Three days, need some advice

[blackwing]

On the Getaway departing Sunday.  We have three days in Bermuda.  Family is me, wife, two teens.  Water seems too cold to swim and we aren't big fans of overpriced cruise line excursions.  Wife and kids don't have any appreciation for history or museums.  On most of our past cruises we haven't done that many excursions, we typically just walk around the port and browse the shops.

 

I'm kind of at a loss as to what to do for the three days.  Right now my plan is one day take taxi to Horseshoe Bay.  Son might swim (he's a little crazy) but the rest of us were just going to relax and sit on the beach.  Maybe read or play card games.  Second day I was thinking take the ferry (if there is one) to Hamilton and spend time just walking around Hamilton.  Third day I was thinking take the ferry (if there is one) to St. George and walk around.

 

These don't have to be full days out, just a little something so we can get off the ship and see a little bit of Bermuda.

 

If there are any private non-NCL excursions anyone recommends, would love to hear some ideas.  I personally would love to see the aquarium/zoo but not sure if the family agrees.

[princeton123211]

21 minutes ago, blackwing said:

Water seems too cold to swim and we aren't big fans of overpriced cruise line excursions. 

Water will be too cold for (most) people. Mid 60s right now-- wont find me near it. Horseshoe Bay is nice but its going to be brisk. Even the air temp is going to be high 60s and maybe just touching 70. Not really beach weather. 

 

23 minutes ago, blackwing said:

Second day I was thinking take the ferry (if there is one) to Hamilton and spend time just walking around Hamilton.  Third day I was thinking take the ferry (if there is one) to St. George and walk around.

I would flip these days-- day 2 go to St Georges since its further away. You can either take the ferry back or work your way back overland. NCL runs a free ferry to St Georges. On your last day Hamilton is much closer to the Dockyard. Maybe even do St Georges day 1, Hamilton day 2, and go sit on the beach for a few hours on day 3 before heading back to the ship. 

 

 

 

[Laszlo]

Yup, take the ferry to St Georges. The Bermuda Aquarium, Museum & Zoo is pretty nice. 

 

And yes too cold to go in the water unless you have a wetsuit or are a crazy teen

 

The dockyard will get old pretty fast and you'll get bored of it. I would come up with a plan. Looks like it will be 70 next week with a low if 65 so not too bad of temps, however on or near the water will be cooler

[minniemouse427]

We are planning our three days in Bermuda this summer and have one non-swimmer.

Things I have on my possible list, we won't do all of them!
Mini golf at dockyard
Aquarium & Zoo
Crystal Cave
Bike ride on Rail Trail
Storytelling Walking Tour in St. George
Explore Hamilton
Explore St. George
History tour/fort
Blue Hole Park
Underwater Exploration Institute (BUEI)
Catamaran Cruise (non swimmer hang on boat for swimming portion)

[blackwing]

These are good ideas, thanks!

 

Seems like we might do:

 

Tuesday - take taxi/bus to Warwick Long Beach.  Take some photos.  Walk along path to Horseshoe Bay.  Sit there for as long as we can stand it.  Perhaps go to Gibbs Hill Lighthouse.

It seems like a hike from Horseshoe to the lighthouse (maybe 45 minutes?)  Is it feasible to get a taxi from there back to the dockyards?  Can we catch the bus somewhere on the main road?  Or would we have to walk all the way back to Horseshoe?

 

Wednesday - ferry to St. George.  Walk around, see the Old Unfinished Church and other sites.  Too bad the dunking of the wench is seasonal.

 

Thursday - ferry to Hamilton.  Walk around.  Take bus or taxi to aquarium.

 

On whichever day we have some leftover time, will take a short walk from dockyard to Sea Glass Beach.

[Charles4515]

1 hour ago, blackwing said:

These are good ideas, thanks!

 

Seems like we might do:

 

Tuesday - take taxi/bus to Warwick Long Beach.  Take some photos.  Walk along path to Horseshoe Bay.  Sit there for as long as we can stand it.  Perhaps go to Gibbs Hill Lighthouse.

It seems like a hike from Horseshoe to the lighthouse (maybe 45 minutes?)  Is it feasible to get a taxi from there back to the dockyards?  Can we catch the bus somewhere on the main road?  Or would we have to walk all the way back to Horseshoe?

 

Wednesday - ferry to St. George.  Walk around, see the Old Unfinished Church and other sites.  Too bad the dunking of the wench is seasonal.

 

Thursday - ferry to Hamilton.  Walk around.  Take bus or taxi to aquarium.

 

On whichever day we have some leftover time, will take a short walk from dockyard to Sea Glass Beach.

From and Horseshoe to Gibbs Lighthouse is not walkable. The main road is a two lane road with no sidewalk or shoulder and blind curves with traffic. You can take the bus there and from there to Lighthouse Road then walk to the Lighthouse from the bus stop. No sidewalk either but not much traffic traffic on Lighthouse Rd. Easy to get a taxi from Horseshoe to Gibbs but might have to wait for a taxi from Gibbs. Ask them to call a taxi at the gift shop.

 

Sea Glass beach, you can't take any glass, so you are just getting to see a trash heap. 

 

 

[Laszlo]

3 hours ago, blackwing said:

These are good ideas, thanks!

 

Seems like we might do:

 

Tuesday - take taxi/bus to Warwick Long Beach.  Take some photos.  Walk along path to Horseshoe Bay.  Sit there for as long as we can stand it.  Perhaps go to Gibbs Hill Lighthouse.

It seems like a hike from Horseshoe to the lighthouse (maybe 45 minutes?)  Is it feasible to get a taxi from there back to the dockyards?  Can we catch the bus somewhere on the main road?  Or would we have to walk all the way back to Horseshoe?

 

Wednesday - ferry to St. George.  Walk around, see the Old Unfinished Church and other sites.  Too bad the dunking of the wench is seasonal.

 

Thursday - ferry to Hamilton.  Walk around.  Take bus or taxi to aquarium.

 

On whichever day we have some leftover time, will take a short walk from dockyard to Sea Glass Beach.

You don't really want to walk along any of the main roads, they are very narrow and it some places have walls on both side

[njhorseman]

3 hours ago, blackwing said:

Is it feasible to get a taxi from there back to the dockyards? 

 

2 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

Easy to get a taxi from Horseshoe to Gibbs but might have to wait for a taxi from Gibbs

I'm not sure that it will be easy to get a taxi from Horseshoe Bay either because at this time of the year few people will be going to the beach so I wouldn't expect taxis to be waiting for passengers at Horseshoe right now.

[Charles4515]

1 hour ago, njhorseman said:

 

I'm not sure that it will be easy to get a taxi from Horseshoe Bay either because at this time of the year few people will be going to the beach so I wouldn't expect taxis to be waiting for passengers at Horseshoe right now.

Good point. It might not be easy. 

[blackwing]

2 hours ago, njhorseman said:

 

I'm not sure that it will be easy to get a taxi from Horseshoe Bay either because at this time of the year few people will be going to the beach so I wouldn't expect taxis to be waiting for passengers at Horseshoe right now.

Ah, I hadn’t thought of that.  I’ll plan on us taking the bus

 

[Laszlo]

10 hours ago, blackwing said:

Ah, I hadn’t thought of that.  I’ll plan on us taking the bus

 

You could also rent two Twizzy electric cars from the dockyard 

 

 

[princeton123211]

18 hours ago, blackwing said:

Ah, I hadn’t thought of that.  I’ll plan on us taking the bus

Or there is an local app called Hitch which will call you a taxi like an Uber from your phone for a premium. Upside is they bill a credit card you have with the app so can cut down on need for cash.

[billslowsky]

On 3/22/2024 at 8:31 PM, njhorseman said:

 

I'm not sure that it will be easy to get a taxi from Horseshoe Bay either because at this time of the year few people will be going to the beach so I wouldn't expect taxis to be waiting for passengers at Horseshoe right now.

There were a couple of cabs sitting by the parking lot when I was at Horseshoe last week.

[Lois R]

To the OP, you cruised to Bermuda last month, correct? So, how was your trip and what did you end up doing?

[SkippersCruisersMN]

We did 3 days in Bermuda last April while on the Pearl. We got a pass to take Bermuda's Public Transportation (ferrys and busses) for about $20 a person one of the days. We explored much of the island this way. We also took the ferry to see Bermuda from the sea. The guy at the visitor infomation center that old us tickets also pulled up a map and helped us pick the most scenic routes. Our bus drivers were all very pleasant.

[blackwing]

3 hours ago, Lois R said:

To the OP, you cruised to Bermuda last month, correct? So, how was your trip and what did you end up doing?

We were on the 3/24 - 3/31 Getaway sailing.  We only ended up getting two days in Bermuda because of rough seas.  On the first day we took a taxi to Warwick Long Bay.  It was pretty deserted.  Saw two man o' war on the beach, although I think they might have just been the float sac because I didn't see any tentacles, I actually thought they were packing material at first.  Then we walked the path to Horseshoe Bay and saw all the little beaches in between.  Stayed there until about 4 and then took the public bus back.

 

Day two, I wanted to go to St. George but the ship was departing at 6 so in order to make it worth it, I wanted us to take the 9:30 AM ferry  The next ferry was 11 or 11:30 I think, and it takes an hour.  The last ferry back was at 3 or 3:30.  I thought taking the 11 wasn't worth it because it'd be two hours on ferries for three hours of walking around.  I got outvoted on the 9:30.  So we just stayed in the Dockyards area and walked around the shops.  I heard from some that went to St. George that they were disappointed, a lot of places were closed.

 

If we had a third day I would have insisted on going to either Hamilton or St. George.

[Charles4515]

A lot of business’s close in St. George’s for the winter season. There are only a few cruise ships in the winter so they can’t afford to stay open. Warwick Long Bay is pretty deserted even in the summer. Lack of facilities is the reason. I like to walk that beach but I don’t like the drop off and currents. Farther along towards Horseshoe there are several protected shallow coves. Portuguese Man o War would be arriving at this time of year so not surprising you saw a few. They usually peak in May. Lifeguards arrive at Horseshoe on April 1 and they pick the Man o War off the beach. 

[njhorseman]

3 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

Lifeguards arrive at Horseshoe on April 1 and they pick the Man o War off the beach. 

Lifeguards don't start at Horseshoe until May 1. This happened to be on today's Royal Gazette:

https://www.royalgazette.com/opinion-writer/opinion/article/20240408/urgent-action-needed-to-extend-lifeguard-season/

[Charles4515]

1 hour ago, njhorseman said:

Lifeguards don't start at Horseshoe until May 1. This happened to be on today's Royal Gazette:

https://www.royalgazette.com/opinion-writer/opinion/article/20240408/urgent-action-needed-to-extend-lifeguard-season/

I thought I had read April 1 a few years ago but May 1 makes sense to them when they don’t consider beach weather to start until May 24. I had read about the recent drowning. I am surprised people are swimming now. When I went in May a couple of times I could not tolerate the water temperature. He wants to extend the season but there are many beaches without lifeguards at all in Bermuda. Warwick Long Bay no lifeguards ever and a deep drop off. I felt current there right away. Church Bay strong currents. Elbow Beach no lifeguard and if you venture out you get pulled by a current. Horseshoe you have to step out a ways to feel current. To get in over your head.  With all that…..drownings at those beaches including Horseshoe in the off season seem pretty rare. 

Edited April 9 by Charles4515

[luckyinpa]

check out tom moores jungle with write ups on trip advisor. a bit of walking and exploring caves and different paths and looking at pretty water .