of organs is so severe.
Liberal Democrat MP Dr Evan Harris, chairman of the All-Party Kidney Group and a
member of the British Medical Association's Medical Ethics Committee, described
the Prime Minister's support as "good news" for patients, donors and
relatives. He said: "I am delighted that Gordon Brown now backs this plan
after the Government blocked my amendment to the 2004 Human Tissue Act, which
would have introduced the scheme." Junior Health Minister Ben Bradshaw said
the proposals could save thousands of lives and reduce medical costs in the
future. He said he had "no problem" with presumed consent, but
acknowledged that some people did, and that an inquiry was being undertaken into
presumed consent by the Organ Donation Task force which would report back in the
summer. He believes that around one thousand lives could be saved per year as a
result of Government proposals into organ donation, which could also result in a
reduction in medical costs as less people need services such as kidney dialysis.
Hal Anderson, Boston, MA USA, June 20, 2008.
I
have just found your Bermuda
Online
portal web site while looking for information on Bermuda. My father,
General Jack G. Merrell, commanded Kindley AFB in Bermuda from 1949-1951. I just wanted to
have your correct his rank and the spelling of his last name. He retired
as a 4-star general in September 1972 and the last name is spelled MERRELL.
Thanks for updating this information. It is always interesting to find
things like this. I recently found a photo of my Father that was taken
from a flight tower in England during WWII. My husband and I will be visiting
Bermuda this fall. It is my husband's first time there, but I have been
back 4 times since we were stationed there. Thanks for making this correction. Suzanne
Merrell Wright, USA, June 18, 2008.
Re
your Bermuda
Online, I was stationed at the old US NOB (later the US Naval Air
Station) in Southampton between the spring of 1962 and the fall of 1964. My
rank was ETN3 and I worked at the Tudor Hill, Underwater Sound Lab. Commanding
officer was Com Pinning. Frank Morrison was a Master Chief I first worked
with. This past week I returned to Bermuda on a cruise and revisited the base
locations I remembered only to find them closed and barricaded, which was sad
but things change. I have so many good memories and experiences of Bermuda that
will always be with me. I hope someone I was stationed with will contact
me. Gary P. Brown, USA, June 18,
2008.
As
an American, thanks to your excellent Bermuda
Online web pages and your sensitive profile of Bermuda's
veterans, I now believe I understand the difference between our
Memorial Day in May, a hugely emotional experience for many of us, and your
Bermuda Remembrance Day
in November. I'm sure most of my fellow Americans believed you also
have a US-style Memorial Day. I also want to thank you for your tributes in your
US Personnel Based in
Bermuda to our gallant airman, soldiers, sailors, Marines and Coastguard,
many of whom have now died and were commemorated yesterday, Memorial Day, with
much sadness. How truly nice to see them recalled in Bermuda this way. Arthur
Jackson, Augusta, Maine, USA, May 27, 2008.
Re
your Bermuda
Online I think it is appropriate that I link Bermuda and Memorial
weekend together, for it all started with an account of my participation in
a life saving mission flown out of Bermuda on July 21, 1952. The story
appeared in the May 2008 issue of the Air Rescue newsletter. I was the navigator
on an SB-29 which flew 1000 miles out of Bermuda and acted as the Bombardier to
make a night drop of Blood Plasma on the deck of a Swedish freighter to save a
seaman's life. At that time I was a Captain with the Air Rescue Flight based at
Kindley Air Force Base in Bermuda. Because of the story I received two
telephone calls this week from Tom McGrain (navigator) and George Welch
(commander). It had been 57 years since I last spoke to them at Kindley where I
was based from 1951 to 1954 with my wife Rae and my six month old son, Michael.
Two months later we added a boxer pup to the family. Highlight of my tour in
Bermuda was escorting President Eisenhower's aircraft to and from a Bermuda
conference. My wife's highlights were sitting through several hurricanes with
son, Michael., while we evacuated the aircraft to a safe place. The tour
was exciting, the people and scenery were beautiful and friendly and I was
promoted to Major as I was leaving. Now I'm 92 and with Rae, my wife of 60
years live at I retired as Lt. Col. in 1973 after 30 years chock full of
excitement. We raised four children in Louisiana, South Carolina, Massachusetts,
New Mexico, Virginia, Naples, Italy and Utah. I flew 44 missions in WW II and
did a year in Vietnam. I served five years in the Pentagon and a
year in the nuclear test series at Christmas and Fiji Islands. Our best wishes
to the wonderful folks in Bermuda. Hal Susskind, 2602 Deerfoot Trail, Austin,
Texas. May 23, 2008.
Your
Bermuda
Online website is such a gem! It ought to be copied for its
honesty, accuracy, energy and integrity by both all island and mainland
destinations, for giving the whole picture, not just the obvious sales points.
As a UK potential visitor, one who goes regularly to the Chelsea Flower Show,
I'm amazed that Bermuda has never had a garden there. This year, Jamaica is
reaping the benefit with its lovely garden seen by hundreds of thousands of
Chelsea Flower Show visitors as a captive and captivated audience. Barbados has
also been a regular attraction, I believe St. Lucia and Grenada as well. No
wonder they are favourite places for British tourists. Bermuda, perhaps a good
dose of Chelsea Garden Show gardening will help make Bermuda one of the
favourites too, instead of not being listed at all as a favourite place. Kate
Anderson, Palmers Green, London, N13, England, 20th May 2008.
First,
let me say I really appreciate your extensive, amazingly impressive Bermuda
Online website. Wonderful work. Now to my question. I
hope you can help me or at least aim me in the right direction. My wife and I
are avid pedal-bikers/triathletes living in Los Angeles. For our anniversary
this year we're vacationing for a week in Bermuda, coincidentally during the
Tour de France. (My wife grew up spending every summer in Bermuda because her
granddad was a resident.) Do you happen to know if there's a central location on
the island where pedal bike fans will be gathering to watch the Tour de France?
I've been trying to find our though the various Bermuda Cycling and Triathlon
clubs, but haven't had much luck so far. Of course, we'll be able to watch the
Tour at the house we're renting, but we figure it would be much more fun to
watch it at a pub or restaurant with a bunch of fellow rabid enthusiasts. Peter
"Stoney" Emshwiller, Silver Lake Boulevard, Los Angeles, California
90026, USA, May 18, 2008.
Having
studied your particularly informative Bermuda
Online very carefully I write as a prospective professional newcomer
from the United Kingdom offered an opportunity to work in Bermuda, or
Caymans, or Turks and Caicos, or USA in a middle-management capacity for a
Lloyd's underwriter with international offices. I like the prospect of Bermuda
but will not pay customs duties on arrival on my UK-bought laptop, digital
camera, Ipod, mobile phone, clothing and more. I understand some new arrivals in
Bermuda have had to pay more than £250 or $500 on arrival. I gather these costs
would not apply in the Caymans, Turks and Caicos or USA. Are you able to throw
any light on why Bermuda appears to be the only country that applies these
duties on goods on which full UK taxes have already been paid? Lawrence
Bates, Guildford, Surrey, UK, 14 May, 2008.
I
appreciate your Bermuda
Online website & consult it often! One of my books -
(self-published) Pink Sand Poems - is listed in the book section. I
published a second book in 2007 - Bermuda On My Mind - it is also a
collection of poems about Bermuda & I would love to see it listed in the
bermuda-online book section to complement the earlier one. These books are
in the Bermuda National Library & also are carried by A.S.
Cooper's, The Bermuda Art Centre at Dockyard & in Hamilton at Brown & Company
BookMart. Jane Barcroft, Memphis, TN 38117. May 7, 2008.
Your
website about Bermuda
Online has been a wonderful discovery for us. We have linked your
site to ours and want to be sure we have complied with any requirements you have
for such. We have three photos on our site of unknown origin, showing an
abandoned RR station in Bermuda. We would like a comment from someone
familiar with that station to tell us its location and continued existence.
We do not have a date for the photos. Since there is a request on your site for
no attachments with emails, we would like to refer you to the website, listed
below and ask that you go midway down the body of text to find the word Photos
for the link. Thank you for any help you may offer. Mary M. Lehr, 1944 Marsh
Oak Lane, Seabrook Island SC 29455, President, Charleston
Chapter, National Railway Historical Society, April 18, 2008.
Dear
Bermuda
Online. I'm writing from a BBC TV series in the UK called Who Do You
Think You Are?, which traces celebrities' family trees. I'm currently
researching a tree which includes a British Army surgeon who was Principle
Medical Officer to the army in Bermuda in the 1880s. I want to find out whether
he left any trace in Bermuda, although he can only have been there for at most 5
years. But I believe there was a dengue fever epidemic in 1882 which might have
made him more important - or you never know, he might have built a particularly
impressive house! I wanted to run this past you in case you had heard of him, or
could recommend other people/institutions who might have. Here's some more information about him: John Ogilvy, born
Aberdeen, Scotland 1831, died Frimley, Sussex, England 1899. Entered the army in
1853 as assistant surgeon, retired before 1885 with the honorary rank of Surgeon
General. Listed in the Army List as Principal Medical Officer to Bermuda, 1882.
Published 'An Account of Bermuda, Past and Present' 1883. I would be very
interested to hear if you have any leads for me, or any further suggestions as
to where else I should go in Bermuda with this question. Jo Foster,
Researcher, BBC1 Who Do You Think You Are? Tel: + 44 20 7241 9322 * Fax: + 44
20 7267 5292, England, 27 March 2008.
I
really admire what you write in your
Bermuda
Online about your island and am so sorry to hear your legislators are so constantly hostile to your
independent daily newspaper The Royal
Gazette in its search
for news. Even in Britain - not exactly any bastion of democracy despite what it
claims to the contrary - politicians treat the media with respect, not
hostility. Here in the USA, such hostility would be quickly dealt with, by
enforceable laws to prevent that injustice to journalists and their newspapers or other
media. Even when we don't agree with what a newspaper or magazine writes, we
treat it with respect, not hostility. I understand Canada does the same, to be
expected. Your
government needs to be sharply reminded that it owes its bread, butter and jam
to the goodwill of the tourists who visit your shores and the corporations from
the USA, Canada and Britain who have used Bermuda for their corporate
inversions. This is a warning to your politicians, to be circumspect and
civilized to your media from now on
or risk losing the goose that lays your golden eggs. In the jurisdictions
actively competing with Bermuda such as the Cayman Islands, BVI, USVI,
Luxembourg, Monaco, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Channel Islands etc. governments respect human rights and press freedom laws, have more
class and exhibit no such crassness and frankly such blatantly racial unpleasantness.
If Bermuda is to be seen as a civilized and internationally accepted
international tourism and business center it has to abide by internationally
accepted laws governing codes of conduct to the free press by all including
legislators. David
F. Jones, Maiden Lane, Manhattan, New York, USA, March 18, 2008.
Your
Bermuda
Online
website is very well done and I find it very useful. Thank you for your
efforts. I regularly visit Bermuda and will be there again this June,
arriving on a yacht participating in Newport Bermuda Race. It will be my
sixth Bermuda Race. I have been studying the history of Bermuda during The
Second World War the last few years for a novel I'm writing, it will be my
first. I'm looking for some local knowledge to help me get the facts right.
Could you help me find a local historian or a person with good knowledge of
those times, who could help me answer a few details and general questions, in
order to help me more accurately understand those times and events.
I would like to start an email dialog with them and hopefully talk with them in
person when I arrive in June. I have made numerous attempts to contact others in
Bermuda who I hoped would connect me with an eager local historian but all but
one of my emails have gone unanswered over the last five months. I'm very
concerned about getting Bermuda's history accurate for my novel. I
continue to be impressed with the vast effort and sacrifices Bermudians
contributed during the war, as I dive into the details of this part of your
Island's history. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated. Dwight
Jennings, Marblehead, MA, March 13, 2008.
I
was most interested in your Bermuda
Online comment that Bermuda is one of
the nine smallest places in the world, in total land area. 21 square miles
or 53 square kilometers, compared to the USA's 9.629 million square kilometers. I was not sure whether to laugh or weep at your dry comment that on the basis of
departure tax per square mileage of Bermuda, the cost of the Bermuda departure
tax is now $1.66 per square mile. Calculated on the same basis, what do you
suppose would be the reaction of visitors to the USA and citizens each having to
pay $6.359 million dollars in departure taxes? There would be no more visitors
or citizens vacationing beyond our shores. We'd have another revolution!
Winifred
Rogers, America Street, Providence RI 02903, USA, March 1, 2008.
I read with
great interest on your superb Bermuda
Online site and in your Bermuda's Links
with Great Britain how you are expecting a delegation of British Members of
Parliament in March. Also, you reported on the recent Bermuda Government
Budget proposals. Perhaps not in all respects but certainly so in one
major respect, the British MPs should take some lessons from Bermuda in basic
integrity and democracy. I gather your House of Assembly will be debating its
2008-2009 Budget very shortly, over a week or two, which I'm told includes a continuing
grant in a bigger amount for the local branch of Age Concern. In complete
contrast, the Highland Council, our regional Scottish authority covering an area
of well over 4,000 square miles, gave only six days notice of its intentions, to
Highland Councillors only, not the general public. It then cut out completely
its £98,000 (BD$196,000) budget to Age Concern Scotland and rushed all its
budget into one day. Bermuda is generous in Age Concern grants to its senior
citizens compared to the nastiness and lack of democracy, only arrogant,
outrageous and unfair autocracy, of the Highland Council. Please help spread
word of this around. Well done, Bermuda! I hope this truly shames those British MPs
visiting Bermuda including Scots Sir Ming Campbell, MP of Edinburgh. Bertram Forbes,
Inverness, Scotland, February 22, 2008.
I
am writing to thank you for a wonderful Bermuda
Online collection of information on the history, people and beauty
of the island of Bermuda. Your historical files are treasures. On each of my four visits so far to your country I
have never failed to find and enjoy some new adventure. St
George's is my favorite destination (Hi, E Michael Jones) by far, but the other
villages are quickly catching my favor as well. I plan on visiting again this
year, maybe twice. Daryl Brown, Old Town, ME 04428, USA, January 29, 2008.
I
write to congratulate you on your unique set of Bermuda
Online files on the military personnel or units once based in Bermuda. In posting
them you uniquely show aspects of local history and military and social life, of
much interest and value to those once stationed at the former Bermuda military
bases and the friends or family who visited them (as we did). Your files and the memories
and people they invoke give us many reasons to go back to Bermuda on vacation, either
regularly or periodically. Sincerely, Robert A. Blake and family, Providence,
Rhode Island, USA 02903, January 26, 2008.
A
North London resident, I read with great interest in the prominent Daily
Telegraph by columnist Nick Trend an October 20, 2007 article on why travelers
who are already taxed simply for flying out of a British airport have to face
more taxes when they return home. Even £290 (Editor's note, the British
Government's Customs duty-free allowance from 1 January 2008 for residents
returning from North America) won't buy much. Then I read with some horror in
your excellent Bermuda
Online how
Bermuda's Customs duty-free allowance for returning residents is only US$100
(£50) and how so rigorously this is applied in Bermuda that there are customs
duty payment machines at your airport. In case you did not already know this,
there are an increasing number of organizations now world-wide rating tourist
destinations on the quality of their governments based on two things, their
customs duty exemptions for returning residents and the cost to motorists of
petrol at the pumps. Sorry, Bermuda, but you get a failing mark to tourists for
being so mean to your residents. Jonathan Snaith, Palmer's Green, London NI4,
England, January 9, 2008.
Just
wanted to thank you for your website on Bermuda
Online
and mention of the former NAS bases.
I was stationed there for 4 very formative years - married and had a
child there. I lived on the base for 2 years and off base for 2 years – lived
on
It
recently was brought to my attention that in your first Bermuda History file the Susan Constant, one of the three ships that
transported English colonists to Virginia in 1607 is spelled as Susan B.
Constant. This should be with no middle initial. Also, I noticed that
Jamestown is described as the "second permanent English settlement in the
New World." As the chronology mentions, there was an attempt in the
1580s to establish an English settlement in Virginia, but Jamestown, founded in
May 1607, is considered the first permanent English settlement in the Americas.
The Popham colony in Maine was planted later in 1607 and was abandoned in 1608. Debby
Padgett, Media Relations Manager, Marketing and Retail Operations,
Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, P.O. Box 1607, Williamsburg, VA 23187.
November 16, 2007
Editor's note: Corrected, with
thanks.
I
only recently became aware of your excellent and very thorough Bermuda
Online
website.
I had been seeking a resource that would provide information on what might have
happened to Ft. Bell. You provided an extremely complete answer. In 1943 a
street at what was originally Ft. Bell was named for my father, Brig. Gen.
Kenneth N. Walker, and I was curious to learn if any of the original streets
still survived. I realize that’s very unlikely as the airport now occupies
much of that area. In any event, I’ll ask you the question: do any of
Ft. Bell’s infrastructure and/or its streets survive to this day?
Douglas P. Walker, P. O. Box CT 1655, New Canaan, CT, USA, November 12, 2007
Editor's note: Mr. Walker was referred to the Government-owned Bermuda Land Development Corporation, under the jurisdiction of which of all the land once held by the US Military bases in Bermuda is administered.
Your
Bermuda
Online pages generally and golf
page particularly, especially with your history of the sport, have
proved very popular with US golfers. Some of us, who in the past have always
gone to Hawaii to combine it with an exotic vacation, are traveling down to
Bermuda for a few days to see the PGA Grand Slam. We assume that for this event
at least that part of Bermuda, the most magnificent part according to insiders,
the South Shore coastline of Tucker's Town normally closed to all visitors and
residents who don't live in that gated area, will be open to all golfing
visitors as part of the hospitality of your government and Mid Ocean Club. Many
of us want to enjoy the beaches and coastal views from there, in addition to
watching the Grand Slam. Adrian D. Childs, Baltimore, Maryland, USA,
October 14, 2007
Many of us
in the financial arena with offices here in New York, plus London, Paris and
beyond were saddened to read the news reports in our financial newspapers and in
your Royal Gazette newspaper of
what is now happening in Bermuda. Yes, many senior executives are so
concerned about Bermuda's current political climate and work permit problems we
are not just reviewing but planning our Island exit strategies. It is not pre-election
"scaremongering" but a fact. We can relocate off Bermuda as quickly as
we came aboard. Yes, we cite political turmoil and difficulties caused by
work permit time limits and delays in getting applications processed. Also, the
racial attitude of your government is dreadful. A new law to fine companies up
to $50,000 if they block the progress of black Bermudians in the workplace is
racial prejudice with a vengeance, planned by racists. If that Workforce Equity
Act 2007 is legislated to give your Government powers to review and copy corporate
records to investigate compliance, it will be the last straw. Bermuda already imposes
restrictions and controls on our operations, our non-local imported staff, that no other
international business center in the world does. The nasty catalog of concerns
affecting every employee who is not Bermudian not only applies to work permits and
their six-year maximum validity but potentially being denied the use of a
personal automobile; not being able to buy a home at
all; being charged grossly profiteering rents for offices and places to live; being denied citizenship at all unless
non-nationals marry a Bermudian and then only
after 10 years; and their children, if born there, not being citizens unless a
parent is. None of these restrictions apply in the democratic countries. With its horrific costs and
expenses compared to other jurisdictions on our offices and petty
anti-democratic bureaucracy for imported employees on our payroll, Bermuda is no longer nearly as
attractive for corporate inversions as it once was and we are actively seeking
to go elsewhere. A pity, but necessary unless changes of policy, racist
attitudes and petty restrictions are reversed and fast. It is a sad but true business fact of
life, Bermuda is now rapidly becoming an unacceptable domicile of
fast-diminishing returns. It needs far more than a change in government, it
needs a wholesale change of attitude. Bermuda needs all of us who are
internationals far more than we need Bermuda. Charles M.
Taylor, Maiden Lane, New York, September 27, 2007
In
your Bermuda
Online and this well-used Guest
Book, I agree with Mr. Lewis 100% re fine dining on cruise ships as the
single most important reason for going on a cruise ship that merely crawls at
about 23 miles an hour en route to Bermuda. There is no substitute for being
able to go right into a local port where the stores and services are and other
facilities and services are easy commutes. I also agree about Invergordon, in
the UK. Only complete fools would pay US$100 a bottle for premium Scotch that in
Nassau costs less than a third of that as we found out in a trip my husband and
I took to Europe and Scotland including Invergordon last year. With the bus
journey passengers have to take from that miserable 1950s excuse for a port to
get anywhere, it was no surprise so many passengers stayed on board and had good
lunches and dinners for free. Also, trying to rent an automobile there and
paying $2 a liter for gasoline was a real rip-off in a country that is an oil
producer! I would add other things re Bermuda, namely the importance of
duty-free shopping of the type cruise ship passengers can easily get in ports
such as Nassau, Curaçao, Puerto Rico, etc. It would be a huge plus to Bermuda
to have duty-free shopping there. Bermuda, when you make yourself more
accessible to passengers in port services in Hamilton or St. George, shorter
distances for passengers to take less-crowded buses, automobiles for rent and
duty-free shopping, you'll have word-class facilities for cruise passengers. Christine
M. Taylor, Buffalo, New York, September 15, 2007
I
refer to your Cruise Ships
in Bermuda files. Nice piece in your superb Bermuda
Online, the bible of
Bermuda surely! I write on behalf of a large group of like-minded potential
and past cruise ship visitors to Bermuda. We want to be able to dock in Hamilton
or St. George's (winds permitting) as before. It was one of the major
attractions of your very nice city and attractive historic small town to
compensate for Bermuda's high taxes included in cruise ship prices - already
believed to be the highest in the world by far - to be able to stroll off the
ship moored so conveniently close to the sights of Bermuda and walk just a few
hundred yards into stores and sightseeing attractions near and regional, then unhurriedly
make our way easily back to the ship for our breakfasts, lunches and
nice dinners, all paid for in the cost of our cruises. With these incentives
Bermuda had terrific advantages. We don't appreciate, don't want and won't go on
cruises which will no longer go to those ports but to the Dockyard many miles
and at least an hour away each way, journeys which will not enable us to eat
leisurely eat our meals on board at times to suit us and during which we can
plan our trips in comfort but instead make us put up with a standard of Bermuda cuisine probably
not so high and certainly far more expensive, due to long journeys on crowded
buses or expensive taxis or unsafe mopeds or relatively infrequent ferry
boats. Being served elegant meals on board is a key part of the whole cruise ship
experience! We don't accept the rationale that all cruise ships these days are
too big to dock in Hamilton or St. George. Other cruise lines seem to have no
difficulty in obtaining vessels that (a) go alongside cities or towns in the
Caribbean, Central and South America and (b) charge far less than cruises to
Bermuda. If this massive new costly inconvenience in Bermuda is part of the
"contract-ship" deal the Bermuda Government has with major cruise
lines favoring Bermuda then we need to tell the latter and Bermuda we'll go
elsewhere. Bermuda Government Tourism - put Hamilton and St. George back on your
cruise ship ports of call, please, and keep our business, or face the loss of
your cruise ship business through greed. Have more respect for and appreciation
of cruise passengers. Don't turn unique Bermuda into another unnecessarily
expensive and inconvenient Invergordon, Scotland. Charles S. Lewis, Back Bay,
Boston, MA USA, September 7, 2007
You have a great Bermuda
Online site and I visit it often. I was stationed with the 1934th
Communications Squadron in
I
am in the process of creating a website to market the Banana Dolls which I make.
In the process of researching local websites I came across your Bermuda
Online.
I must tell you I was extremely impressed by the vast, up to date and
accurate facts about Bermuda in it. I will have a page on my website called
'About Bermuda' and have decided to put a link to your website on
there. I will let you know when this takes place. While browsing the site I
found to my delight a reference to my doll-making. I hope you do not
mind if I let you know that my name is spelled incorrectly. I spell it the
old-fashioned way, i.e. DEIRDRE FURTADO. (As you know if the spelling
is incorrect you loose search engines picking you up, Horrors!). Thank you and
do keep up this great site. Deirdre Furtado, Hamilton, Bermuda, July 18,
2007.
In
your Bermuda
Online
you were nice enough to link
the perfect vacation spot for my son and I. We just recently returned
from our stay at Munro Beach Cottages and you could not have been more spot on
so we would first of all wish to thank you for that. It is a lovely spot
and I believe one of few resorts where you can enjoy the stunning beauty of the
island without feeling like you are in a large hotel setting. Perfect!!
Unfortunately I'm told the property was sold the day after we left so we can
only hope the new owners will continue with the same unique charm, but we shall
see. The other reason I'm contacting you again is because I was stung by a
Portuguese Man of War. It actually wrapped it's tentacles around my ankle
and I now have a scar that looks like an ankle bracelet : ) I actually was
looking for a shirt that says "I survived the Portuguese Man of War"
ha . . ha. . . but my question is that I'm not sure of the nature of this sting.
I was stung two weeks ago this Friday and the pain subsided over the course of
the day and I felt completely fine the next day. The only remnants were
the scar. At the time I put vinegar on the sting and I was told to swipe
it with a credit card to get the tentacles out which I did. I did not see
any tentacles come out, but they said you will not always see them. So
last night the site of the sting was itchy and I scratched it which caused the
area to become raised and swollen right around the sting. Is this normal?
I'm thinking maybe some tentacles are still in there. I resist going to a
doctor here in the US because they are just not used to seeing this sort of
thing and I'm not sure they could add much care or advice. So what do you think?
Doreen Melillo, Two Gateway Center, 4th Floor, Newark, NJ 07102, July
18, 2007
Thank
you for this valuable service.. It was through this
site I was able to re-connect with my former Sgt at Kindley AFB. I was stationed
at Kindley AFB from June 29, 1967 to June 29, 1969, assigned to the 55th ARRS as
an airborne nav aids repairman. I worked on the C-130H's and the
"base pig" the old WWII C-54 which was always broken and in need of
repair. I was an E-4, married, and lived just outside gate 2 across the
Severn Bridge on Stokes Point Road at Byway Lower. I just visited Bermuda
June 1-4, 2007 for a nostalgic trip. Much has changed but my old Nav Aids shop
building is still there at the base of the cliff upon which the Air traffic
Control tower sits. The island is still very beautiful. Thank you
for this opportunity to re-connect with former buddies. Fred Beyersdorfer,
16202 Kinrush Court, Houston Texas 77095, USA, June 28, 2007
I
have noted with great interest your articles on Senior
Citizens of Bermuda. Why is it that only in
Much
appreciate your Bermuda
Online. Why
is it that Bob Geldof and Bono are so ignorant of economic world affairs? At the G8
leaders conference in Heiligendamm, Bob Geldof called them "creeps"
and denounced their work as a "total farce." "The richest
countries in the world, trillions of dollars swirling around that table, smiling
in that stupid tent chair with the candy stripes. Do me a favour: get serious.
This wasn't serious, this was a farce, a total farce," he said. Bono,
Geldof's fellow rock star and campaigner, accused the leaders of deliberate
"obfuscation" and said the summit's final declaration masked their
failure to reach a consensus on helping Africa. The pair singled out the
Canadian and Italian prime ministers, Stephen Harper and Romano Prodi, for
blocking pledges for more aid. Geldof and Bono and their pathetic ilk should get
real, recognize that the world's richest nations are not the USA or Canada or UK
but Bermuda, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Cayman Islands, etc. When Bermuda goes politically
independent, as many from Bermuda apparently hope, it will surely want to
satisfy the likes of Geldof and Bono and other trouble-causing, carping,
misguided activists. I really resent how those two, purely for their own cheap
personal publicity reasons, have slammed Canada and the G8 in their own ignorance. They should realize how much in aid the G8 countries
already give, despite many global concerns, to the developing world that the world's wealthiest countries in
per capita income and the world's holding-to-ransom principal oil-producing
countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Venezuela, Nigeria, etc. do not. Bob Martin, Toronto, Canada, June 9, 2007.
In your unique stable of Bermuda
Online files, you've done yet another a huge service to all not only
in Bermuda but elsewhere too. So many organizations omit this type of
information yet it is often crucial for the elderly to plan properly where their
assets will go. Organizations such as AARP (American Society for Retired People)
and its counterparts in Britain such as Age Concern, Help the Elderly, etc.
could and should do much more in this area. Sincerest congratulations for your
considerable research and information. My only surprise is that you have to be
Bermudian, but I guess I should not be given your island's very small size yet
very large population per capita that necessitates stricter controls on home
ownership. Roderick Jackson, Grand Junction, CO 81506, USA, May 20, 2007.
With
the sheer quality as well as quantity of your hugely informative Bermuda
Online, I hope that this wish, echoed I am sure by most visitors from
the USA, will bear fruit. You so rightly point out that over 85% of all
Bermuda's tourists come from the USA and Bermuda is deemed to be in the Western
Hemisphere, with the USA, not Canada or Britain or Europe, its closest neighbor
by a huge margin. Why then does your government not insist on showing the price
of gasoline in gallons, not liters? It confuses all Americans on vacation,
especially those who rent scooters. There seems to be a huge inconsistency in
this, after all every one of your stores show their prices in pounds, not grams,
liters or kilos. None of the locals I've met in Bermuda want anything to do with
the metric system. Nor so we as tourists. John Martino, Rhode Island
02903, USA, May 8, 2007.
I
just returned from a wonderful trip to Bermuda. Your Bermuda
Online information was very helpful in preparation, and I'm
enjoying rereading sections now that I have been there. Perhaps it is a
part of the British Honours category that I missed, but where can I find
about initials and titles which I found used frequently in publications and
newspapers? Examples include JP, MP (which I assume is Member
of Parliament although the legislative branch consists of the House of Assembly
and Senate), OBE, MBE, and several others. Also, what is the ranking
("pecking order" to use a slang expression) and duties for persons
called Sir, Lord, Worshipful, Lady, Dame, and others? Thanks for
your assistance. I'm looking forward to my next visit to Bermuda. Frank
Jonasson, USA, May 1, 2007.
Thanks
for a great Bermuda
Online site! I just did a web search for "Bermuda
soil" and found your web site on Bermuda's gardens and noticed that you describe Bermuda soil as being "limestone in
origin." In fact, the majority of Bermuda's soil is derived from
African dust which has been transported via the atmosphere and accumulated over
long time scales of many 10's of thousands of years, particularly during periods
of widespread glaciation (ice ages). There are minor inputs to the soil from the
local geology and decaying plant matter. Regards, Dr. Andrew J. Peters,
Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS), Ferry Reach, St. George's GE01,
Bermuda, April 25, 2007.
Macmillan
Education are publishing the above new schools book for Bermuda and I have been
trying to obtain hi-res images of the following for reproduction inside. I have
tried several contacts at The Royal Gazette but am having difficulties obtaining
even low- res images for selection purposes.
I
wonder if you have any of the following image or any contacts who may have:
1. Any picture showing Bermudan (sic) children (or failing that, adults)
cleaning up a marine environment.
2. Guy Fawkes fireworks display in Bermuda.
3. A house (or houses) in Bermuda decorated with Christmas (i.e. fairy)
lights.
4. Some people carrying out the Bermudan (sic) New Year's Eve custom of
onion dropping.
5. Some Bermudan people voting in an election
6. The interior of Sessions House, the Bermudan (sic) Parliament, showing
some MPs debating.
7. Some people on a nature walk in Bermuda
Ginny Stroud-Lewis, Macmillan Education, UK, 17th April 2007
Editor's comment: I can help you with anything contained in the 125+ files of Bermuda Online but not, I regret with your enquiries. Suggest that for your new educational schools book on Bermuda you ask Bermuda's Ministry of Education. It would be the central clearing house for getting all the requested photos from government entities and consents from other organizations. There is not, and never has been, any word "Bermudan" (no matter what the Oxford Dictionary claims incorrectly) - the correct word is Bermudian, like Canadian, Floridian, Grenadian, etc. There are no Guy Fawkes fireworks in Bermuda and have not been for 50 years. I'm a Bermudian but have never heard of onion dropping. (Bermudians are referred to locally as onions). Good luck in your quest, hope the Ministry of Education can help.
When
visiting Bermuda in March we shopped at Dockside Glass in St. George's and
inadvertently left our credit card and a few other cards behind after we
purchased a rum cake. We spoke with Ann Stewart, the manager, and she
promptly airmailed our cards back to us. I had wanted to alert the Chamber
of Commerce and the Tourism Board about this wonderful, honest citizen but
could not find either site on your web page. So, please pass on the
information to the powers that be that we were very grateful for Ann's honesty.
The world would be a better place if there were more individuals like Ann
Stewart. Linda Chapman, Rupert, Vermont USA, April 17, 2007.
Editor's comment: Bermuda Online (BOL) will gladly return the courtesy link to organizations that link to BOL.
I
read in your superb Bermuda
Online about
how Zoom Airlines expect to start services between London Gatwick and Bermuda on
8th June. That's good. But it is not good that Zoom says on its
website that "our toll free numbers are
I
read in your excellent Bermuda
Online site and so did my elderly friends originally from Bermuda who
came to live here in Florida, how Bermuda driving licenses are so
restrictive to senior citizens compared to Florida and I gather all other US
states too, plus Britain, Canada and Europe. Please tell your authorities that
they should not prejudice against seniors in the way they do by making them take
a medical after they become 65 to continue their driving licenses, and also
restricting the time of their renewals after the medicals. We are in the
American Society of Retired People believe this attitude of your government is
wrong, should be discontinued, is not an inducement to seniors to visit your
island and if not corrected should form the basis of an AARP report. Helen C.
Armstrong, Miami, Florida, April 5, 2007.
Your
Bermuda
Online website is the most detailed and organized site I have seen.
Your updating daily for key topics was a big plus as well. I have physical
limitations with walking, and your information regarding Bermuda and
the handicapped was extremely helpful. Your cross references and subject
names to refer to were absolutely marvelous. We will be first-time visitors to Bermuda, and
traveling also for the first time by cruise, using Royal Caribbean. So
far, we have not chosen a date, but are leaning towards going in May. This was a
gift to us from my husband's parents for all our efforts in helping them, as
well as our dealing with the physical difficulties of my elderly
parents (91 and 95 years old), who now are in a nursing home and receiving
good care that I was no longer capable of doing for them. With a sincere
thank you and best wishes. Jean Baker, USA, March 25, 2007.
I
recently (and happily) discovered your site. My family was stationed in
Bermuda. An article about us
appeared in the Royal Gazette around the last week of May 1961. Following is
information re my father’s assignment in
I've
noted with some dismay from reports in The
Royal Gazette how many thefts have occured from hotels and other guest units
in Bermuda in recent months and how the Bermuda Police won't identify them.
In contrast, here in the USA, in all States, the State Police must reveal such
details of who, what and where the premises and locations are and I believe the
Mounties in Canada, the 47 Police services in Britain and those in the European
Union are required to do so as well. I believe Bermuda should do the same
in view of the importance of its main industries, international business and
tourism. We need and have a right to know the information omitted. Please pass
this on to your authorities in the hope they will bring Bermuda up to
international standards in this respect. John Macdonald, Dorchester, Boston,
MA, February 4, 2007.
I
write to say how much I appreciate your year-round Bermuda Weather statistics in
your outstanding Bermuda
Online site. You provide a weather and information service that
the United Kingdom's otherwise good Daily Telegraph service does not provide for
Bermuda, and should. I recommend this be looked into by the UK people who
promote Bermuda Tourism. I find it amazing that in its Holiday Weather, the
Telegraph does not mention Bermuda at all but reports the weather in Algarve,
Athens, Bahamas, Barbados, Cape Town, Corfu, Costa Blanca, Costa del Sol, Crete,
Cyprus, Dordogne, Eilat, Hawaii, Jamaica, Los Angeles, Madeira, Majorca, Malta,
Mauritius, Miami, New York, Paris, Rhodes, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, San Francisco,
Sardinia, Seychelles, Sicily, Sydney, Tenerife, Venice and Wellington. James
Robertson, York, England, January 28, 2006.
I'm
hugely appreciative of and constantly amazed by your excellent and invariably
accurate, up-to-date and uniquely comprehensive Bermuda
Online site.
Could you please suggest to your tourism officials that they copy your accuracy and use you as a source? When it's officials
claim in their blurb on Bermuda that there are 10,966 flights a week from
Bermuda, they are so way off base that it is laughable. Right now, I reckon there are
only 16 to 18 flights of scheduled commercial aircraft a day coming and the equivalent
number going. That makes 252 flights a week in total, not 10,966 a week. Sincerely,
John T. Anderson, Philadelphia, PA, January 18, 2007.
Enjoyed
reading Bermuda
Online. I was stationed there with the 303rd Air
Refueling Squadron from 1956 into 1959 (3 year tour). Our family was
started with our two children being born in the new Kindly AFB Hospital
Steven March 22 1957 and Sandra March 8 1959. Your article states that the
303rd formed there in 1960. I am not sure of the date of the activation of
the unit but it was fully operational when my wife and I arrived in July 1956.
We had a wonderful time living on your island and enjoying the Bermudians.
We lived in Normar Cottage next to Captain Stan Burns the Harbor Master.
The 303rd ARS is planning its final reunion in Colorado Springs September 22,
2007. I would like to post your article for all to read. Could I be
of assistance in providing you with accurate dates of operation for my old unit?
Again congratulations on a very interesting piece of research. I look
forward to our future communications. Troy L. Hanson
Lt.Col. USAF, Retired. Colorado Springs, CO, USA, January 12, 2007.
Your
correspondent Mr. Watkinson is so right. I too read about this in your superb Bermuda
Online, my bible on Bermuda.
Normally from Aberdeen in Scotland but based for a while at Inverness, I have to
fly from there to London Gatwick on 21 February. British Airways have issued
me an e-ticket showing fare details of GBP 54.00 for the round-trip
non-refundable INV LGW fare + Tax/Fee/Charge GBP 97.80 = GBP 151.80. Merely
for this domestic journey, the taxes are now nearly three times the fare! It is
outrageous! Because my oil company has an insurer based in Bermuda and I'm on
standby to go there from Gatwick, I enquired what the least it would cost a day later.
Fare Details: GBP 468.00 + Tax/Fee/Charge GBP 258.80 = GBP 726.80.
I don't want to buy British Airways, I just want a decent and competitive fare,
not a total British Government rip-off on the taxes over and above an already
inflated fare compared to other destinations such as Barbados and Jamaica much
further away than Bermuda but less expensive in overall fares and taxes to get
to than Bermuda because there is only one airline going there, unlike in
Barbados, Jamaica. etc. I hope the dammed Labour Government of Westminster but
not Scotland disappears for good into the haar soon and that the next government
will pledge to lower taxes hugely to consumers and travellers or they don't get
my vote. Edgar Corbett, Aberdeen, Scotland, 12 January 2007.
I
have been looking at your very comprehensive and impressive Bermuda
Online website on all aspects of Bermuda. I would love to
learn more about what went on in cable and postal censorship during World War
II. The reason for this is that both my parents worked on this in Bermuda during
this period (Reginald & Vera Buckley, nee Bidston, British) and while we
have a few photos of their life there, very little else has survived. They are
now both dead and my sisters and I would love to know more about what they
actually did there and how they lived (It is possible one of my sisters may
actually visit Bermuda later this year). If you know of a website, book or
individual who could provide us with more background on their life in this time,
I would be very grateful. Kind regards, Peter Fraser Buckley, London,
England, 12th January 2007.
As a prospective UK visitor, I was really dismayed to read in your Bermuda Online how Chancellor Gordon Brown of the UK has now made it more expensive than ever to fly to Bermuda, by doubling - not just increasing it with the rate of inflation - the Air Passenger Duty (APD). I agree fully with William Walsh, CEO of British Airways that this just another UK Government rip-off, a UK Government revenue-raising measure with no direct environmental benefit, instead of being used in full on emissions-reducing renewable projects to offset airlines' emissions. I hope Mr. Walsh gets huge publicity internationally for noting that Chancellor Brown's latest rip-off tactics will now make BA passengers (those to Bermuda must now pay an additional £40 ($80) each way to Bermuda), cough up more than four times the cost of offsetting the CO2 emissions from the airline's entire world-wide fleet of aircraft. John Watkinson, London WC2 7RH, England, 8th January 2007.
I'm
writing you at 1:15 am on Jan.2 because I had trouble sleeping so I decided to
Google Summerhaven and managed to find the link for your report on Bermuda's
accessibility and services for the handicapped and disabled. I'm 19 years old
and did community service at Summerhaven in my senior year at Mount Saint Agnes
Academy. Living close to John Smith's Bay, I've always been aware of
Summerhaven's existence but was never exposed to any of the personalities who
lived there. I befriended many residents while doing the mandatory year long
service but felt as if my service there was unfinished. The facilities there
were less than admirable and while noticing injustices, it became apparent to me
that this issue of less than ideal conditions for the physically disabled was an
island wide problem with no visible solution to it. It's embarrassing to think
that an island that prides itself in economic and political advancement is
capable of being satisfied with less than efficient facilities for the least of
their own. Aren't we, as members of a community, responsible for ensuring
equalities for those incapable of doing so? Is there a logical explanation to
why the physically disabled are denied public transportation or the ability to
enter a recently built building if necessary? In terms of feedback from you,
Sir, I'm not looking for direct answers for these questions but would like to
hear from you if you have any suggestions for me in terms of involvement
with an organization, charity, or colleagues who have the same concerns as I do
regarding this situation. Even if you are willing to do an interview or share
some advice, I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm currently attending Brock University
in St.Catherine's, Ontario, Canada and am due to fly back on Saturday, January 6
but I'm keen on being heavily involved during the summer if I can do enough
research on topics concerning ideal physically handicapped conditions. Thanks
again for your in-depth research posted online. It was informative, honest and
useful. May this new year be prosperous for you. Sincerely, Tiago
Garcia, 8 Talbot Lane, Smith's, HS01, Bermuda, 2nd January 2007.
I am writing to request your advice about doing historical research in Bermuda. I am a professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and have focused my research and writing on modern French history. I am beginning a book project that examines the islands of the French Caribbean, particularly Martinique, in the decades following the Second World War, after these islands voted to become regular Departments of France. In the course of my research it has become clear that this project would be enriched greatly by a comparative approach that would include perspectives from a former colony of Great Britain that is still an integral part of the United Kingdom. I have spent some time at the National Archives in Kew looking at files on Bermuda from the Colonial Office, and now would like to pursue my research in Bermuda itself. I have been very impressed with the Bermuda Online website you have created, and have profited from looking through your numerous entries on Bermuda's history, as well as other links to organizations and resources. I have telephoned and e-mailed the Bermuda Government Archives, but so far have not received a response as to their holdings, opening hours, or holidays. If you would be able to suggest any specific person for me to get in touch with there or could offer any advice on undertaking this project, I would greatly appreciate it. I imagine you get many requests, so I apologize in advance for this imposition. Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely, Kristen Stromberg Childers, Philadelphia, PA, December 27, 2006.
I
wanted to write you a note to say thank you. Bermuda
Online has been
very helpful for me, even prior to moving to the island. What a great
resource! Thanks again and perhaps we will run into each other at our favorite
watering hole!. In fact it would be my pleasure to meet you in person! James
Laitinen, Account Executive, CCS Group Ltd, Mintflower Place, 8
Par-La-Ville Road, HM 08, Bermuda, December 7, 2006.
Compliment appreciated, thank you.
I
have read with great interest your amazing and detailed Bermuda
Online website
and I was wondering if you could advise me as to whether there is yet a
committee or organization charged with celebrations of the 400th
anniversary (in 2009) of the settlement of
As
the widow of one of the former soldiers of the British Army who served in
Bermuda for a specified time, I write to to thank you unreservedly for your
superb and sensitively written web pages, which my granddaughter printed out for
me, on the British Army in
Bermuda, Bermuda War
Veterans and history
of Bermuda during the Great War and World War 2. They were particularly
poignant reading during our Remembrance Day ceremonies in London and in every
village, town and city in Britain. It's nice to know you take the time and
trouble to acknowledge them and the roles they played in the British Army, Royal
Navy, Merchant Navy and Royal Air Force in your article. In sincere
appreciation, Mrs. Sally Turnbull, Palmer's Green, London, November 15, 2006.
As a US citizen I commend your Bermuda Online for allowing constructive criticism of Bermuda and encouraging far more interesting comments on your Guestbook than just the usual tourism hype. Congratulations for having a measured, responsible, independent and responsive website. I agree completely with the US Department of State and your own assertions that all Americans going to any foreign country, including Bermuda, by air or cruise ship, should have valid passports. It has always amazed me that some of my fellow citizens are dumb enough to believe that driver's licenses or certified copies of birth certificates should be sufficient. I have to say that some recent developments in Bermuda have discouraged me from coming back to Bermuda. One is the constant harping and carping about political independence in Bermuda by natives. The main reason we Americans come to Bermuda is because you are British. It makes you a class act compared to the Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica, Mexico, etc. You are not being held back in any way by the United Kingdom. It may be a sadly flawed country in many ways - such as in the compulsory TV Licensing per household of $260, the same rate as for hotels and with a huge penalty for non-compliance - but overall it has far less flaws and more political, religious, work permit and other freedoms than most, including Bermuda itself. When far bigger places like Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and Quebec in Canada, to name but a few, are not actively seeking independence, why is Bermuda? To add even more costs to residents and visitors? Bermuda is already hugely over-taxed by your government and this reflects greatly in the costs to visitors of goods and services. Another is the disclosure your government is so stingy in customs duty-free allowances to returning natives and visiting tourists, especially when compared to less wealthy jurisdictions that are far more generous. A third is the disclosure from US judicial sources Bermuda is the principal tax haven of concern and worry to the average American. I'm no bleeding liberal Democrat, normally a conservative Republican interested in the November House of Representatives election yet I firmly believe the US Bermuda Tax Act must be repealed by the USA. We Americans must immediately amend our tax laws to create far more tax incentives in the USA, far fewer anti-trust provisions and far less legal bureaucracy to attract back, make welcome and retain those companies that have established themselves in the tax havens. The time for corporate inversions in tax havens is over. It is an insult to all tax-paying Americans that we should allow ourselves to issue tax exemptions and tax freedoms to US corporations that want to have their conventions outside the USA in tax havens. We need to re-establish the industries we once had. I belong to the all-party group pressing for this. It is high time justice replaced injustice. I hope you will publish this comment. Simon Martino, East Providence, Rhode Island 02915, USA, November 1, 2006.
As
a UK citizen who likes to travel as frequently as I can and write about it,
I was extremely interested in your Bermuda
Airport file and your cheerful disclosure on how much easier and less
bureaucratic it is to enter the USA from Bermuda than from the UK or Europe. I
believe it is a fact that the Bermuda Tourism authorities should use to good
advantage here in the UK, where there is no travel promotion at all for Bermuda
in any of the better newspapers I get. Not at all a compliment to Bermuda though
is how mean your government is in Bermuda Customs duty-free allowances to
visitors and residents compared to what is allowed here in the UK both from EU
and non-EU countries. I understand the duty-free allowance, instead of
increasing as it has in USA and Europe in recent years, has dropped from $400
when I was last in Bermuda in the 1980s to $100 now, with a 30% Customs Duty
rate on any excess. In comparison, it is $800 in the USA, with a 10% duty rate
on any excess! Yet Bermuda, according to the World Bank, not the USA, is the
world's most affluent country in per-capita income! I also have to say that I
think the USA is dead-wrong, highly discriminatory and actively pursuing an
anti-tourism policy in allowing very small numbers of people from Bermuda, the
Bahamas and Canada to enter the USA so easily from their countries but creating
such monstrous mayhem, bureaucracy and huge queues for millions of visitors to
the USA from the UK and European Union countries at US Immigration on their
arrival in the USA. In my view and those of hundreds of thousands from the UK
and European Union countries, the special pre-clearance facilities at Bermuda,
Bahamas and Canada should cease unless the USA can provide the same in its best
friend in the world, the UK and the USA's other NATO and European allies. Surely
they are far more important to the USA's economy and well-being than the small
tax havens of Bermuda and the Bahamas or the Canadians. Jonathan Smythe,
Islington, London, England, October 22, 2006.
I
often recommend your website Bermuda
Online to
tourists and students alike as it contains such great information! In
my ‘unofficial’ opinion, as I am not writing on behalf of the Bermuda
National Library but as a fellow researcher, it is a wonderful online resource. A
small correction for the Public Service Commission (PSC) entry – the PSC
legislation is found within the Bermuda Constitution Order 1968 – section 81.
(Ref: information located within the Government
Boards listing on your website). Thank you for helping promote
Thank
you so much for reporting in your excellent Bermuda
Online web site and Airlines
Serving Bermuda web file that British Airways charges tourists based in the
UK and wishing to go to Bermuda double the fares of those living in Bermuda and
wishing to come to the UK. I too have done a comparison of airfares on the
BA web site and you are perfectly correct. Bermuda's Tourism Minister Dr. Brown
performed a valuable public service in bringing this to the attention of the
press. Unfortunately, British Airways has not corrected the situation. If
corrected, it might help considerably to raise Bermuda's image as a nice place
to go for Britons and Europeans instead of being perceived as far more expensive
to go than anywhere much further away in the Caribbean. This may be the main
reason why Bermuda is never mentioned as a travel destination in the UK
newspapers. Let us hope that another UK-based airline will give BA come
competition and cause fares to Bermuda for UK tourists to be reduced hugely. Kate
Stanton, London SW1, England, August 15, 2006.
Your
web file on Citizenship
in Bermuda was most interesting and was duly confirmed by the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office (FCO) in London. It may interest you to know that
from the information I received from various people connected with the Island
Games, the facts reported re citizenship and eligibility in Bermuda for
participation as an athlete were the main reasons the Isle of Wight, not
Bermuda, received the nod as an upcoming Games venue. But when Bermuda allows
law-abiding Britons, Americans, Canadians, Europeans and others on Work Permits
to obtain citizenship if they wish in 5 years, or 3 years if their spouses are
local citizens, and allows them to qualify automatically as citizens if they are
born there irrespective of nationality of parents, then many of us will be very
happy to visit Bermuda as an Island Games host. In the meantime, we were shocked
to discover that Bermuda no longer gives citizenship at all to anyone not born
there unless they marry a local citizen, and then after 10 years (not 3 years as
is the case in USA, Canada, UK, Europe, etc); or to anyone born there unless a
parent is a citizen. John Thompson, Newport, Isle of Wight, England, July 15,
2006.
A
quick note to introduce myself and to say thank you for your excellent Bermuda
Online site.
I’ve just taken up the role of e-Government director. We’ve moved here from
the
I
was looking at your Bermuda
Music file listed on your fine Bermuda
Online website. I just wanted to let you know it was really
helpful and thank you for listing my father Jay Fox as one of the
I
sincerely appreciated your informative web pages on
Bermuda Online and on
Bermuda's accessibility
and services for handicapped and disabled. Last summer my
husband and I celebrated our 20th anniversary on this lovely island. Next month
we are taking our entire clan...2 sets of grandparents and my three children,
the youngest of which is physically disabled. Joshua will be 11 years old next
month. He was born with spina bifida and is restricted for the most part to a
wheelchair. Although the voyage to Bermuda on Royal Carribean's Explorer,
I suspect will be mostly accessible, I was disappointed to read that Bermuda has
no formal accessibility standards such as the A.D.A. in the States. After
reading your web page, it sounds as though the ferry and the taxicabs are the
best modes of transportation around the island. We really wanted to visit
Horseshoe Bay again. I remember them having lounge chairs & rafts to
rent, but wasn't sure if they had beach wheelchairs. I tried doing a
search on the net for such a rental and could not come up with anything. You
mentioned Shelly Bay as a somewhat handicapped accessible beach, however, we
loved the rock formations at Horseshoe Bay. Is Shelly Bay just as
picturesque? I realize if there are not any beach wheelchairs, we will
have to carry Josh and his wheelchair (hopefully only a few feet) down to the
waters edge. (Thank goodness my older sons are going...15 & 17 years of
age!) Is there any more you can tell me about the beaches and accessibility? Are
you familiar with Snorkel Park at Kings Wharf-Dockyard. Is this somewhat
accessible by wheelchair. Our older boys would like to go snorkeling and
frankly, if its right off the beach, I can't imagine why Josh couldn't put on a
floatation device and go snorkeling with us! Another issue is the glass
bottom boat cruises. Do you know if they have a ramp to allow wheelchairs
to go onboard? Josh, being 11, is only 65-70 lbs, so I guess he could also
be lifted into the boat first, and then his chair. Again, any additional
information you could tell me would be most sincerely appreciated as it's hard
to find anything on the web (besides your wonderful web page!) on disability
access. Thank you for advocating for the disabled. Sincerely, Kim
Gladfelter, USA, June 26, 2006.
I write from Texas to say how amazed I am with and thankful for the caliber, quantity and quality of Bermuda Online. No other country in the world seems to have its equivalent. The depth and detail in it is phenomenal. It covers accurate aspects about Bermuda no other Bermuda website seems to have, in a truly honest portrayal. What gives it an additional panache is your extraordinary coverage from inception to conclusion of the former American military bases and comments from thousands of US Military Personnel once stationed there. On behalf of all Americans, thank you so very much, we all most grateful. I'm recommending your site for an international award. James D. Williams, Amarillo, Texas, USA, June 6, 2006.
I
read with great interest the Royal
Gazette stories on the visit of your Premier and his entourage to Washington
DC. As one of the many who have long been dissuaded from wanting to visit
Bermuda by many commonly known things about Bermuda, I sincerely hope they were
included in the agenda for discussion and abolition in the Capitol, to help make
Bermuda more savory to discerning American visitors. I will start with your
citizenship system, wherein you allow individuals in to work on Work Permits,
sometimes for decades, but won't allow them to have the basic human right of
citizenship at all if they don't marry a local, and then only after 10 years. In
complete contrast, lawful newcomers to the USA (and all the democratic countries
worldwide, including in all the countries of the Caribbean, but excluding
Bermuda) can obtain full citizenship in 5 years and 3 years if they marry an
American or local in their country. In some other parts of the world, such as
Grenada, Australia and New Zealand, full citizenship for lawful immigrants are
granted in 3 years. Also, no wonder Bermuda is so hugely expensive to visitors,
when you have 35 extremely well-paid by world standards legislators and 11
senators in only 21 square miles. And why is the Bermuda Government, when
Bermuda has to import virtually everything, so dreadfully mean to its own
returning locals and all visitors in allowing only $100 of merchandise
Customs-duty-free, then a 30% duty on top of that, when we here in the USA allow
$800 duty-free, then only a 5% duty? The World Bank here in DC says Bermuda is
the richest country in the world in income per capita. It should show it,
instead of its government acting as if it is one of the poorest and needs to
bleed its citizens and visitors. Surely the State Department's US Consul General
in Bermuda knows these things, or does he have chronic blinkered vision?
As Britain is obviously so undemocratic too, and continues to allow such abuses,
the only logical course left to your government is to plead with the USA to
become American and more democratic, instead of considering political
independence from Britain. I just hope you are democratic enough to publish
this. Michael A. Thompson, Georgetown, Washington DC, USA, May 24, 2006.
Re Bermuda Books, and your fine inclusion of my comprehensive book on all aspects of fishing in " Fishing in Bermuda," many thanks for making the correction of my surname to FAIELLA. I find the Bermuda Online web site absolutely invaluable in every way, and of great interest, in researching information for the books I write/edit. Graham Faiella, 5 Newton Rd, Wimbledon, London SW19 3PJ, UK. May 10, 2006.
Is your Bermuda Online too fair on Bermuda? I lived in Bermuda for four years and a more corrupt regime I have not seen anywhere on the planet. I have lived in many countries and done business in most. I cannot think of a less regulated, more one sided business regime for Bermuda residences over all others than Bermuda! Charles D. Flynn, 405 Kings Road, Chelsea, London, SW10 0BB, UK. April 27, 2006.
Your
incredibly impressive Bermuda Online
sites are a veritable plethora of fascinating Bermuda-ilia are on the web.
They are like a never ending succession of interlocking Aladdin’s caves, each
of them so jam-packed with goodies even more exciting than the last that one
scarcely knows where to begin or end. From my standpoint I now realize that you
are the one and only man for me to approach to ask if you would possibly be kind
enough to try to help me with my enquiry. I do hope you will be able to. I have
been commissioned to research and write the history of a Victorian Royal Navy
officer, one William David Jeans, who from 1845 – 1853 was Secretary
successively to Vice Admiral Sir Francis Austin, KCB, Vice Admiral Sir Thos.
Cochrane, GCB and Vice Admiral Sir George F. Seymour, GCH, as
Commanders-in-Chief the North American & West Indies Station. Amongst W.D.
Jeans’s effects we have come across the drawing of a building which, thus far,
it has not been possible for us to identify. Originally we thought it might be
the
It could be the 1850s Admiralty House building in Pembroke Parish, demolished decades ago.
This
is an exceptional Bermuda website.
I must have spent over an hour looking at the links yesterday, and went down all
of the beaches listed as well as the senior information. Your site is
incredibly comprehensive and is very matter-of -fact when it comes to issues
confronting the citizens of Bermuda, and a comparison of those challenges to the
benefits of, and obstacles to living in other countries. I was interested in the
whole wastewater treatment issue too. I can see how no one wants this as a
neighbor, but frankly, there are worse things, like a coal fired power plant.
I have to figure that "grey-water" recycling is already in place and
has gone to its maximum usage there to reduce municipal flow. As to the
restaurant grease - well that sounds pretty heinous in the way it's described.
Anyway, I also found, thanks to you, a website on "kindermusic" which
is run by a local music teacher. Should be of great interest to my sister
who teaches the same age groups, and I'm sure that I will be back to your site
many more times to read all of those related links. Thanks for the courtesy of
your prompt response. Skip Pearre, Gray & Associates, LLC,
410-539-7901. Baltimore, MD, 12th April 2006.
I
am going to be one of the many cruise ship passengers in Bermuda in June, and
I've had a lot of fun looking at your Bermuda
Online website this morning. Here's my question - Are there any
hotels that accept day visitors to use the beach, restaurant, and rest rooms?
I'd gladly pay for it. I'm coming with older relatives in their late 70's
and '80's, and beach access without these items is something that will deter
them from leaving the ship. My only alternative is to book a hotel room
for the two nights that we are in Hamilton, and I'm sure that any hotel limits
the number of guests per room. Now, my parents may have friends there already as
we are from Baltimore, but I am trying to be the good son here and come up with
a plan B in case their plan A falls through. Our ship arrives in Hamilton
for the 27th and 28th. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Skip
Pearre, Gray & Associates, LLC, 410-539-7901, Baltimore, MD, April
10, 2006.
Am much enjoying browsing in Bermuda Online - was born and brought up in Bermuda, in St George's. Brings it all back! John M Stow, Somerton, Somerset, England. April 7, 2006.
Thank
you for Bermuda Online!
My love affair with Bermuda began in April of 1938, when my Mother, Father and I
arrived aboard the cruise ship 'Reina Del Pacifico.' My parents had a head
caretakers' position on Tucker's Island. Those years were truly fantastic
to a 9 year old girl, it didn't take me long to get over my homesickness for
England, I was in a brand new world, and even though there were no other
children on the Island, I was never lonesome, for companions I had a gorgeous
Great Dane - Caesar - a dear Welsh Corgi - Millie - and a cantankerous
small donkey, - Jack - complete with small cart, to me that was heaven on earth.
We lived there until about six months after the War broke out, and when my Dad
discovered the English Navy considered him to old the rejoin the Navy, he
applied, and was accepted into the Police force on the Dockyard. We lived at
first on Boaz Island, then moved to Victoria Row on Ireland Island. Dad
advanced in the Police Force, in fact he ended up as Police Commissioner of the
English section, maybe some one who reads this may remember him - his name
was A.V. Curnock, or as his friends called him, 'Dick." My mother
worked at the grocery store on Ireland Island, as cashier, then later in one of
the offices up at HMS Malabar as a typist. Me, well I went to school,
first at Sandy's Grammar school in Somerset, then HMS Dockyard school on Ireland
Island, then Bermuda Commercial school near Southampton and finally The Bermuda
High School outside Hamilton. Yes, I have a love affair with Bermuda, and always
will, both my parents are buried at St James in Somerset, so I will always be
connected to that lovely Island. My name then was Averil Curnock), I live in a
small Oklahoma town and yes, I still get homesick, even as old as I am. Averil
Cawthon, Enid, Oklahoma, USA, March 21, 2006.
What
a great job you do with your Bermuda
Online web pages, my only complaint
is that one thing leads to another and I spend far too much time reading them! I
have certainly learned things I didn’t know. Could
I ask you to make a few small changes to the 2006 references you make of the
Garden Club. For your information the dates
for the 2007 Open Houses and Gardens are April 25, May 2, 9 and 16. Kind
regards, Janet L Owner, President,
The Garden Club of Bermuda, 6th March 2006.
Changes made as requested,.
Your
Bermuda Online web site is
wonderful! It's everything we've always wanted to know about Bermuda, but were
afraid to ask. We do have a question for you, though. We are going to be in
Bermuda at the St. George's Club as of Saturday, March 4th. We would like to
bring some dry foods with us, namely, cereal, coffee, pancake mix and such. Is
there any restriction? Any help you can give us would be a great help. Thanks so
much, Maria & Tom Felten, Long Island, NY, February 28, 2006.
Bermuda does not usually prohibit visitors from bringing in such dry foods for their vacation or charging them import duty on them.
My
wife and I have visited Bermuda 5 times in our 25 years of marriage so far
and plan on visiting as often as possible in the future. We used your Bermuda
Online website this past year when planning our 25th Anniversary and
found it very useful in searching for accommodation. We had cruised to Bermuda
twice and stayed in hotels (Castle Harbour in 1978 and Sonesta in the late 1980s
but I really believe that the rental property we found on your website fitted us
like a glove. Situated in Southampton Parish we were able to visit all the
beaches we so love in only a 5 or 10 minute drive on a moped. I'm not
saying that there are no good hotels in Bermuda but for us we think
this was our best stay. We visited Dockyard for the music festival and also
travel to the Swizzle Inn for lunch one day. Bermuda is our favorite
vacation spot and we have been to many isles of the Caribbean. The
short flight from Boston left at 9:00 am and you can be on the beach by 1:00
pm. Thanks for the all the good information and history. I just read your
article on Mark Twain. I
think he might have been right when he joined in to try banning of the automobile
in Bermuda, although they are not nearly as dangerous as the mopeds that seem to
have a fatality every time we're there. We are very careful driving to the
beaches on ours and rarely drive them at night. I still would suggest renting
one to any visitors as it does afford some independence getting around even
though the transit system is very good in my opinion, just a little
confusing for first- time visitors and the taxis are expensive to take on a
regular basis. Kevin & Mary Jo Richards, Massachusetts, USA, February
20, 2006.
We
have gone into your Bermuda
Online website and have found so
much valuable information. My husband and I will be traveling to Bermuda for
our first time in mid-June. The one thing we can't seem to find is the
dress attire for most restaurants. We understand that the finer restaurants require
Smart Casual but we don't really know what that means and if there is a more
casual dress attire that is acceptable for the typical sandwich/pizza restaurant
during the day while site-seeing. Can you help to clarify this for us?
Thanks. We look forward to our trip. Becky
Bouton, King, North Carolina, USA. January 23, 2006.
Your
Bermuda Online is
head-and-shoulders above any other Bermuda website for providing information for
professional newcomers from Canada - where I am from - or USA or UK or Europe.
So often, recruiters give you information to lure you, but don't give the whole
picture. You do, in your Employment
in Bermuda for Non-Nationals, Newcomers
to Bermuda and other files. You give facts and figures galore and balance
them well so that newcomers know and have a much more complete idea of what to
expect. Through you, I'd like to suggest to your motor vehicle authority that
because Bermuda is advertised as the world's premier international business
jurisdiction, Bermuda scrap its present requirement that a newcomer get a local
driving license. Why? Because in truly international business jurisdictions -
Canada, the USA, the UK, Europe, Australia, etc among them - newcomers can drive
cars with their current overseas-issued full driving licences for a year. There
are already more restrictions against newcomers in Bermuda than anywhere else in
the world. Relaxing some of them will create more incentives for non-nationals
to work in Bermuda. As Bermuda-issued full current driving licenses are
acceptable to Canadian authorities when renting or using a car here - and I
guess in the USA, UK, Europe and elsewhere too - surely foreign-issued ones
ought to be valid in Bermuda for professional newcomers? Sincerely, John
Cooper, Toronto, Canada, 15th January 2006.
First,
I much appreciate your work on Bermuda
Online. I write a series of mystery novels, each based on a different
island. I'm currently at work on the third one, BERMUDA SCHWARTZ. And in doing
my Internet research, virtually all searches eventually wind up with references
to Bermuda Online. Thanks so much for providing a wonderful resource. Now, if I
might burden you with a quick question: Is it possible to buy dynamite in
Bermuda? I haven't been able to find the answer to that anywhere. I am working
on a scene in the book that involves planting big palm trees in the backyard of
a Bermudian estate and I am thinking that some sort of explosive might be
necessary to make quick work of the limestone. And, of course, the dynamite
might have other applications later on. In any event, if you might point me in
the right direction for answering this question I'd greatly appreciate it. Many
thanks, Bob Morris, author, "Bahamarama" and "Jamaica
Me Dead " Caribbean mysteries. Winter
Park, Florida, USA, January 7, 2006
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