Bermuda - Day 2 & 3

Bermuda Day 2

After our first outing in Bermuda, we had discovered that it was fairly easy to get around.  The Ferry system is reliable and not expensive, so we decided to go back to St. Georges for a look around since we hadn't had much time the day before.  When you first get off the ship, there is a booth that sells Ferry tickets and bus tickets.  If you walk down the boardwalk to where the Ferries board, there is a Visitors Center there that sells Ferry tickets.  There was always a line at the booth by the ship, but never at the Visitor's center.  The first Ferry to St. George is at 9:30.

The view from the Ferry

Beautiful little church in St. George

The main street in St. George is Water Street which has cute shops, restaurants and bars.  It is a very small area compared to Hamilton, which is the capital, and if your  in a shopping mood, this is where you should go.  We aren't big shoppers, but we always like to get a little memento of our trip.  My favorite two shops in the St. George area are Kelly's Sea Glass at the end of Water Street and The Island Shop at Somers Wharf.  Kelly makes jewelry out of Sea Glass and will even take sea glass that you find and make it in to a piece of jewelry.  The Island Shop at Somers Wharf is a cute shop with all types of items that make good gifts or mementos of your trip.

There is not a lot to do in St. Georges other than shop & stroll.  There is Fort St. Catherine to Explore and if you like to see Historical Re-enactment: 

Historical Re-enactments at Kings Square

Watch Bermuda’s history come to life as the St. George’s Town Crier conducts an 18th century trial.  This entertaining and light-hearted historical re-enactment will show how an offender was publicly punished, including the ducking of a nagging wench.

April to November
Monday-Thursday and Saturday 12:00 noon

We decided to head back to the ship for lunch - rather than eating out.  We wanted to grab our snorkel gear and head out to Horseshoe Bay - which we had read was some of the best snorkeling on the island.   We had been told by the "Bermuda Greeter' that we could catch a shuttle for $7 a person to Horseshoe Bay.  We ate, grabbed our gear and headed out to find the shuttle.  We walked down the boardwalk to the area near where the Norwegian ships dock -this was were the shuttle drivers line up.  I walked up to a small tour bus and asked the driver where I could find the shuttle.   He looked around and said there were not any currently waiting but he had just finished for the day and was headed home right past Horseshoe and that he would be happy to give us a ride!  

As it turns out, he & his wife run tours on the island for people in wheelchairs, scooters or walkers.  They were wonderful.  Gave us a lift, chatted about the island and told us stories before dropping us off and showing us where to catch the shuttle back.  This was just another example of how hospitable the people of Bermuda are.  We encountered nice, friendly people everywhere we went.

Horseshoe Bay was just as beautiful as the books all say.  Lovely soft powdery sand gorgeous blue water with huge limestone rocks surround the beach & in the water.  Little caves and mini beaches as you walk between the rocks.  We did some great snorkeling here and once again saw HUGE Parrot fish among many other colorful fish.  After my snorkel, I took a walk to what looks like the end of the beach, but you go through some rocks, and there is another beach.  Then more rocks, and another beach!  And it goes on and on like that!  So beautiful and a wonderful walk.

Cathy at Horseshoe Bay

The view of Horseshoe bay from our chairs 

As the sun started to go down and people were beginning to pack up, we headed back to the parking lot to find a shuttle.  They were all lined up, knowing that people would be departing for the day.  It was so easy - as each small shuttle filled up, they would take off back to the dock yard.  Our driver chatted the whole way back pointing out land marks, and of course talking how expensive it is to live there!  The shuttles will drop you right off at the ship!

After a little dinner, we decided to skip the show and head back out to find some internet.  There is a small yogurt place next to the visitors center that has 30 minutes of free internet with purchase. A small yogurt is $5.95 - and it's not that great sorry to say.  But it is cheap for internet, so we purchased one yogurt, got on line, posted our pictures and headed back to the ship!

Our Home for 7 nights

Bermuda - Day 3

For our last day in Bermuda, we decided to go on a open water snorkel.  There are many options when choosing a boat to go out on.  We picked the 'Aristocat' Catamaran.  Their max is 40 people.  Some of the larger Catamarans will take 80 - 100.  For a 3 hour sail it is $75, very reasonable.  They have masks, snorkel & fins if you do not bring your own.  The equipment is clean and well cared for. The crew of three were very nice and extremely capable and knowledgeable about their vessel and the waters around Bermuda.  

Captain Smitty welcomes us aboard the 'Aristocat' 

We were to go out to the outer reef but Captain Smitty said that the wind & the water were too rough so he took us to a protected cove for our snorkeling.  We saw all kinds of coral: Gorgonian coral, Purple fans, Orange coral & baby stag horn.  All of this coral provide a place for the fish to hang out. We saw more huge Parrot Fish Grunts, Squirrel fish, Sargent Majors, just to name a few.  When we got back on board the Aristocat, we found the some of the folks on our trip saw a Spotted Eagle Ray! Boy, we would have loved to see that!

After everyone was aboard, it was a round of complimentary Rum Swizzles for everyone as we took a little sail.  We were able to sail around parts of Bermuda that we had not seen by land.  We sailed past charming little homes and a wildlife refuge.  As we were sailing we had the extra added bonus of seeing the USA's America's Cup Vessel out doing practice runs.  It was racing along at unbelievable speeds with 2 motor boats behind and on the side of it - seemingly it was so close we could almost touch it! We all cheered as they raced past us!

Team USA

We got back to the dock around 12:30 - just in time for a bite to eat on the Summit.  After lunch we took a stroll to the dockside shopping area, which we had not explored before.  It is a cute little mall with some interesting shops for clothing, souvenirs, jewelry, etc.

The Dockside shopping mall across from where our ship docked

We had to be back on the ship by 4 pm to sail back to the USA.  All in all, and enjoyable 3 days and now for one day of rest as we sailed back.

Sunset Picture taken day 2 from the Deck of the Summit

Until next time, Travel Safe,
Susan

Travel Notes for this trip:

• We made our Catamaran reservations via The Island Tour Centre.  They are the booking agent for several different vessels.  They also can book Jet Ski tours through the various operators that they are agents for
• We book all our cruise via Vacations to Go.  The fabulous Joan Mosquinski takes excellent care of us each and every time.  I highly recommend her if you are cruising 
   joanm@vacationstogo.com
• Websites I found helpful in planning this trip on short notice: Bermuda Attractions, Trip Advisor & Cruise Critic
• I will be doing a separate post about New York and also a brief one about the Celebrity Summit

Bermuda! More than pink sand beaches

Hello Travel Fans!

Recently my friend & travel pal, Cathy & I decided to do a last minute vacation -- for us that is anything planned less than 60-90 days out!   When we travel abroad we do a lot of research and planning, but for this little trip, we just wanted something easy and relaxing.  We both had been working quite a bit, and needed some serious down time!

Our go-to vacation planning site is Vacationstogo.com. I have talked about this site before and we love it for finding inexpensive cruise deals.  Besides their regular listings, there is a button called the '90-day ticker'.  Easy to find, its bright yellow on the lefthand side of the web page.   The 90 ticker will show you all cruises in the next 90 days that are deeply discounted!  

After surfing the site, we came up with a couple of ideas an ultimately decided on Bermuda.  Neither of us had been before and the idea of some lazy beach time and snorkeling sounded just what we needed.  

We both live in the west and our cruise was departing from the new Cape Liberty Cruise Port in Bayonne New Jersey.   We figured since we had to fly to New York to board our cruise, we would stay a couple of nights in NYC to see some Broadway Shows and eat great food -- but that will be a different Blog - New York, New York is a blast.

Anyway, back to the cruise and Bermuda!   We boarded the Celebrity Summit late morning on Sunday, May 22.  You have to be on the ship by 4 pm, departs Cape Liberty at 4:30 pm.  However, you can't get in to your cabin until about 1:30.  Had I been aware of that we definitely would have arrive a bit later and eaten lunch in the city.



The first two days of the cruise are Sea days.  Which was fine for us as we wanted to relax and have some rest up time.  But normally, we do not like to have two sea days in a row.  On the third day you wake up and you are in Bermuda for the next three days.  Then 1 day sailing back to Port Liberty.  Seems to me that if you can sail back in one day, you could get there in one day.  I would have loved to had a fourth day in Bermuda.

Did I mention that Bermuda is a British Colony?  Fascinating History - Check it out on line.  But basically this Island became very important to Britain after the loss of its 13 Colonies in North America.  During the war of 1812 it was a major Navel base.  Today in Bermuda, you see things like this...

Which remind you that you are in a British Colony.  But the culture is a mix from all over.  They are a 'Self-Governed' Colony.  Life on the island is very laid back just as you would expect.

Now, back to the vacation... Here is how we spent our the first of our three days in port:

Day 1:  We pre-arranged for a Taxi tour of the island for our first 4 hours of the day.  I had found on line that taxi fares are regulated by the government and have a set price.  There are plenty of taxi's available at Kings Wharf also called The Royal Dock Yard.  However, if you want to get an experienced guide/driver, it's good to book ahead.  I found a good recommendation on a couple of different Taxi services and ended up booking with Millard - here is his email: millarda@northrock.bm.   

When we got off the ship at 9 am, there was a gentleman on the dock with a radio and he said "How can I help you" to each guest as they disembarked.  I believe he is part of the Bermuda Tourism team, but wasn't sure.  FYI - he is really just there to help - not sell you anything.  He can answer any questions you may have and point you in the right direction.  He helped us find our driver.

Bram was waiting for us on the dock, with a sign with our names.  He was friendly, courteous and as we discovered, very knowledgeable.  In the 4 hours we were with him, we went from one end of the island to the other with many stops along the way.  When I wrote Millard with my request, he had a standard itinerary that he used but he will customize it for you to do what ever you like.  We made some changes to his standard itinerary including having Bram drop us off at the other end of the island instead of taking us back to Kings Wharf.  We wanted to end in Tobacco Bay where we could snorkel and then take a Ferry back to Kings Wharf.

This was the outline I sent to Millard to plan our trip.  He replied that this would be fine and fill 4 hours: (pictures inserted during blogging LOL) 

1.  Photo opportunities — my friend is a great photographer so we want to have the chance to take pictures at the most beautiful spots that you would recommend.  

Beautiful beaches everywhere 

2.  We read In Somerset Village there is a small beach that has the most sea glass because it is across from an old bottle factory that dumped thousands of bottles over the wall in the 1900’s.  We would like to see this beach. We would like to see a little bit of Somerset Village.  (not the smallest draw bridge in the world though - we've seen the pictures)

This is the 'Sea Glass' beach.  Sorry the picture doesn't do it justice 

3.  They Heydon Trust Park -
This beautiful property in western Sandys parish is a private park administered by the Heydon Trust. This 43 acres of lush gardens is one of the largest parks in Bermuda and also has 10 old buildings in it. There is also a chapel called Heydon Chapel inside the park. This is the smallest church in Bermuda built in 1620 and offers nondenominational services. 

4.   Church Bay Park and the lovely and secluded Whale Bay beach

5.   Second highest point on the island Gibbs Hill and the Gibbs Hill lighthouse where you can climb to the lookout porch and inspect the prism.

*Stop at a vantage point to view Bermuda’s most popular beach the Horseshoe Bay Beach. ( we are planning to snorkel here on our second day. ) 

Yep, Pink sand

*Next we will leave Southampton parish and drive into the parish of Warwick. We will stop at Warwick Long Bay and walk onto the pink sand beach.

*Right before Tuckers Town, on there is a place called “Pink Beach east’. we read that the South Shore is where you find the most pink beaches which is due to a red marine organism that grows under the corral.  

you can see the grains of pink/red 

So off went with Bram narrating the entire way, telling us the history of the island, pointing out interesting floral and plants of the island and stopping whenever we asked to take photos.  Here are a couple of view shots Cathy took as we toured the island with Bram

Bram explained to us about the roofs on the houses - they all look like this because they have collected rain water here forever as there are no rivers, creeks or streams.  The roofs are refinished every two years to keep the water clean.  The ridges on the roof slow the water down as it runs off.  Very creative

Great snorkel at Tobacco Bay 

We did end our Taxi tour at Tobacco Bay.  It is small but very nice.  It was around 1 pm when we got there.  They have a small bar with food & facilities there.  Be warned - everything in Bermuda is expensive!  They have no natural resources so everything is brought in.  That makes food very expensive.  I got a $10 Hamburger and Cathy got a $11 chicken sandwich, and that was with nothing else!  No side, no drinks!  Everyone who lives in Bermuda will tell you how expensive it is.  

After getting  bit to eat, we got a spot on the beach.  There was a couple of gals leaving that asked us if we would like their chairs & umbrella.  (It's $25 rent for 2 chairs at this beach)  we gladly accepted their offer and camped out!  The water was about 69-70 degrees as it was early in their season, but being a west coast girl, the water temp was fine for me.  The snorkeling was good - I wish I had a underwater camera as the Parrot fish I saw were the biggest I've ever seen.  I later found out they are protected in Bermuda, so they get really big.  Cathy took some excellent pictures here!

We new the last Ferry to the Dock was at 5:30 pm - we did not want to miss that as our only choice would have been to take a long bus ride back. There is a shuttle that runs all day from Tobacco Bay to Kings Square in St Georges where you catch the ferry.  It costs $3.50 and is a DEAL!  It's not a long ride but so worth it.  You can walk it, but its all up hill.

Buy your Ferry tickets for $4.50 and grab a seat about 30-40 minutes prior to departure.  The last shuttle of the day is Full and everyone lines up.  The gentleman who works the Ferry platform, takes the people sitting in chairs through first and then everyone lined up outside.  YES it is possible to have a ferry ticket and not be let on after the Ferry is full.  The reason of this is they sell ticket packages at the Dock yards that have 16 Ferry tickets in them.  So the operator doesn't nessasarily know how many people will be catching each Ferry.  So be sure to get there early enough. 

The Ferry right is 45 Minutes back to back to the dock, we were back on the ship by 5:30 and after showering, dinner & the evening show, it was lights out.

Day's 2 & 3 in my next entry
Safe travels!



Travel Tips for this itinerary: 
Below is the info on the cruise Port in Bayonne.  A very well designed cruise ship terminal, clean, good signage, everyone was pleasant.  Getting through security and to our ship was easy and the lines moved quickly 

Cape Liberty Cruise Port
Bayonne, NJ 07002

The Cape Liberty Cruise Port is located just off the New Jersey Turnpike. The terminal is 10 miles from Newark International Airport, 30 miles from JFK Airport and 21 miles from LaGuardia. Parking is $19.00 per day (rates are subject to change by Port Authority).