Snorkling, Sea Glass and Caves

[sarahksmom]

Hi,

 

In talking with my family for our 24+ hours in Bermuda, we would like to accomplish 3 things...

 

We would like to go the beach and snorkle, bring home sea glass and visit either crystal or fanasty cave. Can this be done? If so, what would be the best order. We are docked at the Naval Yard.

 

In reading I heard the best snorkling was at Church Bay. I will have my 8 year old daughter with me but can bring a life jacket for her. The snorkle park seemed rather touristy for me.

 

Thanks!

 

Nancy

[iheartbda]

Hi,

 

In talking with my family for our 24+ hours in Bermuda, we would like to accomplish 3 things...

 

We would like to go the beach and snorkle, bring home sea glass and visit either crystal or fanasty cave. Can this be done? If so, what would be the best order. We are docked at the Naval Yard.

 

In reading I heard the best snorkling was at Church Bay. I will have my 8 year old daughter with me but can bring a life jacket for her. The snorkle park seemed rather touristy for me.

 

Thanks!

 

Nancy

Church Bay is gorgeous and not usually crowded but we never saw many fish there.....others have. I would be a bit hesitant with an 8 year old even with a life jacket since it can get very rough there. Snorkel Park may be touristy but it would be better for your daughter. Haven't snorkeled there but many are very happy with it. Tobacco Bay is great but you may not be able to fit going there since it is at the opposite end of the island.

 

There's a glass beach very close to Dockyard. Just tell the bus driver you want to get off near the glass beach. Don't forget a baggie since the glass is VERY plentiful.

 

The caves are almost at the opposite end of the island so it will take some time to get there. Need to know what time you arrive and what time you leave inorder to give you the best order in which to do things.

[SailBadtheSinner]

Here are the directions to get to sea glass beach near the Dockyard originally posted by CC member White Rabbit on 10/23/09:

 

There is a nice sea glass beach near the dockyards. It is about one quarter mile outside of the main gate, so if you are on the bus to Hamilton, you will want to get off soon after leaving the dockyards. Politely ask the bus driver to stop at the Military Cemetery. You will see a church, and directly across the road some apartments. Walk between the apartments to a path in back and then walk to your right about 100 feet or so. You will see a patio with embedded sea glass and a set of steps leading down to a small beach. It appears to be a private patio and beach, however I have been there and it seems everyone uses this entrance. You will find pleanty of sea glass, mostly green, brown and white. When you collect all you can carry, ascend the steps carefully, and wait at the pink pole (bus stop) for a return bus to the Dock Yards. Buses run about every 20 minutes. Stand close to the pole, but off of the road way and when you see a bus, hold up your hand, as buses often miss seeing people waiting at this stop as they round a curve. Good Luck and Happy sea glass hunting. Hopefully you purchased a bus pass, otherwise you will need exact bus coins.

 

The distance from the Dockyard is just about 1 mile which you could walk but I would suggest that you take the bus instead. There are no sidewalks or breakdown lanes to walk on, and the roads are very narrow. Take the bus, you can carry more sea glass that way. I would do sea glass last so you are not carrying the sea glass around with you all day.

 

Even though Snorkel Park is touristy and now charge a fee starting 8/2 (see thread below), there is zero travel time involved which will allow you to travel to the caves.

 

SBtS

[sarahksmom]

We arrive at Kings Wharf at 10am on 9/6 and will leave at 2PM on 9/7. Will this be enough time to snorkel, get sea glass and visit the caves?

[iheartbda]

We arrive at Kings Wharf at 10am on 9/6 and will leave at 2PM on 9/7. Will this be enough time to snorkel, get sea glass and visit the caves?

Here's what I would do.

Take the ferry to St. George, then a taxi or the shuttle to Tobacco Bay to snorkel for awhile. Return to St. George and take a #3 bus to the caves. After the caves you can either go back to St. George to get the ferry back to Dockyard or take a #10 or 11 bus to Hamilton, walk to the ferry terminal and take the ferry from there to Dockyard. SBTS has a good handle on distances and travel times so he can confirm if the time is REALLY enough.....I think it is.:)

 

Go to the glass beach on departure day since it is not far away. If you have time left, you could always try Snorkel Park or just spend the last of your time at Dockyard because there are some interesting things there. Maybe it's just me, but I like to be in close proximity to the ship when it's near leaving time.

 

You could also skip Tobacco Bay completely but you need to get over to that end of the island anyway to get to the caves and the ferry to SG would be the quickest way to get you to that vicinity.

[sarahksmom]

Also is the snorkeling good at Tobacco Bay? Do people see anything?

[iheartbda]

Also is the snorkeling good at Tobacco Bay? Do people see anything?

I said the glass beach was not far and SBTS also posted that it about a quarter mile beyond the entrance of Dockyard. I also said Tobacco Bay was very good....meaning the snorkeling is good, i.e. you see lots of fish. I'm not one to recommend something unless it's from personal experience.;)

[StartrainDD]

Also is the snorkeling good at Tobacco Bay? Do people see anything?

 

Tobacco Bay is certainly the best place we snorkeled in Bermuda for your 8YO. There are no waves in the bay itself and even snorkeling between the rocks the waves are almost non-existant. We saw a lot of coral and fish. Most people don't think to snorkel on the "Shore side" of the bay but we found a lot of large and colorful fish there as well, as well as whole schools of clear, white fish.

[tinybabynurse]

TBN Hubby here

 

There is another 'sea glass beach' near St Georges. I think it is also within walking distance of Tobacco Bay, but when we were in Bermuda it poured the rain all but a couple of hours so we didn't make it to Tobacco Bay. The sea glass beach on that end of the Island is the Alexandria Battery Beach and there is lots of glass there. We picked up several baggies with some nice colors and unique pieces in only an hour or so between rainstorms. Very small, not particularly scenic but the battery is there to explore also and there is a small cave that has lots of glass but that is best accessed at low tide.

 

This might be a good choice to combine with going to the caves because you could possibly go to the caves, snorkel at Tobacco Bay, gather sea glass at Alexandria and then take the ferry from St Georges back to Dockyard. Taxi's or bus could work but you will have to do some research.

 

Do a search of these boards for 'Sea Glass St Gorges' and lots of info will come up. From that info you can decide if it is too hectic for you to hit all three

[dmr19]

If you take the Glassbottom boat & beach excursion, you could get snorkeling and sea glass done in one morning.

 

It was great for our multi-generational group of 21. The boat ride was beautiful. The glass-bottom was boring. But they took us to a little beach near Spaniard's Cove (I think) for snorkeling. The water was amazingly clear. We saw lots of fish. There was so much sea glass on the tiny beach I had to convince my kids to leave some there. We were back to the Dawn by lunch.

[rundogrun]

Right in the Navy Yard is Snorkle Bermuda (http://www.snorkelbermuda.com). We just used them last week. It's a 2 hour snorkel trip (three trips daily starting at 9). If you do a 9 am trip, then hop on a ferry to St. George, you will have plenty of time to do the caves (we just did Crystal). Caves are about a 15 minute bus ride from St. George. On day two, you can spend the morning collecting sea glass.

 

Snorkling was awesome (we had beginners on our trip), plus the kids loved the captain's dog! Boat leaves from right next to the ferry.

[bluesharpie]

Just an aside, we weren't able to get to the glass beach by the Dockyard but I did pick up a few nice pieces of seaglass (cobalt blue and pink) in one of the shops in the Clocktower mall:) I know more fun to find it yourself but I only spent $3 for four nice pieces of seaglass!

[rusty86]

Just back from the dawn and we followed the directions for the sea glass beach from white rabbit quite easily. Brought home 3 large zip lock bags of sea glass from there. We took a cab there for $7.50 plus tip and tried to get a bus back, but 3 buses passed us by without stopping so we had to cab back as well. It was fun collecting it, now all i need to do is figure out what to do with it all!

[Glamourgal]

Rusty, did you leave any sea glass for the rest of us??

[R&D'sNona]

Also is the snorkeling good at Tobacco Bay? Do people see anything?

My first-time-ever-snorkeling was in Tobacco Bay, as everyone else said - plenty of pretty fish, no waves and a lot of rocks, nooks and crannies for the fishies to play hide and seek.