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Unlike almost anywhere else on earth on the tourist-friendly earth, Bermuda does NOT offer rental cars to visitors. You can rent cycles, if you have a death wish. But for most visitors, using Bermuda's buses and ferries is a cost-effective way of getting around the island.
The ferry fares are pretty simple, if you're buying point to point. You pay x amount (usually something like $4) to sail. But, the buses can be a little strange to figure out what your trip will cost. Bermuda is divided into 14 zones, and they'll sell you a ticket for either a three zone or a fourteen zone trip. See?? It's getting weird already, isn't it?
Your BEST deal and bet is to buy yourself an unlimited transportation pass for your time in Bermuda. With a three zone regular bus fare being $3, and a fourteen zone trip being $4, it won't take long before a transportation pass will pay for itself... and that's not even taking the need to have exact COIN fare in hand for buses.
You can buy the transportation passes for one day ($12 adult), three days ($28 adult), four days ($35 adult) or seven days ($45 adult). Children's fares (under 12) are approximately one half of those amounts if I remember. (All of us were adults so I didn't pay that close of attention. :) Passes can be purchased at:
Kindley Field upon your arrival. BUY THEM BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE BAGGAGE CLAIM AREA, because you can't go back in. :)
Hamilton's main bus terminal
Most post offices, although for some reason they are NOT for sale at the main post office in Hamilton
Transportation passes are good on any Bermuda public bus (the pink ones), or any SeaExpress ferry. (these go from Hamilton to Warwick/Paget, Watford Bridge, Dockyards/West End and St. George) Cheaper overall, and you only have to keep up with your little transportion card.
The card will be validated by the bus driver or ferry attendant the first time you use it. At that point, it is good for the number of days you purchased in consecutive fashion.
A great memory? How about only making one error in selecting buses during our entire stay?
And, we met quite a few interesting people on the bus. They like to chat. Leave a Comment
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 The island of Bermuda by pchamlis
You've read that I used to live in Bermuda, some 45 years ago. My parents tell me that, back then, there were people living on the east end of the island (St. George's Parish) who had never, in their entire lifetime, been over to Sandys or Southampton Parish on the west end. From their perspective, it might as well have been New York and San Francisco. Those days have changed, but in truth...people in different parishes view themselves as differently as people in different American states or Canadian provinces.
An overview of the parishes, starting with the east end:
ST GEORGE'S : Home of the village of St. George, the oldest settlement in Bermuda, dating to the early 17th centure. Also home to Kindley Field/L F Wade International airport. (BDA). Home to St. Peter's Church, and the Bermuda Parfumerie.
HAMILTON PARISH : Home to Grotto Bay and to the Crystal Caverns/Fantasy Caves. Of note, the city of Hamilton is NOT in Hamilton Parish.
SMITH'S PARISH : Home of Flatts Village, the Aquarium and Bermuda Zoo. Also, it's where I used to live, on Harrington Sound.
DEVONSHIRE PARISH : Home of the old Devonshire Church and to Palm Grove Garden.
PEMBROKE PARISH : Home to the capital, Hamilton and Spanish Point. Also home to Hamilton Harbor, and the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute.
PAGET'S PARISH : Home to King Edward Hospital, and to the Bermuda Botanical Gardens.
WARWICK PARISH : Home to outstanding beaches at Elbow and some terrific golf courses. Home to Bermuda College. Also home to Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas.
SOUTHAMPTON PARISH : Home to Horseshoe Bay Beach and the Gibbs Lighthouse.
SANDYS PARISH : (pronounced "Sands") Home to the Dockyards, Bermuda Maritime Museum, DolphinQuest, and Somerset Bridge, the world's smallest drawbridge.
The map below isn't perfect, but it will help you picture the parishes and their position on the island. Please click on the map to expand it fully... you don't want to leave out St. Georges on the east, or Southampton and Sandys on the western end. Leave a Comment
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 The US greenback. Accepted
and loved in Bermuda by pchamlis
If you pay in Bermuda dollars, you'll usually get more of your change completely in the local currency, I just think the merchants are all trying to keep everyone happy.
With the dollars at par, there's NO transaction fees for buying something in US funds rather than the local flavor. In fact, they don't even charge a fee on credit card transactions, or at least on the ones that we encountered. It could depend on your bank. We have Bank of America.
If you're using Canadian $$, UK Sterling or Euros, the daily conversion rate applies. I suspect that there is an additional fee for these transactions, especially on credit cards. As for the Canada $$, I don't THINK it's readily accepted by local merchants, although it could be an individual thing.
ONE LITTLE NOTE/WARNING... if you're returning to the US, you probably do realize that Bermuda dollars aren't going to make anyone happy if you try to spend them. So unless you're just looking to take a few BDs home for a souvenir, I'd spend them IN Bermuda. I didn't see any place in the airport to convert BDs back into US dollars before you board the plane. Then again, I wasn't looking for them, as I'd carefully kept my supply of local dollars very very low.
IF you do have Bermuda dollars and you'd like to be a good citizen, there is a collection box AT the airport, urging you to deposit your Bermuda money to "help the local wildlife and animals". So, if you end up with more local money than you'd planned, you COULD give a few dollars to the Bermuda Animal Society folks.
When we asked the transportation pass seller man at the airport if he took credit cards, he goes "no sir, I'm sorry". We then said "do you accept US funds"?
His answer? "Love it, brother".
That's pretty much the attitude everywhere. Leave a Comment
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 Dark & Stormy OR Rum Swizzle.
choose wisely by pchamlis
Bermuda has two "national" cocktails. The first is called "The Dark and Stormy". Made from two parts Ginger Beer (a hairier version of ginger ale) and one part Gosling's Black Seal rum, it really packs a punch...especially if they've used the 151 proof version of Gosling's. (It comes in 80 proof, 140 proof and 151 proof varieties, please see my separate tip about buying Gosling's for the trip home)
The other national drink is the "rum swizzle". The recipe for the swizzle is a bit more varied from place to place. Basically, it's rum with fresh fruit juices and mixer(s). One recipe for the swizzle is as follows:
8 oz Gosling's Black Seal rum
6 dashes Angostura bitters
juice of 2 lemons
crushed ice
5 oz pineapple juice
5 oz orange juice
2 oz grenadine syrup
Stir or shake vigorously until a frothing head appears. Strain into sour glasses. Garnish with a slice of orange or a Maraschino Cherry.
The swizzle is sweet, but not to a point to be sickening.
OK, the results of the personal drink voting...
I like both drinks. But, for me, the swizzle is a drink that I could spend an evening enjoying. I can and did order them by the pitcher on a couple of occasion. Mind you, a pitcher of rum swizzles screams out for public transportion or a taxi, so keep that in mind. :)
The Dark and Stormy was more of a novelty for me. I don't see it as a drink I'd order that often. It could be that I, traditionally, am not a huge ginger ale fan. And remember, ginger beer is similar, although a bit stronger. Just to prove that difference is the spark of a great relationship, Bonnie much preferred the dark and stormy to the swizzle. She liked both as well, though.
The best of each?
The best swizzles in Bermuda were clearly at THE SWIZZLE INN, over in Hamilton Parish. I'm sure the SWIZZLE INN SOUTH over in Southampton would be equally good. Get a pitcher and call a cab...or ride the pink bus. (If you've had a bunch of swizzles, you might want to sit next to the pink elephant.)
The best dark and stormy was a close call, but we're going with THE FROG AND ONION PUB over at the Dockyards. Not sure why, it was just a bit smoother.
On a power scale, both were serious head-slammers. Drink too many of either too quickly, and you'll be (as the locals say) "full hot, mon". (Full hot means seriously drunk in Bermuda. "Half hot" means you're just a little bit buzzed.) Leave a Comment
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 West End by Seabiscuit
Beaches, et al.
Horseshoe Bay - Most photographed beach in BDA. The sand is like pink powder.
Warwick Long Beach - little bit more gritty than the sand at Horseshoe, but very nice.
Shelly Bay - *very* local hang-out.
Clearwater Beach - no, I won't tell you where it is. But, it's one of the top 5 (IMHO).
John Smith's Bay - wow. What can I say. True sandy Bermudiana.
I'll think of others to add... Leave a Comment
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Bermuda is, as you know, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. There is actually not a great deal of shallow waters around the island, and the Atlantic drops off to a much deeper body of water very quickly as you leave shore. And with Bermuda being out in the middle of "open ocean", the waters in the Atlantic can get kind of rough. Quite a few deep-sea fishing outfits do ply the Atlantic, but for water sports and more gentle fishing activities, you might like the "SOUNDS" of Bermuda.
A sound is salt water surrounded on at three sides by land. Bermuda has three major "sounds"...
The GREAT sound is bordered on the west by the Dockyards area, in the middle by Tucker and Morgan islands (formerly home to the US Navy in Bermuda) and by Spanish Point, Paget's Parish on the east. The Great sound is quite deep in the middle, as it's regularly plied by major cruise ships, whether they're docking at Dockyards or heading into Hamilton Harbor.
The Little Sound, which almost seems to be a subset of the Great Sound, is bordered on the northwest by Tucker and Morgan Islands, on the south by Warwick and Southampton Parishes, and on the east by Burgess Point, Warwick.
And, Harringon Sound is the smallest and most isolated of the sounds. The only way into or out of Harrington Sound is under the bridge at Flatts Village. Otherwise, Harrington is completely surrounded by Hamilton and Smith's Parishes. When I lived in Bermuda in the 1950s, we lived on the gentle waters of Harrington Sound.
My dad used to talk about seeing the tides going out and coming in under Flatts Bridge, and how boat owners who'd left Harrington Sound for open ocean having to time their return to the tides. We saw boats waiting out that very tide change on our recent visit.
In general, the sounds are great places for watersports, jetskis, skiing, swimming off your boat and simple fishing trips. Leave a Comment
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 Gosling'Bros., makers of
Gosling's Black Seal Rum by pchamlis
"Black", as the locals call it, is good in any rum drink. A simple "black and coke" hits the spot, especially if they use the "hi-test" variety of Black.
There are actually three different types of Gosling's Black seal, namely 80 proof, 140 proof and 151 proof. And for your export information, the 151 is not allowed on airplanes...too explosive for these modern times. Only the boat people (cruise ship occupants) can leave the island legally with 151 in tow. Score one for Royal Caribbean.
If you want to take some Black home, you absolutely need to buy it at duty free out at the airport. They'll tell you as much at the Hamilton Gosling Brothers (the makers of black) liquor store. For example, a liter-size bottle of 151 proof black goes for about $35-40 if you buy it in town and plan to drink it in Bermuda. But if you buy it at duty-free, it's only about $15. Prices on the 140 and 80 proofs show a similar disparity between "buy in Bermuda for use in Bermuda" versus "taking it out of the country". So, buy your take home black at the airport.
Oh, and I'm writing a separate tip on the subject of duty free at L W Wade Airport/Kindley Field. But let me mention it here, too...
Duty free sneaks up on you. You check in at the counter and then you head to passport control. The only duty free happens before passport control, so if you want to score some black, or maybe some Cuban cigars (good luck with US customs), buy them before getting in line for passport control. THERE IS NO DUTY-FREE WITHIN THE DEPARTURE TERMINAL AREA. Oh, and in Bermuda, duty free does mean a bargain. I know that in most places, it's just something that you do without any real monetary savings. :)
Realizing as we got to the passport line that I needed to haul my tail back out to duty free for some black. :) Leave a Comment
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 The Great Kiskadee, hanging
around Horseshoe Beach by pchamlis
However, the kiskadee was everywhere...and they are NOISY. A very pretty bird that likes to chat, you'll be serenaded all over the island.
The Kiskadee is actually an imported species, arriving by deliberate action in 1957. 200 Kiskadees were imported from Trinidad and their original assignment was to help control a species of lizard that was annoying the islands. However, as is usually the case, things don't go exactly as planned. They've invaded nesting areas of the native Bermuda bluebird, and have even hunted the formerly indemic cicada to extinction. On one website, I read the kiskadee described as a bird terrorist, a aviary mafioso, so to speak.
Bermudians
Well, we did enjoy indentifiying the kiskadee by sound and sight. But, I still laugh when I think of my bird loving daughter saying, with glee, to our B&B hosts that she'd seen kiskadees. Harry and Marlie were clearly less than thrilled. :) Leave a Comment
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 East End by SeabiscuitLeave a Comment
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 Bermuda Whistling Tree Frog.
Try finding one! by pchamlis
But by golly, they're there. They make a distinct sound that I found somewhat peaceful...but then again, I'm a country boy who enjoys the sounds of crickets in the woods. The photo below was taken from a Bermuda's Fauna website, because we sure as heck didn't SEE any frogs. Just heard 'em.
Shaking down a bush near the Princess Hotel trying to find a hidden tree frog. A few locals saw us doing so and just laughed. :) One guy told me that it was all a hoax and that the island government had installed tiny speakers all over Bermuda to intrigue tourists. And with that, they walked away laughing even harder. Leave a Comment
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