A jewel spoiled by seaweed

November 15, 2008

Dear Sir,

My wife and I have visited your jewel of an island on many occasions, starting as early as 1965. On our sea cruise visit from New York on the week of October 13, we had the pleasure of a three-day stay using our bus/ferry passes. There was talk of a union transportation meeting that would have shut down the system for four hours. We were so pleased that the union had called off the meeting. I have one more comment, and that is concerning the seaweed on Snorkel Bay Beach at the Dockyard. Such a small, beautiful beach would suggest having it raked on occasion. I am tempted to bring a rake with me on my next visit!

FREDERICK PAULI Jr.

New Milford, Connecticut

Bermuda has changed

November 24, 2008

Dear Sir,

For many years, but not every year, my wife and I have been coming to Bermuda for 10 to 12 days at this time of the year. We have also been to Barbados, Antigua, Tobago and St. Lucia so we understand the difference between the West Indies and Bermuda. Those who are concerned for Bermuda's future might consider that Bermuda is by far the most expensive destination for English tourists despite it being an hour or so less in an aeroplane. It is also hotter in the West Indies and the chance of fine weather is much higher there than in Bermuda. On the other hand Bermuda has some sophistication that is lacking further south and is pleasant to walk in as those of a certain age want to do rather than lounge in the sun all day.

In the last few years we have noticed a difference in Bermuda. There are fewer hotels and in particular hotels which were particularly attractive to the English such as Horizons and Waterloo House. The shops which we liked, particularly Trimminghams and Smiths, are no more and everywhere there are new enormous buildings presumably offices for banks and insurance companies yet to go bust or perhaps not having yet realised that they are bust.

It seems as if Bermuda has decided to opt for a financial services future at just the wrong moment and to limit its tourism industry to mostly Americans and particularly those living on expense accounts and wanting to play endless rounds of golf.

The restaurants around Hamilton with one or two notable exceptions were always expensive but more so now than ever and particularly so to the UK visitor due to the rate of exchange between the Almighty dollar and the pound.

Travelling around Bermuda has always been easy with the combined tickets for the buses and ferries but it seemed to us that the Sunday ferry service was very restricted, offering only a trip to Dockyard and ignoring all the small ferry stops from Lower Ferry to Belmont ... until today when we saw the ferry going to and fro and discovered that the combined timetable handed out to us by the bus depot had a different understanding of when winter starts than its partners running the ferries. In its usual arrogant manner the ferry service saw this as our inability to know when winter begins in Bermuda rather than a communication problem between it and the buses bosses.

It maybe that the financial advantages of having a presence in Bermuda will be taken away by US and UK governments but although it might be for tax reasons that will surely not be the reason given ... it will likely be said to be to enable regulators to see what is going on here to avoid another credit crunch catastrophe. whichever reason is given there is likely to be a lot of prime real estate for sale or rental in Hamilton in the next few months and if so the impact on the residential market of jobs being lost will be considerable. If this is right then the tourism trade is all Bermuda has left and the island should be seeking holidaymakers from the UK as well as the US. it seems to be interested only in the US at present.

The statue of Johnny Barnes shares a corner with a sign asking if one has checked one's HIV status. It is not as welcoming as the legend round Johnny's feet suggests and there is a mixed message here ... Bermuda would do well not to air its endless political quarrels every day in your paper when so much needs to be done to help Bermudians of all colours make a living. At present it is the Portuguese who are building the empty office blocks and there are Filipinos and others in hotels and restaurants, not Bermudians. I am not sure if we will be back again as so much we like is being demolished and to cap it all the weather too has been ... at best ... mixed just like the messages.

PETER HAYES

Macclesfield,

Cheshire