Our 2 Days in Bermuda

[GreytRacer]

We recently visited Bermuda, for the first time, onboard the Enchantment of the Seas. We were in port from 11am Saturday, 6/2, until 5pm Sunday, 6/3/12. Here's what we did:

 

We got off the ship as soon as the all clear was given and got in line for our transportation passes. The line was long, but moved quickly. We purchased a 2 day pass (cash only). We were strolling in a leisurely fashion to the ferry when some people along the street told us to hurry, so we could catch the ferry and it could leave. It was only 11:45am, and it wasn't scheduled to leave until noon, but they told us that once we were on, it would leave. So we hustled and got on board.

 

The ride was beautiful and interesting, as there was a yacht parade for the Queen's coronation celeration.

 

Once in Hamilton, we walked up the street to get to the bus stop and passed a small park on our left where there were dancers and drummers performing. It was a great unexpected surprise to see the adults and very small children in their costumes!

 

 

We then took a bus to St Georges. They really packed us on and we stood for a good portion of the ride. Once we got to the Swizzle Inn stop, which was also the stop for the caves, alot of people got off the bus and we were able to sit. The ride took about 50 minutes from Hamilton to St Georges.

 

We walked around the area and down by the dock. We then headed up to Tobacco Bay, which took us past the Unfinished Catherdral. We were intrigued by this, and spent a bit of time looking around and taking picture on our walk back to town. Go right up to what would have been the entrance and look in to the right to see a sign that gives the history of the church.

 

 

We got to Tobacco Bay after a bit of a hot walk and had drinks and split a tasty fish sandwich at the beach bar there. We didn't have our swimsuits on (wish we had; it was much hotter than we expected!), but there were a few people in the water. We put our hands in and it was a bit cool, but not bad.

 

We walked abit more in the area (towards the fort) and took some pictures and then headed back to St Georges and the bus. There were alot of people lined up, but not all were waiting for the bus we took, so we were able to board after only a short wait for the bus.

 

We asked the driver if we could get off at Swizzle Inn and he said "Only if you want to drink some rum!" He called out the stop for us, plus we saw it on the right hand side, as we came around a corner.

 

 

We enjoyed a small pitcher of Rum Swizzlers from a seat on the 2nd floor balcony. We might have ordered some food, but the service was very slow, so we just had our drinks. We then caught a bus that was also going to Hamilton, but took a different route back then the one we had come by (I'm sorry, I can't remember which numbers they were). This bus took us through the center of Bermuda, so we were able to see all the golf courses and more of the colorful homes.

 

As we were there on a weekend, and early in the season, the transportation schedule was a bit limited. On our second day, we took our time getting up and out, as the transportation wasn't scheduled to start running until later in the morning. As we ate breakfast, we saw the ferry and busses were already going, so we finished up and headed out.

 

We took a bus to Sea Glass Beach, again, letting the driver know where we wanted to get off. He called out stop out for us and waved us in the general direction of the beach. As we looked down towards the beach, we luckily saw people down below, so we could figure out where we were headed. A family then headed up the stairs, which was great, as we might have missed them otherwise. We spent about 20 minutes there picking up glass, but didn't really do any serious hunting, as we had never collected it before, so it was all new to us. However, there were about 10 people hunkered down and really hunting! We had ziploc bags with us, so we filled one of those and headed back up to the bus.

 

Steps to Sea Glass Beach

 

We then caught the bus to Horseshoe Bay, and the Express bus stopped for us, as they had riders getting off at Sea Glass.

 

After the steep walk down to the beach, we set up our towels We only got our feet wet, as the water was very cool. We walked down the beach to 3 of the coves beyond Horseshoe, which were really beautiful and very deserted. There were pop-up showers, so we just ran up against the rocks and were shielded from the worst of it.

 

This area of Bermuda really reminded me of Hawaii, with the large volcanic boulders and the beautiful water and sand (and pop up rain!)

 

 

After a few hours, we headed back up the steep hill (we opted to walk off some of our cruise food). There was a bus waiting, so we boarded right away. However, a supervisor held the bus for about 15 minutes, saying that there were more people coming. There weren't, so she finally let us leave.

 

When we got back to the Dockyard, we went into the Glass Factory, sampled (and purchased) some Rum Cakes (Rum Swizzle cakes are awesome!) and did some souvenir shopping. Davison's had some cute kids clothes and ladies-cut t-shirts that were all very reasonably priced. We then went to the Frog and Onion to enjoy a Dark and Stormy (yum!), where you could also sample beers right outside the pub.

 

We considered doing some quick snorkeling at snorkel park, but we only would have had about 30 minutes there, so we decided against it. One of our tablemates did snorkel there and said he really enjoyed it.

 

Snorkel Beach at the Dockyards

 

So that's what we did. Hope that it's helpful to folks trying to plan their days. We had a great time and can't wait to go back!

[Keith1010]

Thanks for taking the time to write a very comprehensive trip report.

 

Excellent.

 

Great images as well.

 

Keith

[jimbri]

Thank you so much. Loved the photos. We leave tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[family cruisers]

We cruise to Bermuda every year in the fall, can you believe I have never had a rum swizzle. How are they? Whats the taste like? My DH doesn't drink, I do on occasion (our yearly cruise :) )

[cadburysmom]

Great trip report and gorgeous photos! What type of camera did you use?

[sue58]

Excellent trip report GreytRacer and wonderful pictures, thank you.

 

We are leaving for Bermuda next Sunday (first time) and I am currently reading guidebooks cover to cover, reading the forums and making lots of notes. We are there for three days and we'll be doing some of the things you did during your visit - your pictures are a great help in visualizing what we will be seeing.

[GreytRacer]

Thanks all! Glad you're enjoying my report. :)

 

We cruise to Bermuda every year in the fall, can you believe I have never had a rum swizzle. How are they? Whats the taste like? My DH doesn't drink, I do on occasion (our yearly cruise :) )

 

I found the Rum Swizzle to be very refreshing (and if the pitcher had been bigger, we could have gotten ourselves in trouble! :rolleyes: ) It is a citrusy drink, but not acidic at all. And, I could definitley taste the rum, but it was oh-so-smooth.

 

Great trip report and gorgeous photos! What type of camera did you use?

 

My camera is a Nikon Coolpix S6300, so just a little "pocket" camera, nothing fancy. (But after years of a 4x zoom Canon, this 10x zoom is great!) I had just gotten the camera as a gift 2 weeks before this trip, so I was hoping I was pressing all the right buttons and using the correct settings! :p

[vavasmom]

Thank-you for the report. We were on the EN's 6 day cruise Sunday afternoon - Tuesday AM in port but are considering booking the 8 day with the Sat- Sun stop. We could of used the family coming up the glass beach stairs - we almost missed it

 

Do you happen to know what time the buses started running? the schedule looks like it is 10:50 for the #7 or 9:35 for the #8 (which does not go to the beaches).

[GreytRacer]

Thank-you for the report. We were on the EN's 6 day cruise Sunday afternoon - Tuesday AM in port but are considering booking the 8 day with the Sat- Sun stop. We could of used the family coming up the glass beach stairs - we almost missed it

 

Do you happen to know what time the buses started running? the schedule looks like it is 10:50 for the #7 or 9:35 for the #8 (which does not go to the beaches).

The buses were definitely running before 10:50am the day we were there, as we had planned to be on that one, and while eating breakfast, we could see buses running already. I checked the information on the first picture I took once we got to Sea Glass and it says 9:50am, which would be 10:50am Bermuda time. So it looks like we were at the beach and searching for glass at the time the buses were supposed to start running.

[cadburysmom]

Thanks for the camera info! :)

[SailBadtheSinner]

...............................................

 

Do you happen to know what time the buses started running? the schedule looks like it is 10:50 for the #7 or 9:35 for the #8 (which does not go to the beaches).

 

 

The route #7 bus departs the Dockyard at 8:20am weekdays & Sat. but on weekdays it does the school route, and 10:50am Sun. then every 30 minutes thereafter.

 

The route #8 bus departs the Dockyard at: 6:35am weekdays, 7:35am Sat., and 9.35am Sun. then every 30 minutes thereafter except for Sun. which has an hour gap between the first and second bus departures.

 

 

SBtS

[sept10dsm]

Thanks for taking the time to write your adventures! I, too, have been reading all I can get my hands on for our 3 days in Bermuda in the fall. We had a 9-5 stop last May and my husband loved the island but we did only the dockyard area. This trip the first 2 days will be going other places. Thanks again!

[jdvmd]

Such great information in this thread. Thanks to all.