When Skye Kermode plays the crystal sound bowls at the old Angel’s Grotto in Smith’s, two green turtles often pop their heads up from the water.

Sometimes they slap the surface with their flippers or take deep raspy breathes before plunging back down into the deep pool.

These ancients have reportedly been in this same lagoon for at least 75 years.

“They hear me playing the bowls now and think it is the dinner bell,” Ms Kermode laughed. “They know that we feed them lettuce when we finish playing.”

Ms Kermode has deliberately avoided naming her algae-coated colleagues.

“Everyone always asks about that,” she said. “Given their age, I feel that they deserve reverence and respect.”

She and the turtles hold Come As You Are: The Sapphire Veil, crystal sound bowl performances to promote healing and meditation, on Tuesday evenings.

It is thought that the tones from the bowls help to regulate the nervous system.

“On Tuesdays from 6pm to 7.45pm, we do the sound bowls,” she said. “A big part of it is just experiencing the space. Sound is such a big part of our existence. Sometimes we don’t realise how much slips by our awareness.”

When the bowls are “sung”, they give off an unearthly, resonant tone similar to running a wet finger around the rim of a wine glass.

Over the years, the lagoon on Harrington Sound Road in Smith’s has been called everything from the Devil’s Hole to the Angel’s Grotto.

Opened in the 1830s, it was one of Bermuda’s earliest tourism attractions. Over the years it has been used as a fish stock pond, an aquarium, a turtle breeding ground, a residence and a guesthouse, among other things.

It closed in 2009 before becoming a private residence.

The Dove & Butterfly Spa is located there today.

Ms Kermode has fond memories of visiting Angel’s Grotto as a child.

“There was a mural of angelfish on the front of the building,” she said. “I remember the vibrant colours.”

She also recalls large groupers and parrot fish swimming in the waters.

“Apparently there used to be an eight-foot moray eel in there,” she said. “The lagoon was a gem, and many of us miss it. The place hits so close to home with many locals. It is also really great for tourists. I wanted to offer a way for people to return to that experience in a different way.”

In the summer months, Ms Kermode is a mermaid for tourists in St George’s and at children’s birthday parties and other venues.

“It gets quieter in the winter months,” she admitted.

After she does her thing with the bowls, she offers clients a warm, homemade tea blend.

“The favourite so far has been lemongrass and French lavender,” she said. “I have also offered sorrel and cinnamon. We drink tea and feed the turtles and sometimes I play a little bit more.”

The Sapphire Veil triggers the various senses.

“I usually bring cards for people, so they can read the cards and receive a message, maybe,” she said. “Or there are some essential oils for them to try so they can connect to that sense.”

Ms Kermode also invites her clients to sing the bowls themselves.

“Many people have not tried them before,” she said. “It is cool to see them trying for the first time.”

She has always been musical, playing the harp, the rain disc, ukulele, guitar and a bit of piano, but has never been drawn to traditional music lessons.

She cannot say when she first discovered the bowls.

“I have known about them for a long time,” Ms Kermode said. “I had one and I broke it. That was not a good day. Then I had a friend who let me borrow hers.”

It was at that time that she first tried to set up a Come As You Are event.

“I called it that because I just wanted people to show up and let the sound move through them,” she said. “But it did not quite work out at that time and fell through.”

Later, she went to Thailand on vacation and tried a gong bath.

“That was the worst thing I have ever experienced in my life,” she said. “The dude leading it was facing the gong. He was relentlessly playing this very low, loud vibration.”

The lack of interaction with the audience left her feeling irritated and uncomfortable.

“Facing people while I play is really important to me,” she said.

While she is coaxing sound out of the crystal, people give her feedback telling her where they feel the sound in their bodies or telling her the tone is too loud, or too soft.

“I focus on body awareness,” she said. “It is about moving the breath through the body, focusing on different points and cultivating energy and awareness. There is a mind-body-spirit connection.”

She called it a real-time meditative experience. You can often hear traffic going by, dogs barking or people laughing.

“I was nervous about the traffic, but at that time in the evening it is not heavy,” she said. “Sometimes it actually brings you back into the moment.”

The turtles are often a calming force, with their gasps for air reminding people that they also need to breathe.

“The water is free-flowing,” Ms Kermode said. “When you look into it, you can see the saltwater and freshwater mixing. The cave is connected not to Harrington Sound, but to the South Shore, miles away through underwater cave systems. The lagoon used to be a cave that collapsed into itself.”

Ms Kermode also regularly plays the bowls at the Spirit House in Devonshire.

• Tickets are $45 each and available at www.ptix.bm