We traveled to Bermuda to see the America’s Cup and to dual celebrate our anniversary but mainly because we (well, mainly me) wanted to see the AC boats and races. The fact it was a Bermuda was secondary. I always knew of Bermuda, it’s where my Grandparents went when I was younger, but knowing about a place and having it on your radar as a location to visit are two different things.
Let’s just say Bermuda was not on my radar.
But after going to Bermuda for the America’s Cup, I have to say that I just fell in love with the place and will be back. I tried to make sure I told all the locals I ran into this fact. Any money the small island spend on getting the America’s Cup there was well spent and will be come back to them 10 fold – the people that visited will be back, those that watched on TV or online will see those blue green waters and want to know more also.
First thing we noticed about Bermuda was the short flight. The second was the colorful houses. We stayed at the Grotto Bay – originally just because it was one of the few hotels that was not full for the America’s Cup weekend – but we were extremely pleased with the place.
There was no shortage of critters just roaming around
Cat (my wife Cat) made friends with the local Cats
While chickens were just freely roaming also.
What also made the hotel interesting were the caves. Sure there were the Crystal Caves just down the road that you could pay to go walk through (and we did)
But the Grotta Bay had two caves; One designated as a spa while the other you could go swim in
As seen in the prior post America’s Cup Bermuda [http://slightlycrewed.com/americas-cup-bermuda/], we spent the first couple days at the America’s Cup Village and then spent the next few days exploring the island.
We did what every good tourist must do. We rented a scooter
and headed into Hamilton
We had to go into Hamilton quite a few times to catch the ferry over to the America’s Cup Village so we had come quite familiar with it. We ate at the Hog Penny on the recommendation of a family friend. It was unique to see “Samuel Adams” (a fairly local brew for us) listed on the Imported list. Reminded us that we were not home.
The next day we decided to do some more exploring. We headed over to the famed Horse Shoe Bay Beach. Rated in the top 10 beaches in the world (#8 to be specific)… It’s a tourist mecca. They get off the cruise ships and get bused in and dropped off. If you like the crowds, this is the place to go. We didn’t stay. We took one look at the crowd and said “forget this place” immediately.
I would tell you to outright skip that beach unless you want to be daring. There are the large rock (volcanic rock) formations that tower over the beach. People were on the rocks looking down and I thought it was time for us to be daring. With a quick climb we were at the top of one of them
Took a little convincing and one false start but Cat took the plunge! She had a chorus of 15 year old cheering her on and over the cliff!
We decided to leave the over crowded beach after that in search of something a bit more our speed.
We scootered over to the Cooper’s Island Nature Reserve. It’s hard to get to (unless you have transportation) and you’ll need a bit of a walk but you will be rewarded with this scene
The first beach on the left was all ours. The was another long beach (I believe that’s what it was called) just a little farther down and on the left, which we visited the next day. Both times, no more than 8 people including ourselves, were seen on the beaches.
Afterwards we headed to St. Georges. The town used to be the old capital before they moved it to the more centrally located Hamilton
We actually preferred St. George and chose to go back there a few times and have our Anniversary dinner there at one of the restaurants
Eventually it was time to go though. The Swizzle Inn is also just a short walk from the Grotto Bay so while we waited for our flight departure time to get closer and after we turned back in the scooter, we walked down for one last drink.
Had a great time there and will definitely be coming back. If you can’t rent (or just don’t want to drive) a scooter, by all means, please take the local bus. It’s a ride worthy of an amusement park ride that you will not soon forget. So much fun!
Until next trip!
