A frequent visitor to Bermuda is taking the time to pass on his knowledge and love of the Island to fellow travellers.

Retired clergyman Russell Hoetzel is marking his 50th trip to Bermuda this week and the 85-year-old Philadelphia resident is continuing his practice of taking visitors on Island tours.

It is his way of repaying the Island for all it has given him, Mr. Hoetzel told The Royal Gazette .

"Nowadays I give my time in Bermuda over to doing tours for people free of charge a couple of times a week. I do anywhere from six to nine tours during a stay,'' he said. "It's part of my way of living, helping other people to enjoy what I enjoy myself.'' Mr. Hoetzel uses public transport and shoe leather during his tours and takes visitors to local restaurants for lunch. "It is fun to eat with the locals,'' he added.

His favourite tour is of the capital. "Hamilton is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It is a very human city.

"Yesterday I did a tour of Hamilton. I do my own tour, not the official one.

It is a joy to show people things I particularly like there.'' One of his must-see spots is Par-La-Ville park. "It is one of the most beautiful parks in the world, and I have seen a lot of them.'' Another frequent stop is at the Bermuda Library where Mr. Hoetzel shows off his knowledge of local history by recounting the arrival of the Sea Venture in 1609 and the subsequent settlement of the Island.

The knowledge came from an earnest desire to know about the Island and its culture, said Mr. Hoetzel.

"Whenever I visit a place, I visit it with the intention of learning as much as possible about it, its people, its culture and I try to become part of it all while I am there.'' "I have been coming since the beginning of the 1960s,'' he continued.

"My wife and I sailed out of New York on the SS America and stopped here for a few days. We enjoyed it and followed it up with several other cruises. We always really liked it here.'' After "a bit of a hiatus'', Mr. Hoetzel returned to the Island in 1984 and stayed at the Princess Hotel. It was there that he heard about Willowbank in Somerset from another member of the clergy.

"I stopped out there one day to look at it and liked it so I made a date right away to come back and I have been staying there ever since.'' Location and the friendliness of Willowbank's guest and staff were amongst the factors which continued to draw him back, he said.

"I like its position in Bermuda. It is near Somerset and it is right on the Atlantic Ocean. It is a very friendly place and I have made a lot of friends there.'' And it is the friendliness of the people that makes him love Bermuda so much, he noted.

"In all my visits here -- and I come for a month at a time -- I have never met someone I did not like. I have many Bermudian friends and I feel like part of the Willowbank family.

"I can come to Bermuda all by myself and feel like I am at home. Every time I have been here it has been a good time for me.

"I have learned to enjoy the beauty of Bermuda as an Island but its riches are in its people, otherwise it would just be an Island.'' Russell Hoetzel