Dear Bermuda,

These are challenging times. And, while facing domestic challenges at home, the world keeps turning.

¡CUBA! America is curious, Obama is there, almost 90 years after Calvin Coolidge, the last president to visit.

Americans are ignorant to Bermuda’s advantages over Cuba, and she has a few.

Bermuda is beautiful in her own right. I needn’t point out its natural, historical and cultural gems herein.

Bermuda needs to exploit every possible marketing opportunity in the Northeast. In the late Nineties, the powers in control thought it wise to attract more African-American tourists to Bermuda. A silly concept, targeting a racial demographic, but that was the headline of the day.

Bermuda needs to promote three things in the Northeast — heavily.

The first is that Bermuda speaks English, and some do so quite interestingly. Bermudian slang is very rich; Americans love slang. Use this richness of culture, share it, get it out there.

Vexed? Hit the pink beach.

Arcing-out with the missus? Take her to the pink sand.

The second aspect of Bermuda’s Northeast marketing campaign needs to exploit flight times to Bermuda. Perhaps the airlines could even be convinced to throttle up and get flight times back to what they once were.

As it stands now, “three hours from wheels up to feet up,” wouldn’t be a stretch. “Three hours from wheels up to feet in the sand,” may also be appealing.

Bermuda is as unique as Cuba, yet much less threatening. Aside from speaking English, Bermuda’s scale is non-threatening to most. You can still rent a scooter and get yourself around fairly easily.

Cuba will be a draw. Many wait in the queues to make tourism money as the decades-old vacuum continues to be broken. Bermuda has an opportunity to present herself as a more attractive destination to Boston and New York, and she had better get to it. Bermuda can.

JOSHUA BATE