Ed and Sharyn Battye are two visitors who just can't get enough of Bermuda.

Even the eight weeks a year they spend here don't seem to be enough.

The Island has many fond memories for the Maryland couple, who began coming to Bermuda long before they even met; Ed as far back as 1959 and Sharyn since 1973.

But it is the recent trips that hold special significance for the pair as they met at the St. George's Club two years ago, got married there last year and next month will be back for another two-week visit to celebrate their first anniversary.

Ed estimates they probably had the same weeks at the club for probably ten to 12 years and he had seen Sharyn and her husband at the time-sharing facility.

Both were married back then but in the space of seven months in 1998 suffered the loss of their spouses.

"Sharyn and her husband had one week in late October and though I had seen them just in passing we had never met,'' revealed Mr. Battye, who is a semi-retired stockbroker.

"After the deaths of our spouses we came here in October 1999 and met at a manager's party on the Tuesday and then bumped into each other later the same night down in St. George's.

"We had a drink together. I had consecutive weeks so I stayed here another week. We exchanged telephone numbers and I promised I would call her and I did.'' The pair began a long distance friendship after returning to their respective homes in the United States, Ed to Maryland and Sharyn to Massachusetts. She also has a summer home in Florida.

Sharyn takes up the story: "I was heading back to Florida and we had spoken previously and I told him I was staying over in Aberdeen, Maryland as the first part of my trip south and said `is that anywhere near where you live?' He said `oh, actually it is' and we went for dinner on December 1.

"The next morning I left for Florida, never thinking he was going to call or that I was going to call him. He decided he wanted to come and visit me in Florida and I had some very close friends in Florida who said `he shouldn't come down here, go and visit him on his turf'.

"I said to him, `I think I would like to see where you live' and I went up to Maryland in January and flew back to Florida and he ended up coming to Florida in February.'' Mr. Battye continued: "Then we came here (Bermuda) in March. I got in touch with an old friend of mine here who is a marriage consultant and decided we wanted to get married in May. We posted the banns and came back in May with members of our families, my father and sister and Sharyn's daughter and my son who acted respectively as best man and maid of honour.'' The special day was May 20 and in a few weeks' time the regular visitors to Bermuda will be back to celebrate their first year together.

"We were going to get married up near the flags (at St. George's Club) but it was spitting rain so we came here,'' said Mr. Battye as the couple sat outside Tillie's, just a few yards from the spot where they exchanged vows.

"We had the reception at Tillie's,'' said Sharyn.

The couple have made many friends in Bermuda over the years and also share mutual friends. They include Jerry Weldon who works at St. George's Club, Junior Ming, `who I've known for many years', Sharyn revealed, and Mervyn Moorehead, the former headmaster at St. George's Prep.

"He's the first person I met while here at the St. George's Club,'' revealed Ed.

"We came here on an escorted tour by York Hanover, who ran St. George's Club at that time, and the first night they took us to the Carriage House.'' Ed's first trip goes back some 42 years when he came here for company meetings.

"I stayed at different places... Hamilton Princess, Southampton Princess,'' he says. Now the staff at St. George's club see him and his wife four times a year, for two weeks at a time and they know each other by name.

"We love Bermuda so much that when we got married in May we bought an extra week, so we would always be here for our anniversary,'' Sharyn explained.

"We come two weeks in March, two weeks in May, two weeks in November and two weeks in December,'' Ed stated.

They come here so often they have also taken out membership at St. George's Dinghy and Sports Club.

"We have gotten to know the people here and have a lot of good friends here,'' said Ed.

"I have been here nine weeks in one year and I'm looking forward to the time we get ten weeks. When I came here to buy my first place (time-sharing) I stayed at what was then the Loews Bermuda Beach and also stayed at Grotto Bay.'' Hi wife added: "I love Bermuda and if I could come back more than eight weeks a year I would do that.'' The couple play a lot of golf while in Bermuda and have gotten to know Senator Kim Swan, the golf pro at St. George's Golf Club and others at the club where they play most of their golf.

And as a former motorcycle racer, Ed says he's very comfortable on the mopeds.

"I go up to the livery shop in early November and arrange for it (bike) throughout the year.'' Sharyn added: "The year I met Ed I came down by myself and Bermuda would probably be the only place I would go by myself. I feel comfortable enough to come alone.'' And even though Bermuda may not be as safe as it was 20 or 30 years ago, it is still a place that will lure the Battyes back again and again.

"Very honestly, this is a sea of tranquillity compared to Boston, Baltimore or Philadelphia,'' said Ed.

"I was born in England and have travelled all over the States but I like Bermuda, basically because of the people. I think it's safe, I've never in the least been concerned about leaving the beach club at Midnight and walking home through the back roads of St. George's.

"I have travelled to a number of islands in the Caribbean but the people are not as friendly.'' Sharyn recounts an experience on one of her previous trips when she left her camera at Grotto Bay. It was turned in at the front desk by a bartender and the camera was delivered by taxi all the way to Sonesta Beach where she was staying.

"You just don't expect hospitality like this,'' said Ed as he leaned back on his chair and sighed.