The Skeptics Guide #876 - Apr 23 2022

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The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe 1h 54m 6 speakers 6 chapters transcribed 2 months ago
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What did Stephen Novella share about his Bermuda anniversary trip and travel tips?

Bruno Satin 0:00
You're listening to the Skeptic's Guide to the Universe, your escape to reality.
Dr. Steven (Steve) Novella 0:10
Hello and welcome to the Skeptic's Guide to the Universe. Today is Tuesday, April 19th, 2022, and this is your host, Stephen Novella. Joining me this week are Bob Novella. Hey, everybody. Cara Santamaria. Howdy. Jay Novella. Hey, guys. And Evan Bernstein.
Evan Bernstein 0:25
Good evening, everyone.
Dr. Steven (Steve) Novella 0:26
So I am back from Bermuda. I had a little vacation last week. It was my 30th anniversary. 3-0. Oh, yay.
Bob Novella 0:34
Wedding anniversary. Yes, my wedding anniversary. So you what? You flew out to Bermuda.
Dr. Steven (Steve) Novella 0:39
Yeah.
Bob Novella 0:40
You called Jocelyn and said, hey, I'm here.
Dr. Steven (Steve) Novella 0:43
We got a direct flight from JFK. It was 90 minutes.
Evan Bernstein 0:47
Oh, beautiful. That's fast.
Dr. Steven (Steve) Novella 0:49
It's a little faster than average, but it's less than two hours, basically, from New York to Bermuda. It's a lot further north than people think. It's actually not in the Caribbean. It's not a Caribbean island.
Cara Santa Maria 0:59
No, it's the outermost point of the, quote, triangle.
Evan Bernstein 1:02
Well, yeah, by definition.
Cara Santa Maria 1:03
Yeah, it's far up.
Evan Bernstein 1:04
You said the magic word.
Cara Santa Maria 1:06
I mean, the triangle is made up of what, like it's Miami or the Keys, Puerto Rico and Bermuda. So it's like really far away from those two places.
Bob Novella 1:14
Stephen, did you see any planes like actively being sucked into the ocean?
Dr. Steven (Steve) Novella 1:19
I didn't see, I saw very few planes. The planes land on the east side of the island, that very tip, like the very end of it, and they don't fly over the island. So when you're on the island, you're not really seeing a lot of planes. The island, I don't know if you guys are familiar with it, it's shaped like a J, but tilted like 45 degrees on this side. It's a very long, skinny island.
Cara Santa Maria 1:39
What's the water temperature out there in the middle of the Atlantic?
Dr. Steven (Steve) Novella 1:41
So it's in the Gulf Stream, right? So that's why it is semi-tropical, right? Because even though it's so far north, it's basically like equal to the Carolinas, but it's subtropical because of the Gulf Stream. So it gets a lot of warm water. However... At the end of the winter is when the water is at its coldest, and then it warms up in the spring. So when we were there, actually the water was warming up while we were there. From day to day, it was a little bit warmer. But when we first got there, it was fairly cold. The locals tell us that they start swimming in the ocean in May. So by then, it's swimmable. And then through the summer, of course, it'll be swimmable. Nice.
Cara Santa Maria 2:20
Yeah, Atlantic waters can be, well, I guess it all depends on where you are, but so warm. I remember going to Puerto Rico and being like, oh my gosh, the ocean feels like bathwater. And I'm so used to the ocean out here in California. It's like frigid. You can't get in it unless you're in a wetsuit.
Dr. Steven (Steve) Novella 2:35
Yeah, I think it's just all the Gulf Stream.
Cara Santa Maria 2:37
Steve, did you ride scooters?
Dr. Steven (Steve) Novella 2:39
We didn't. Getting around the island was interesting. So here's my quick skinny on Bermuda. If you're in the northeast of the United States, it's actually the closest tropical paradise you can get to. It's beautiful. We had a great time there. On the plus side, tourism is one of their major industries. The whole place is set up to be tourist-friendly. They make it very easy to – even though it's a foreign country, it's very easy to get in and out of. And they accept the American dollar one-to-one with the Bermuda dollar. I think they must just fix the Bermuda dollar to the American dollar. So everyone just accepted the American currency one-to-one. And everyone is super friendly. Like everyone is incredibly friendly.
Evan Bernstein 3:21
That's their industry.
Dr. Steven (Steve) Novella 3:23
And not just like at the hotel. Like I mean we were – at one point we walked up like the middle of the island on the old railroad trail. There used to be a railroad that goes there. But that's gone. There wasn't even any railroad ties or anything. It's just a path now. It's just a trail. But it's basically going mostly through residential areas. And we would walk by people in their backyard, and they would be super friendly to us. Also, when you ride in a taxi, the taxi driver beeps and points and waves at every other driver. Obviously, there's like 60,000 or something people.

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