THE BEAUTIFUL HOMES, HOTELS & BEACHES OF BERMUDA

Hello there! I hope you have not yet tired of all my reporting on Bermuda because I saved the best for last: the beautiful homes, hotels & beaches of Bermuda.

On our 2nd day on the island, we decided to take a ferry ride from the Royal Naval Dockyard where our ship was moored, to the City of Hamilton.

As we waited for our ferry, I couldn’t resist snapping a photo of these 3 lovely ladies.

Clean, efficient and inexpensive ferries whisk passengers to numerous places around the island. Our ferry ride took us from the Dockyard that you can see in the center of the map below, to the City of Hamilton, located on the right of the map. The 20 minute trip passes by several of the small islands you can also see on the map, most of which have lovely homes, complete with docks and boats. As we passed by, I was able to capture pictures of a number of these colorful, waterfront abodes.

Life is good in Bermuda, where the affluence is evident in the abundance of beautiful and expensive homes that cover this island paradise.

As I said, many of the homes you see in these photos are on small islands that can only be accessed by boat. Thus, the homes come complete with matching boat docks and residents use their boats to go to town.

Homes without docks tether their boats to moorings and use small dinghies to get to their boats.

As our ferry approached Hamilton, low rise condominiums came into view.

In some cases residents can still moor their vessels right out front.

And then there are lovely waterfront hotels as well. This is the Fairmont Hamilton Princess Hotel & Beach Club.

Citizens of Bermuda are not limited to the number of boats they can possess, but they are limited to 1 automobile per residence.

This law is intended to limit the number of vehicles on the small island and keep traffic down; however, I understand they still have traffic jams at rush hour. That is the reason so many residents ride motor scooters, which we noticed as our ferry docked in Hamilton.

On our final day in Bermuda we hired a car & driver and spent 4 hours exploring the island. This way we could return to the places that interested us on our first day when we took a minibus tour. As we drove along, our driver accommodated our requests to pull over wherever we thought there was a good photo opp. First stop was at this pristine beach located less than a mile from the Royal Naval Dockyard where our ship was docked. The water was warm and crystal clear.

We then made a stop at Glass Beach where the sand and ocean floor was covered with beautiful sea glass.

I was so tempted to take a piece home as a souvenir of this beautiful island but I resisted, especially after reading this sign.

Our next stop was the lovely Cambridge Beaches Resort & Spa. I’d be tempted to check in here on my next visit to Bermuda, where guests occupy these pretty little pink cottages and lounge under umbrellas that line the beach. The rounded stonework you see below is called a Moon Gate. Found throughout the island, these rounded entries through walls are a special symbol of the island and walking through one is supposed to ensure good luck.

Not far away was another calm bay that was lined with tiny cottages on stilts over the water. Our driver told us that the developer of these cottages had unsuccessfully tried to rent them to tourists, so when his attempts failed he rented them to the locals who occupy them as full time residents. Not a bad way to live.

Our next stop, Heydon Chapel, a beautiful and unique little chapel that is the smallest church in Bermuda. Originally built as a dwelling in the 1620s, it was converted into a chapel in the 1940s. It now has the distinction of being one of the oldest buildings in Bermuda that is still in use.

We left our mark on the chapel’s guest book inside.

While there, we learned that most dwellings on the island have a unique method of collecting and storing rainwater.

Roofs are made of wedge-shaped native limestone that form sloping gutters which divert rainwater into storage tanks. Most residents of Bermuda depend upon their roofs for their water. In fact, regulations require that new dwellings have at least 80% of the surface of their roofs guttered to collect the average 55” of annual rainfall. The roofs are then painted with a white cement wash compound which sanitizes the rainwater as it runs off into a holding tank. Our driver explained that these roofs need to be annually washed and maintained to insure pure drinking water. The white roofs also look attractive and help to keep the homes cooler.

Continuing on, our next stop was Fort Scaur. During the troubled relations between Great Britain and the United States in the 19th century, this fort was part of the fortifications built to defend Bermuda. Realising the strategic importance of Bermuda as a base in the western Atlantic, British troops were garrisoned here until WW1.

Perched at the crest of the highest hill on Bermuda’s Somerset Island, the site provided some beautiful views.

These rifle ditches were open for exploration.

Continuing on we made a couple more photo opp stops along the way.

Returning to our ship, NCL’s Breakaway, we were enthusiastically welcomed aboard by members of the ship’s staff. It was our final day in Bermuda and the ship was scheduled to sail back to New York City very shortly.

So there you have it: THE BEAUTIFUL HOMES, HOTELS & BEACHES OF BERMUDA

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