week.

And it reached a crescendo yesterday morning when Charles Barkley was spotted greeting bleary-eyed commuters at the Ferry Terminal in Hamilton.

He's also been seen standing at the bar in various drinking establishments and ogling sunbathers at Elbow Beach.

But the Charles Barkley seen standing up in Bermuda this week was merely a cardboard version, since the NBA superstar stood up hundreds of his fans who were travelling aboard Dreamward on his very own Sir Charles and Friends cruise.

The imposter was courtesy of Sports Illustrated magazine, with senior writer Leigh Montville, photo editor George Washington and senior photographer Ron Modra travelling to Bermuda to feature the basketball cruise in an upcoming edition.

Yesterday Mary Beth Roberts, Modra's girlfriend, was passing out paper cut-outs of Barkley's face to bemused passers-by while Modra took snapshots of locals standing next to Sir Charles.

"Charles, who?'' asked one customs official while her picture was being taken beside the cardboard version of the Phoenix Sun, who looked very much like a vacationer with colourful shirt and shorts and beads of sweat on his forehead.

"He's smaller than I thought he would be,'' another voice chimed in.

"In a sense this has worked out OK,'' said Modra, a photographer with the magazine for 17 years, looking at the bright side of Barkley's absence.

"Although I'm sure there are a few unhappy people aboard the ship.'' The story, naturally, will no longer be what it's like to be on a cruise with Barkley.

"Now it's `In search of Charles','' said Modra, a devilish grin creasing his face.

Tour organisers were informed last Thursday that Barkley would not be making the trip, although the reason for his change of plans have yet to be made public. Passengers, many of them from Phoenix, were not informed until they boarded Dreamward at 6.30 a.m. on Monday.

Other players on the excursion included Barkley's team-mate Danny Ainge, Mugsy Bogues of the Charlotte Hornets and Hersey Hawkins of the Seattle SuperSonics.

"The players kind of intermingle with everyone,'' said Montville yesterday, on his first visit to Bermuda. "People paid $1,000 a head extra to be primarily with Charles. God knows what kind of litigation is going to begin as soon as they get back.'' Montville said he had been unable to contact Barkley's agent, and he was surprised that so many passengers were taking Barkley's no-show in stride.

"During dinner last night I asked a couple "aren't you mad?' and they said it wasn't so bad,'' said Montville. "I couldn't believe how nice they were to say something like that. Then they said `I guess we should tell you we didn't actually pay to go on the cruise since we won tickets'.

"There's no real outrage, but I think it's like when you're on a plane and you've paid $800 and the person next to you paid $400 and you wonder why you were paying $800.'' One of the magazine's best-known feature writers, Montville was first informed about the assignment last February.

"One of my bosses read an ad for this thing and he said I should think about going,'' said the carrot-topped Montville. "I forgot all about it and then Phoenix lost in the play-offs, so I figured I'd be going on the Hakeem Olajuwon cruise or something like that.

"He called me back two weeks ago and he said `well, are you all set for the cruise?'. The tickets were ready, everything was fine, but the promoter told me there was one little hang-up -- Charles wasn't coming. My first thought was maybe I could have his room. It's been fun, but I'll probably get fired when I get back.'' As for the cardboard cut-out, photo editor Washington had it made in New York exclusively for the Bermuda trip.

Said Montville later: "Things don't always work out the way they should. When the Gulf War started the magazine sent me to watch the Super Bowl with the troops in Saudi Arabia. It was kind of weird because instead of troops I ended up watching it with a bunch of middle-aged lawyers who were part of the national guard that were just called up. I'm sure my editors were looking for me to do something far more ferocious.'' Once his story is completed the Boston-based writer will go on vacation.

"What a life, eh?''