A woman from Boston on what she reckoned was her 50th visit to the island said yesterday that it was her “happy place”.

Marcia Sturtevant, 72, first booked a holiday in Bermuda in 1969 with her husband, Barry, and after that she became hooked.

Ms Sturtevant said: “We didn’t have a proper honeymoon — we went to Niagara Falls.

“After so many years, I told my husband I’d bought tickets to Bermuda and we stayed at the Hamilton Princess.

“It was back when you still had to get dressed up, you had the shows and the rotunda.

“Bermuda is my happy place. It is so close and the people are wonderful. I have a lot of favourite spots to eat and I am always looking for a road I never went down.”

She said she had stayed in every parish in hotels, guesthouses and private homes and her vacations ranged from a four-day getaway to a month-long visit — she once came four times in one year.

Ms Sturtevant, who still works as a nurse and group care home manager, was due to visit Ireland this month but the trip was cancelled due to Covid-19-related restrictions.

She said she spoke to a friend who had just returned from the island.

Ms Sturtevant added: “She told me, ‘Marcia, I’ve just come back from Bermuda — it’s open’. I called the agent and found a place through Bermuda Accommodations. It is heaven.”

Ms Sturtevant is staying in Flatts Village with Lori Sturtevant, one of her five daughters.

She said she had brought all of her daughters when they turned 16 — old enough to ride scooters around the island.

But Ms Sturtevant added: “My husband doesn’t come now — he doesn’t like the changes.

“He liked it when it was more old-fashioned and English style.”

She said she loved the island, despite modernisation, and was delighted by the introduction of electric rental minicars and the increase in rental accommodation.

Ms Sturtevant added: “I like that we don’t have to stay in a big hotel and have to get dressed up every night. We like to see these guesthouses — it is a wonderful thing.”

But she admitted: “One of the things I really miss is the band at the airport — there was always the band playing Yellow Bird.

“I used to love going into the customs area and seeing all the local people and seeing the band — it was such a welcoming atmosphere.”

Ms Sturtevant added: “There are more condos in Bermuda and I’m really not crazy about that — I want the nature and the land to stay the way that it is.”

She said: “I want to see the restaurants and stores back open — there are so few places to shop right now.”

She also loved to visit abandoned places.

Ms Sturtevant remembered the old Club Med in St George’s.

She said: “I never stayed there, but one year I went to see the underground clubs and there were squatters staying in there.

“I love to visit old abandoned homes ... I have gotten into some of them and was lucky not to fall through the floorboards.”

“I sometimes go to Ariel Sands — there are some remnants of it left. I go to churches and cemeteries — I love the history.”

Ms Sturtevant’s next trip will be in December 2021 when her grandson turns 16.

She said: “I love Martha’s Vineyard and Ireland, but I feel so comfortable and happy here, I started bringing my grandchildren.”