Bermuda Day Parade

Was a strange weather day.  Windy most of the day, no humidity at all, cool at some points and hot at others.  Some showers in the morning but fortunately it all died off.  It was great weather for the marathon and parade, no one suffering from heat and humidity.

This was quite possibly the longest parade I have every attended hahaha.  It was over 3.5 hours to see all 30 floats, majorettes, marching bands and Gombey dancers.  But that's just the way things happen here, island time!    People are allowed to start "camping" their sites along the parade route at 1.30am, and you can tell that some folks definitely did.    Jen and I found a nice spot in front of the national cathedral and hunkered down for a few hours to watch and take some photos.

Bermuda is a small place and everyone knows everyone.  So the atmosphere was more like a street party with people in the parade interacting with those along the route.  Along the route there was food everywhere, tents set up, lawn chairs out, BBQ's running, alcohol being consumed and lots of partying and great fun.  A bit different from any parade you'll ever attend.  According to the local media several thousand folks were out.  

Click the images for bigger views

 The crowds setup to watch the parade in front of the national cathedral

 

 Some of the classic bikes

 

 "Camping"

 The Bermuda Regiment

 Drummers and Majorettes

 Floats made of flowers

 Steel Drums

 Gombey Dancers

 Autism Float made of flowers

 African Dancers

We bailed on the parade around 3.40pm and headed down to Victoria Park to see a couple of friends of mine who play in one of the local bands - The Travelers.    I've known Glen, Michael and Manual for over 20 years now but this was my first opportunity to see them play together.  The Travelers have been known around the island for a very long time, well over 30+ years.   They only got to play 3 songs but Jen and I enjoyed the show!

 Glen, singer and keyboards.  

The Travelers

 Michael in the middle, Glen on the left and Manual in black.  Not sure of the names of the other 2 fellows ;-)

 Micheal

Back to the house afterwards all tired out!   Burgers on the BBQ and beer.  Sort of like Canada Day, just in Bermuda ;-)

We're heading off to the east end of the island later this morning to see St George and St Davids.   Lovely blue skies, temps are suppose to be up to 25C today and again no humidity.  Should be a lovely day walking around and running on the scooter.

Hope everyone has a great day!