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Bermuda Triangle Nightlife Glass Bottom Boat Cruise

checkard

By checkard,
in Bermuda

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HeyDay218

HeyDay218

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Just got back from bermuda on the grandeur this morning. We did this tour on Monday. We didnt do the one through the cruiseline but a cheaper one for $40. I honestly felt we wasted our money. The tour was about an hour long. They take you out to a part of the island at night and turn on some lights and you get to see some coral (it all looks the same) and maybe a few fish, lobster, or turtles. However, we saw a lot of the same coral and like 3 fish when we were out. The excursion through the cruiseline came out the same time we were and it seemed as if the drivers were fighting over the spots and it wasnt fun. We were so close to each other we couldve touched the other boat. Then they take you out to a shipwreck which you can barely see besides the fact that the bow is sticking out of the water which again the other boat was circling around it like we were...then you're done. We went to Church Bay the next morning and saw more fish and coral then we did for the $40/piece glass bottom boat ride. The only thing I liked was the complimentary Rum Swizzle which wasnt very good but at least I got to try it!).

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checkard

checkard

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Thanks HeyDay218

I booked this for 4 of us through the cruiseline yesterday because I couldn't find it available anywhere else. My mother said a friend of hers went on this and just raved about how wonderful it was. But DH and I snorkel and are used to seeing varied coral and fish. Maybe people that don't snorkel think it's good because they've never seen it other than this.

 

Where did you find the one for $40? I looked at the Fantasea website and it's showing on there as $50 but I don't think you can book it directly with them, the cruiseline has reserved all the space.

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  • 1 month later...
checkard

checkard

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Just posting an update since we did this tour last week.

 

We booked it through the cruise line.

 

We didn't see anyone with a sign when we got off the ship so we walked to the end of the pier and that's where the tour operators were waiting. Our tickets said to meet right off the ship so there was some confusion about that and the tour operator sent someone up to the customs building to round up the people that were waiting there.

 

We boarded the boat and we told to go on the upper deck which had white folding lawn chairs to sit on. One the boat was underway, the captain gave a commentary about island history and some information on modern day life - costs of homes, groceries, how you can't own property unless you are a Bermudian, etc. He was funny.

 

We passed the point of the Triangle and went out a little bit farther and stopped. We then had to go back down the outside steps to the lower deck. The boat was rocking and at the bottom of the steps was an open section of railing so if someone would have tripped coming down the steps, they could have tumbled right through the railing and into the water.

 

The viewing boxes were sections of plywood about 10-12 feet long, 3 feet wide and about waist high that surrounded the clear viewing areas. They are on hinges to they can be put down to cover the clear bottom areas and make a flat floor. We lined up on both sides and at the ends of the boxes. Once we were all down on the lower level and standing around the viewing boxes the crew turned on the lights.

 

If you snorkel, you will be disappointed in what you see. Nothing like it shows on the advertisements with the colorful coral and fish. We saw brown coral, several brown fish and a few sea slugs, everything was a shade of brown. As the boat moved back and forth the water got all cloudy and you couldn't see much at all.

 

After about about 10 minutes we moved to a shipwreck. It was really hard to see anything under the water and I wouldn't have known it was a shipwreck if the captain hadn't said so. It was pretty much covered by coral and sand and the cloudy water. There was several feet of the bow sticking out of the water and the captain circled that and pointed a spotlight at it so people could see it and take pictures.

 

After about 10 minutes at the wreck site, we all went back upstairs, the crew collapsed the viewing boxes flat on the floor and an announcement was made that we could go back downstairs for our free drinks. So once again people are navigating the steep stairs to get below and then coming back up the stairs carrying drinks. And this was going on while the tour boat was rocking around on the way back to the pier.

 

My mom doesn't snorkel so she liked the tour. I went along because she wanted to go but it's not something I would do again.

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  • 1 year later...
geduffer

geduffer

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I had thought about this, but won't bother. On an earlier Bermuda cruise, I did the Undersea Nightlife Tour (I think that was in 2000 off Horizon). We sailed out to the shipwreck that everyone was talking about here. It is the wreck of the Vixen, which was a ramming ship that was metal so it was too heavy and too slow to catch the ships that it was trying to ram. It was eventually scuttled to block the channel into Dockyard.

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