COVER STORY

discovers the beauty of Bermuda, home to this year's America's Cup.

Aportrait of a youthful but stern Queen Elizabeth looks down on proceedings in the arrivals area of the L F Wade International Airport in Bermuda. A couple of counters can easily handle the daily arrivals and departures — just 11 each way. The absence of high-tech hustle has the effect of turning back time — before you even step outside you feel like you’ve lost a couple of decades.

The sensation gets more pronounced once you hit the road, as the speed limit here is just 35km/h. Slow down, you’re now officially on Bermuda time.

I came to here to help raise awareness around the issue of lionfish, a species that poses a serious threat to marine habitats in Bermuda and, increasingly, around the world. I was proud to represent New Zealand as one of six celebrity chefs from the host nations of each America’s Cup team, in a sustainability initiative established by the 11th Hour Racing Foundation. Along the way I made some fabulous new friends and got to enjoy the hospitality of Bermudians.

The archipelago that makes up Bermuda comprises 181 islands, eight of which are joined by bridges and causeways forming a connected fishhook of land about 35km long, which at its widest is just 3.2km. From almost any point you can see the sea. Not just any sea, but a sea of such extraordinary blue it’s like a dream — cerulean, azure, periwinkle, aquamarine, bluebird — the blue of a perfect gemstone.

There are riddles of roads everywhere, almost 500km of them, private and public, packed into a land mass of just 53sq km, which is home to 64,000 Bermudians. Cars have only been allowed here since 1946 and today there is a limit of one per household. There is no private rental car hire, but you can hire bikes and mopeds, and there are plenty of taxis, buses and ferries to get you around.

As you drive along the south coast, the magnificent sea connects with a ruffle of white and pink sand beaches in long stretches of pure eye-aching beauty. In other parts of the island you could think you are on a Venetian canal — multistoreyed, bright-coloured houses hang cheek-to-cheek over the water — while out in the high-end digs on the constellation of islands to the east end of the Great Sound, huge estates take you to the billionaire mile of the Hamptons beachfront.

Because the water is exceptionally clear, it’s not uncommon to see shoals of colourful parrotfish as you walk around the shoreline. The locals say that if you spot a Portuguese man o’ war jellyfish it means there’s a storm somewhere out at sea and bad weather is on the way. When I visited, the turtles has just arrived and the whales had just left.

Thanks to the warm Gulf Stream current and the protected marine reserve around the island, snorkelling and diving in Bermuda is excellent. The coral reefs are the northernmost in the Atlantic and although the water is cooler than in the tropics, the reefs abound with tropical sea life. There are lots of places you can snorkel directly off the beach, or hire a guide to head offshore to explore a shipwreck or a reef.

Piracy runs deep in the veins of Bermuda. On a bicycle tour along the old railway line, our guide explained that wily pirates would light fires on the beach at Wreck Hill to indicate safe passage for incoming ships. In fact the spot was a morass of reefs on which the vessels would be guaranteed to founder. The pirates would row out and offer rescue in exchange for a 50 per cent share of the cargo. This was generally refused, so they would wait a week and go back with a new offer — the demand now stood at 100 per cent of the cargo.

The slave trade also played a large part in Bermuda’s history, with the first slaves being brought soon after the colony was established. The impact of slavery on Bermudian life is the subject of one of the key exhibits at the Commissioner’s House, part of the National Museum of Bermuda on the western end of the island. There are also interesting exhibits on the influence of the Portguese, early settler life and an impressive mural of Bermudian life by local artist Graham Foster, which took more than three years to paint.

Bermudian English is a particular blend of British, West Indian and American English, without the patois that can make navigating language difficult in the rest of the Caribbean. Azorean Portuguese is still spoken and preserved in some Portuguese homes. In itself, the way people talk here serves as a reminder of the history and democratisation of Bermudian society.

Established in 1612, St George’s is one of the oldest continuously inhabited towns in the New World. It’s now a Unesco World Heritage site and a great place to spend a morning exploring the cobbled streets and taking in some of its history.

The cream buns made by Kamilah at the Sweet SAAK Bakery are alone worth the trip. Grab a bun and walk