what to do/see in St Georges?

[feelthephunk]

hello ... we've read good things about tobacco bay

 

just wondering what others suggest doing while there?

 

thanks!

[Lthouselady]

We LOVED the Rising Son II Turtle bay catamaran beach trip. The cat pulls up right near Kings square and brings you to a private beach to swim. You pass a turtle sanctuary on the way and 'meet' the local resident turtles. This trip was AWESOME, the crew fantastic, and, FREE rum swizzles and soda!!!!

 

Also, right as you get off the ship, in the White Horse restaurant, they have a business called KS water sports where you can take a jetski tour. We rented four, two-person jetskis and took the tour. That was also a lot of fun.

 

Enjoy St Georges!!!!

[Writeratsea]

hello ... we've read good things about tobacco bay

 

just wondering what others suggest doing while there?

 

thanks!

The perfumery is located right in St. George, right behind St. Peter's church. They gave us a free tour, very interesting and I bought some cologne which smelled of Bermuda Cedar, very nice. If you like history, the Globe Hotel has civil war museum about the Confederacy and the blockade runners who sailed out of St. George. The admission was $5 (closes at 4:30) and you they have a copy available of the official seal of the Confederacy for $5 which is matted. There is a small mall, called Somers wharf and some nice little stores. I bought a nice windbreaker with a Bermuda logo at Davidson's sportwear for $35, they also had nice t-shirts for $10. The internet cafe also had good coffee as well as good internet service and is behind St. George's Liquors. Don't waste your money on the internet services on board. It takes so long to loard up the pages, your time runs out in the middle of composing and email. Just a waste, use the internet cafe I mentioned and the people there are very nice and helpful. The unfinished Cathedral was interesting, almost like a Greek temple ruin. If you are into ecology, the Bermuda Biological institute offers a free tour on Wednesday morning at 10 AM. The science researchers gave talks about rescuing the reefs and global warming. There was a nice bakery called Temptations, which also had good sandwiches. The duty free liquor prices as Goslings was higher than you paid in the duty free shop aboard the ship. Wait until Friday and they will give you an additional 10% off the already rockbottom prices. If you bring over one liter per person, you have to pay custom duties. Big deal, it is only 2% and you save so much it is irrelevant. As long as it fits in with the $800 total gifts and liquor each person is allowed. Tobacco bay and St. Catherine's beaches are just as nice as the South Shore just not as spectacularly long and wide. The Carriage House is a very good, though expensive restaurant. If you are traveling on NCL, they have a dining program that gives you $25 credit for lunch (cost $5) or $50 credit for dinner (cost $10) per person. You have to choose one or the other and the vouchers are not transferable. If you have any questions, feel free to ask as we just got back Sunday.:)

[bubbletoes]

hello ... we've read good things about tobacco bay

 

just wondering what others suggest doing while there?

 

thanks!

If you're not into music while beaching walk right up the road past St. Catherine's to Achille's Bay beach. No facilities and a small beach but peaceful. Go down to the right of the stairs with watershoes on to protect your feet from the coral and hunt for some seaglass among the rocks and in the little caves. Snorkel out to the rocks to see some Seargent Major fish, or relax in the sun. In the morning there's also shade. We saw a heron-like bird perch on the wall and watch us. We were the only ones there, our own private beach. When you leave the Perfumery go diagonally left across to Church Lane and down to the right is the peaceful graveyard behind the church with a twisted old weathered cedar, and thick plush, spongey grass. Not everyone's idea of vacation fun but it was a restful place to sit on a bench for a minute.

[jimswims]

We LOVED the Rising Son II Turtle bay catamaran beach trip. The cat pulls up right near Kings square and brings you to a private beach to swim. You pass a turtle sanctuary on the way and 'meet' the local resident turtles. This trip was AWESOME, the crew fantastic, and, FREE rum swizzles and soda!!!!

 

Also, right as you get off the ship, in the White Horse restaurant, they have a business called KS water sports where you can take a jetski tour. We rented four, two-person jetskis and took the tour. That was also a lot of fun.

 

Enjoy St Georges!!!!

 

We loved the Rising Son II Turtle Bay trip as well! We still talk about the turtles and the beach. We did it in 2004 and had it booked again in 2005 but a Tropical Storm cancelled the trip that day.

 

Tobacco Bay, St. Catherine's and Achilles are all great too! We also loved walking around and exploring St. George's...lots of history and things to see right off the ship!

 

Have fun:) !

[CaribbeanBound]

St. George, Bermuda

We left Hamilton at about 7:00 am and headed for St. George on the Eastern end of Bermuda. The voyage is worth being up on deck for the entire 2-hour trip. There is lots to see. Approaching narrow St. George Channel, we were fired upon by the Town Crier from a Gates Fort cannon. The Town Crier also greeted us upon arrival into the town.

 

Our first order of business was to catch a bus to the Crystal Cave and Fantasy Cave. Bus 1 and 3 will stop directly at Crystal Cave. Bus 10 or 11 will stop at Swizzle Inn which is within 2 blocks of the caves. It’s about a 20-minute ride. Get there early. They open at 9:30 am. We strongly suggest catching the first available bus as the caves are very popular and will get very crowded before noon. You can catch the bus on Water Street, one long block from the pier. Admission to the caves is $14 for one cave or $20 for the pair. Fantasy Cave, which reopened just 4 years ago after a 70-year closure, is BY FAR the better cave. Unfortunately most folks will never learn this fact since the ship excursions only take you to the better known Crystal Cave. Explore both caves if you have the time. If you have a choice, see Crystal Cave first (because Fantasy Cave is better). Do Fantasy Cave if you only have time for one. The best group size is under 20. It got so busy that our group had 40 people. The group behind us had at least 60! They really need to do a better job of controlling group sizes. Your best defense is to go early. The caves are full of stalagmites, stalactites, columns, soda straws, bacon, shield formations and other interesting forms. Both caves are well lit and are full of water (but you won’t get wet). The water is very clear, and believe it or not, it’s all sea water. Fantasy Cave, in addition to being better preserved, also has an interesting spooky side which I will not ruin for you here. Very worthwhile. After exploring the caves, we caught the first 1, 3, 10, or 11 bus back to the ship for lunch.

 

Following lunch, we walked 1 mile (30 minutes) to Alexandra Battery Beach Park. The Battery isn’t much to see, but the real prize here is sea glass! You’ll find it by the handful at low tide amongst the reef rocks at the end of the cement seawall (located between the battery and the beach). There is some scattered on the beach too, but the treasure lies beyond. Especially look for the cave, about 15 feet beyond the seawall, where the sea glass is 5-inches deep and sparkles in the late afternoon sun. Pottery with blue or green stripes, impressions, blue anchors, and inscriptions can be found amongst the white, green, blue, brown, red, clear, and ivory hued glass. We filled 2 quart-sized bags in about 30 minutes. You can do it in 5 minutes, but it was fun to be particular.

 

Walking back to town, we stopped into the Bermuda National Trust Museum at the Globe Hotel. This interesting museum tells the tale of the profitable blockade running that took place during the civil war. Cool souvenir: they have a press with the official “Great Seal of the Confederate States of America” plates and they make silver-foil copies of the seal with a nice matte border for $5.00. The seal itself was commissioned in 1863, measured 3.5-inches in diameter and cost $700. Around 1864, the seal reached Wilmington, NC on it’s fourth blockade run (then on to Richmond. Today it can be viewed at the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia), while the press itself remained in Bermuda.

 

St. George, Bermuda—The Next Day

We walked about a mile to Tobacco Bay on the North shore to snorkel. We brought our own gear, but rentals are also available on site. The beach is small, but nice, and the water is calm and protected by reefs. Fish are plentiful here and the snorkeling is fun. There were 2 dozen folks here when we arrived at 9:30 am. By 10:30 the beach was packed. We left and walked to Achilles Bay, a small, fairly hidden beach to the left of Fort St. Catherine.

 

Fort St. Catherine is a cool fort and museum with lots to explore. Dioramas, videos, and wall plaques along a self-guided tour are highly informative. If you visit here after seeing Fort Hamilton you’ll learn about a few of the unexplained projectile lifts, air tubes, and light boxes you previously saw but maybe didn’t know what they were or how they worked. Next to Fort St. Catherine is St. Catherine Beach. It was very popular, had a snack bar, drinks, and music. It also had some sea glass, but don’t waist your time here. For sea glass by the handful, walk down to Alexandra Beach.

 

Which we did. My wife wasn’t content with the half-gallon of sea glass we picked up the day before. She decided she wanted more. So we walked a mile to Alexandra Beach to hunt more sea glass. This is a very pleasant walk along the coast. As you leave St. Catherine, turn around just as you walk around the first bend in the road. You'll find an awesome picture-taking opportunity of the Fort. Once at Alexandra Beach, we found the tide was about 3 feet higher than it was the day before. While it made looking between the reef rocks dangerous, the cave was still fully accessible and we gathered 2 more quarts of sea glass, and walked back to the ship.

 

Upon departing St. George, once away from land, but not yet past the channel markers, be sure to keep a close sea watch. My wife spotted over a dozen flying fish and a Sunfish/Mola Mola!

 

 

http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/bermuda.html

[celbercrz333]

Just to let you know about Tobacco Bay.........you have to climb up a good sized hill and down the other side to get to it. And you have to do that again after swimming when you are going back. I liked St. Georges. It's a walking town. I liked the Pharmacy there because they had a small section where they had soaps from Scotland and England. The shops had damage from a hurricane and were closed. We went into a small grocery store with one check out lane. It was more like a 7-11 store. We were lucky to be there the night of the regimental marching band.

--Jo

[cmmcruiser]

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[Charles4515]

Just to let you know about Tobacco Bay.........you have to climb up a good sized hill and down the other side to get to it. And you have to do that again after swimming when you are going back. I liked St. Georges. It's a walking town. I liked the Pharmacy there because they had a small section where they had soaps from Scotland and England. The shops had damage from a hurricane and were closed. We went into a small grocery store with one check out lane. It was more like a 7-11 store. We were lucky to be there the night of the regimental marching band.

--Jo

 

It is not that bad a hill to and from Tobacco Bay. But if hills are a problem a taxi is only around $6.75 each way from where the ship docks. That is for the cab, not per person....

[pch]

has anyone here snorkeled in late april? just wondering if the water temperatures were bearable at that time of year.

[Charles4515]

has anyone here snorkeled in late april? just wondering if the water temperatures were bearable at that time of year.

 

I tried snorkeling in late May at Tobacco last year, I was there in late May and early October and the water was too cold for me and my friend in May. In October it was fine and the snorkeling at Tobacco is very good then. Late April is not beach weather in Bermuda, it is what I would call golfing weather. The locals don't even go to the beach until after their late May holiday which I think is May 25.

[CRAFTCRUISER]

I Believe The Small Buses That Go To Tobacco Bay From Behind The Town Hall Area Are 3.00 Pp Ea Way...... Have Snorkeled There In Oct The Water Was Very Nice....

[KerCar]

has anyone here snorkeled in late april? just wondering if the water temperatures were bearable at that time of year.

 

I spent the first week of May 2005 in Bermuda and snorkeled every day. I am from NY, though:) It's about the water temp we get here mid July.

[Charles4515]

I spent the first week of May 2005 in Bermuda and snorkeled every day. I am from NY, though:) It's about the water temp we get here mid July.

 

I could not snorkel at the end of last May but people have different tolerances for water temperature. Plus the water tempertature and air temperature will vary from year to year so there is no absolute answer about snorkeling in late April.

[cruiserssandr]

We have always found the water warm enough for swimming in late May as well as early October. Part of this may be due to the fact that we are used to the water on Cape Cod and the water there doesn't warm up till the end of July!