You can’t be Bermudian if you haven’t experienced at least some of these things:

1. Casuarina Cones 
This is 10x worse than stepping on a piece of Lego! All too often a relaxing barefoot day at the beach is thwarted by accidentally stepping on one of the dry, spiky cones. Casuarinas are often a coastal tree, and drop many of their cones near the beach – and it’s even worse if you’re barefoot on a flat surface and come in to contact with them.

2. Centipede Bite
Centipede bites can be extremely painful – to some people it’s as painful as a bee sting, to others, it’s worse. They deliver venom through specialized pincers on their first body segment. Applying heat to the bite area acts to dilute the venom and lessen pain. Centipedes are more likely to be found in the eastern parishes, and more likely to appear on damp nights.

3. Portuguese Man O’ War Sting
Man o’ Wars flood coastlines and beaches in the spring and summer months, and it’s all too easy to be stung by one: their tentacles drift a deceptively long way away from the floating body, sometimes up to thirty feet! Stings appear on the skin as red whip-like lesions with a white raised centre. To remedy the stings, apply saltwater to wash away the tentacles, then soak the affected area in vinegar for 5 to 10 minutes to deactivate the stingers, before placing hot packs on the area for 30 minutes.

4. Road Rash
If you’ve spent any amount of time on a bike, it’s likely that you’ve taken a tumble and ended up with some variation of road rash. And it’s not so much the initial accident that’s physically traumatic but the prolonged stinging and tightening of the wound afterwards. It’s important to keep road rash clean as the risk of infection is high. Many Bermudians will tell you the best remedy for painful road rash is a trip overboard.

5. Bare Foot Rock Climbing
Maybe you’re hunting for empty crab shells or you’re climbing the rocks to find a good place to jump off – whatever the reason, we’ve all found ourselves shoeless and wandering sharp rocks at some point. The pain on our soft feet is great, but the desire to go forward is greater.

6. Homesickness
Any Bermudian who’s spent significant time away knows all too well the feeling of homesickness. No matter how well we might have it overseas, there’s just no place like Bermuda.