Bermuda is a hive of activity.

Beginning at about 5 a.m. Sunday morning, roughly 250 US Navy sailors and airmen start deplaning everything from twin-engined Greyhound transport planes to Sikorsky Sea King helicopters and the larger twin-rotored Boeing CH-46 Sea Knights.

The reason? These servicemen crowding into the air operations centre at the Naval Air Station are known as "early birds'', meaning they are starting shore leave away from their assigned ships early to accommodate an equal number of civilian transfers who will be joining sons, fathers, uncles, brothers -- or in this case -- sisters, mothers, or daughters assigned to crew the ships.

Welcome aboard the USS John F. Kennedy Battle Group Tiger Cruise.

In a tradition almost as old as the Navy itself, the relatives of personnel serving with the battle group are permitted to join their loved ones aboard the ships they devote so much of their time to when at sea. In this case, the Kennedy and her escorts have just returned from a six-month deployment in the Mediterranean Sea and on the fringe on the Persian Gulf, performing tasks such as providing a comforting presence if needed for some of the US Air Force's humanitarian relief flights over eastern Bosnia.

The "tigers'' are assembled in Norfolk, Virginia, and are flown to Bermuda where they are taken either by helicopter or boat out to join the ships for the final three days of the cruise home.

Only a few tigers are actually on their way to the Kennedy this time around.

Moored some 50 miles off the Bermuda in the centre of a battle group comprising 13 ships tasked with either protecting or supplying her, the Kennedy is too far away for the mass transfer of large numbers of the 250 civilians waiting to go aboard ship. The few destined to experience life aboard the colossal carrier are picked up and transported by the Kennedy's own helicopters.

Only three ships, the destroyer tender Puget Sound , Spruance class destroyer Caron , and the USS McInerney , a guided missile frigate, are anchored within sight of the island. Most of the tigers are their way out to the Puget Sound , with some already sporting the traditional navy blue baseball caps emblazoned with the ship's monicker and AD-38 designation number in gold lettering.

The presence of the Puget Sound has made this particular tiger cruise unique from most others in that women are permitted to join the cruise. As a replenishment and supply ship, the vessel is designated as a non-combatant ship on which women are now allowed to serve.

Mr. Phil Hailston of New York and Miss Terry Goodwin of Maryland were both due to join their sisters on Sunday for their first-ever tiger cruise. Both were anticipating the journey as being a good experience and a chance to relax, although Miss Goodwin joked about expecting to be seasick.

"My sister's told me she's going to try and get me sick,'' she said.

For some, however, seasickness quips were anything but funny. The hour-long boat ride in choppy seas out to where the Puget Sound and Caron were anchored proved to be a little too much for a handful of tigers. A further delay in embarking onto the destroyer tender, caused by the loose end of a mooring line which slipped into the water and wrapped around one of the propeller shafts of the 50-foot shuttle boat, brought more calls for garbage bags.

Not everyone will be united with their family in Bermuda, however. And not everyone is looking forward to only a temporary leave.

For Aviation Machinist 3rd Class David Gibson, a mechanic who works on the engines of the E-2C Hawkeye radar surveillance aircraft aboard the Kennedy , this tiger cruise marks the end of his career in the Navy.

As one of the early birds in the flight operations centre yesterday morning, AD3 Gibson was looking forward to going home and spending time with his family.

"First thing I think I'll probably take my wife out to dinner and then we'll probably just enjoy each other's company,'' he said.

The two have been married for three years, of which they've been apart about half that time.

RIDING IN STYLE -- A helicopter takes on a load of tigers destined for the USS John F. Kennedy as a Boeing CH-46 Sea Knight makes its approach.

HEAVY FIREPOWER -- The Spruance class destroyer USS Caron , anchored off Bermuda yesterday, makes up part of the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy 's escort.