A Wedding in Bermuda

Bermuda is a tiny series of islands out in the Atlantic... you could say they are on the edge of the Caribbean, but you'd be wrong - they are out there on their own! I've included a snapshot from Google Maps showing the islands. Go ahead, go to the Google link and zoom out... keep going... keep going... c'mon, right out to 500 km...hey, is that Virginia Beach just showing up west of Bermuda? Indeed it is! And if you move the screen up a bit (start heading south)... hey, there's the edge of the Caribbean! Yup a long way from anywhere, but certainly the place to be!

Bermuda Tourism has a great website chockful of great information - want to know what the weather will be like at a particular time of year? Or what kind of wildlife you might encounter? What festivals are on? How to get there? Where to stay? Or where to find the best Rum Swizzles? It's all there.

The Bermuda Tourism website has a complete listing of what cruise ships and airlines dock at / fly into Bermuda, but here's a sampling of the ones I know of.

Many major airlines fly into Bermuda's little airport - Air Canada, American Airlines, and British Airways, to name some major ones. I never really appreciated the colour "bermuda blue" until we were approaching Bermuda by plane. As we dipped down in preparation for landing, you could see the shallows coming up, and the striking blue of the ocean in that area. It was breathtaking.

As well, cruise ships dock all the time in Bermuda. Although we took a plane there this last time, I think next time, we'll take a cruise ship there... just for a change... and yes, we are definitely going back! Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Norwegian Cruiselines and Carnival Cruiselines are some of the cruise lines that come to Bermuda (we saw the cruise ships at the Naval Dockyards).

The photo: A cruise ship tied up in the Naval Dockyards

Bermuda doesn't have wild swings in its temperature - it rangew from about 20C to 29C (70F to 85F). So, it's warm, but not horribly so. But... it is humid!! That was the biggest thing we noticed. Getting off the plane, and walking across the tarmac was well... interesting. Hot, humid air up the nether regions when you've been in a dry and air-conditioned plane is a bit of shock :) That said, dress appropriately and all is good. I wouldn't go for a run there, but a nice leisurely stroll down to the bus stop to go to the Dockyards or the like is pleasant. It's warm but you're not sweating horribly. And you're never far from an ocean breeze!

The photo: my husband and two of his nephews at the Naval Dockyard... dressed appropriately for the beautiful weather.

It was quite warm and sunny the entire time we were there (14 days) - there were some rain showers in the morning on the last two days - but it was still very humid no matter what. Now I don't tan well, and even if I did, I wouldn't go anywhere without a shirt to cover my shoulders at some point, a good layer of sunblock, and a nice wide-brimmed hat! Even my husband had a wide-brimmed hat he took with him.

The photo: Me... pulling a face... but wearing my sunhat!!

The speed limit is 35 kph (21 mph), yes, you read that right, 35 kph. You drive on the left side of the road (like the UK) and even the main roads are quite narrow and quite often don't have much of a shoulder on them. Get off the main roads, and they become even smaller - two way traffic is a challenge on some of these. It took us nearly an hour to get to our resort as it was on one of the furthest away islands - that and the taxi driver stopped and showed us the sights along the way.

One thing to note - you can't rent a car in Bermuda, only scooters... only residents are allowed to drive cars. So what's left?

Well, taxis, as I noted previously. Nothing is really that far away in Bermuda, so even a longer trip doesn't cost that much, relatively speaking. And the taxi drivers are also all licensed as tour guides, so are more than happy to take you around the island to all its hidden treasures for a reasonable fee.

But my favourite way around the island was actually by bus. They were cheaper than a taxi and there are about a dozen routes covering all parts of Bermuda. We would usually wander down the hill from the resort, into Somerset Village to the bus stop and head to the Naval Dockyard where we could shop, wander, and perhaps chat a ferry into Hamilton. By the way, while you can pay cash for the bus, you need exact change, so I'd advise you get some bus tokens. Most hotels/resorts will have bus tokens available for you to purchase in their main reception area.

So that takes us to ferries... As we were near to the Naval Dockyards we had a couple of routes available to us, and could get to Hamilton or St. George, the two main cities in Bermuda. Travel by boat is great. They have open air upper deck seating so you get a lovely breeze as you move along and through the islands. I loved it!

Okay, so public transportation isn't for you, and you're not a fan of ferries and/or taxis... what's left? Scooters (mopeds). I can't personally recommend them as we didn't rent one, but it is apparently a nice way to get around. Personally, I wasn't keen simply because my husband didn't have a drivers' license at the time (he has epilepsy and hadn't been seizure free for a year yet), so I'd have had to do the driving. That coupled with driving on the left side of the road (I'm Canadian, we drive on the right) with a passenger, just scared me too much.

The photo: From the top of the ferry heading from the Naval Dockyards into the city of Hamilton. Lovely white rooftops reflecting the sun in the distance across the water.

Again, the Bermuda Tourism website has loads of good information on it. Basically the key is to get yourself a good wedding planner. Many of the resorts have wedding packages and have a wedding planner who takes care of many of the details in that regard. We actually took it an extra step and got a wedding planner in Canada who worked with the resort one to iron out all the little details and extras that we wanted. The basic wedding package at the resort was good, but we wanted a few other things like a wedding arch, specific flower arrangements, a larger cake (we had more guests than most destination weddings have), a photographer and videographer (the package only included photographs), and so on. I think the couple extra thousand dollars for wedding planners at both ends was well worth it.

There are great restaurants and pubs all over Bermuda - truthfully, we didn't encounter any bad ones, although some are more expensive than others. And again, if you're looking for deals, they are hard to come by in Bermuda... although if you hit Happy Hours, it's not too bad.

The photo: The menu for our wedding reception (Cambridge Beaches - Tamarisk restaurant)

Bizarre eh? What do they then? Simple, they collect rainwater! The beautiful white roofs of Bermudian houses are specially designed to collect rainwater which is then stored in underground tanks - all houses have one. There are also some groundwater (pockets of water under the ground) "lenses" from which water is also extracted and can be bought if a household doesn't have enough rainwater for their purposes.

So water is a valuable commodity in Bermuda, and you are asked in hotels, etc to ration your use if you can!

I've separated some of the places we visited out into separate sections below. We travelled all over the place. My favourite times were by the beaches though... good thing Bermuda is a bunch of islands... I was never far from one.

The photo: Did I mention the frogs? They have singing tree frogs... every evening the air is filled with this rhythmic hum. It takes a bit of getting used to, but it grows on you. They are tiny but very loud. There are also giant toads. We spent about half an hour one evening (after a few bevvies, I do admit) chasing one around the croquet court!

... and convenient. There was a larger grocery store in the village where we could pick up fresh fruit and things for lunches that we'd take with us on our travels on the islands. A much cheaper alternative than restaurants obviously...

And as I mentioned in the How to Get Around section, buses are the way to go, and the bus stop was only a short walk down into the village from our resort.

The photo: My husband posing as a garden gnome in front of some gigantic vegetation in Somerset Village - on our way to catch the bus to the Naval Dockyards.

Bermuda Tourism has a good description of what the Royal Naval Dockyards have to offer so I won't bore you with too much detail. Yes, it was the dockyards for the Royal Navy but it was closed years ago and basically turned into a tourist mecca. There are artisan shops there (like the one I got my glass frog from), the Bermuda Maritime Museum -it's well worth a visit - and of course the Dolphin Quest facilities. We went to a show there where the keepers fed the dolphins and had them splash us, etc. You are very close to the pools, so it's very personal feeling. Apparently you can also arrange for an actual swim with the dolphins, although we didn't do that.

The ferries also go back and forth between Hamilton/St. George and the Naval Dockyard (mentioned already in the How to Get Around section), and more often than not, you'll see a cruise ship tied up there too.

What else... hmmm, restaurants and pubs... but I already mentioned several in the Where to Eat and Drink section.

The Crystal and Fantasy Caves are also a bit of fun, and a nice escape to somewhere cool on a hot day. We went through both of them. It was quite interesting to see all the formations and the pools of water. They have lights throughout that they turn on and off as you travel through the caves with your tour guide. We really enjoyed it.

If you want to get a great view of Bermuda, a trip to Gibbs Hill Lighthouse is a must. It's a bit of a climb to the top (180+ steps I believe), but once you're up there, you can see quite a bit of Bermuda. And you can finally appreciate how isolated these islands really are. You look out all around and everywhere in the distance is blue sea. No blue sea, then specks of mountains or coastline... just blue sea. Bermuda is all alone out there!

Go... go... it's fun! I suspect they gave me a slow jet ski, as I was way behind my husband and the tour guide when we were out on the open water... and despite having the throttle wide open!

We went up the west side of Somerset Island and into Long Bay. On the south side of the bay is the Nine Beaches resort which I mentioned in the "Where to Stay" module, and on the north side is Cambridge Beaches resort (where we were staying). Right in between the two is a beautiful house where - here's the rumour - David Bowie lives when he's in Bermuda! Had to mention that - he's one of my fave singers! And it's also rumoured that he's hung out at the pub at Cambridge Beaches resort a time or two. We are so going back... maybe we'll see him and/or Iman strolling down the road between Nine Beaches and Cambridge Beaches or in Somerset Village.

The photo: Long Bay - looking across from Nine Beaches resort over to "ours" (Cambridge Beaches). Sorry couldn't fit in DB's house - trees were in the way ;-)