St. George

[PACU]

Docking in St. George for one day. Any suggestions on what to do and see. I am aware Tobacco Bay beach is in St. George, but is there anything else I should not miss.

[PFV]

If you stay on the road past Tobacco bay beach you will come to Ft. St. Catherine beach. Pink sand right on the ocean. It has a bar called "Beach It" that serves cold beer/drinks and hamburgers etc. Nice place to grab a drink. Sometimes they have a DJ. Fort St. Catherine is interesting to take self guided tour of.....

 

On the way to either beach is the unfinished church. Good photo op. of the town.

 

Have a great time!

 

Paul-----Be there on June 4th!:)

[CaribbeanBound]

We were in St. George for 2 days. Crystal and Fantasy Caves are within striking distance, as are a couple of forts, beaches, and the town itself. Here's what we did which should give you some good ideas...

 

St. George, Bermuda

We left Hamilton via cruise ship at about 7:00 am and headed for St. George on the Eastern end of Bermuda. The voyage is worth being up on deck for the entire 2-hour trip. There is lots to see. Approaching narrow St. George Channel, we were fired upon by the Town Crier from a Gates Fort cannon. The Town Crier also greeted us upon arrival into the town.

 

Our first order of business was to catch a bus to the Crystal Cave and Fantasy Cave. Bus 1 and 3 will stop directly at Crystal Cave. Bus 10 or 11 will stop at Swizzle Inn which is within 2 blocks of the caves. It’s about a 20-minute ride. Get there early. They open at 9:30 am. We strongly suggest catching the first available bus as the caves are very popular and will get very crowded before noon. You can catch the bus on Water Street, one long block from the pier. Admission to the caves is $14 for one cave or $20 for the pair. Fantasy Cave, which reopened just 4 years ago after a 70-year closure, is BY FAR the better cave. Unfortunately most folks will never learn this fact since the ship excursions only take you to the better known Crystal Cave. Explore both caves if you have the time. If you have a choice, see Crystal Cave first (because Fantasy Cave is better). Do Fantasy Cave if you only have time for one. The best group size is under 20. It got so busy that our group had 40 people. The group behind us had at least 60! They really need to do a better job of controlling group sizes. Your best defense is to go early. The caves are full of stalagmites, stalactites, columns, soda straws, bacon, shield formations and other interesting forms. Both caves are well lit and are full of water (but you won’t get wet). The water is very clear, and believe it or not, it’s all sea water. Fantasy Cave, in addition to being better preserved, also has an interesting spooky side which I will not ruin for you here. Very worthwhile. After exploring the caves, we caught the first 1, 3, 10, or 11 bus back to the ship for lunch.

 

Following lunch, we walked 1 mile (30 minutes) to Alexandra Battery Beach Park. The Battery isn’t much to see, but the real prize here is sea glass! You’ll find it by the handful at low tide amongst the reef rocks at the end of the cement seawall (located between the battery and the beach). There is some scattered on the beach too, but the treasure lies beyond. Especially look for the cave, about 15 feet beyond the seawall, where the sea glass is 5-inches deep and sparkles in the late afternoon sun. Pottery with blue or green stripes, impressions, blue anchors, and inscriptions can be found amongst the white, green, blue, brown, red, clear, and ivory hued glass. We filled 2 quart-sized bags in about 30 minutes. You can do it in 5 minutes, but it was fun to be particular.

 

Walking back to town, we stopped into the Bermuda National Trust Museum at the Globe Hotel. This interesting museum tells the tale of the profitable blockade running that took place during the civil war. Cool souvenir: they have a press with the official “Great Seal of the Confederate States of America” plates and they make silver-foil copies of the seal with a nice matte border for $5.00. The seal itself was commissioned in 1863, measured 3.5-inches in diameter and cost $700. Around 1864, the seal reached Wilmington, NC on it’s fourth blockade run (then on to Richmond. Today it can be viewed at the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia), while the press itself remained in Bermuda.

 

St. George, Bermuda—The Next Day

We walked about a mile to Tobacco Bay on the North shore to snorkel. We brought our own gear, but rentals are also available on site. The beach is small, but nice, and the water is calm and protected by reefs. Fish are plentiful here and the snorkeling is fun. There were 2 dozen folks here when we arrived at 9:30 am. By 10:30 the beach was packed. We left and walked to Achilles Bay, a small, fairly hidden beach to the left of Fort St. Catherine.

 

Fort St. Catherine is a cool fort and museum with lots to explore. Dioramas, videos, and wall plaques along a self-guided tour are highly informative. If you visit here after seeing Fort Hamilton you’ll learn about a few of the unexplained projectile lifts, air tubes, and light boxes you previously saw but maybe didn’t know what they were or how they worked. Next to Fort St. Catherine is St. Catherine Beach. It was very popular, had a snack bar, drinks, and music. It also had some sea glass, but don’t waist your time here. For sea glass by the handful, walk down to Alexandra Beach.

 

Which we did. My wife wasn’t content with the half-gallon of sea glass we picked up the day before. She decided she wanted more. So we walked a mile to Alexandra Beach to hunt more sea glass. This is a very pleasant walk along the coast. As you leave St. Catherine, turn around just as you walk around the first bend in the road. You'll find an awesome picture-taking opportunity of the Fort. Once at Alexandra Beach, we found the tide was about 3 feet higher than it was the day before. While it made looking between the reef rocks dangerous, the cave was still fully accessible and we gathered 2 more quarts of sea glass, and walked back to the ship.

 

Upon departing St. George, once away from land, but not yet past the channel markers, be sure to keep a close sea watch. My wife spotted over a dozen flying fish and a Sunfish/Mola Mola!

 

Complete Bemuda Review: http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/bermuda.html

[Cubechick]

Our favorite “on-our-own” excursion is to take the #1 bus to John Smith’s Bay Beach (very clean, very private and very pretty). It is about 25 minutes from St. George. On the return trip, we stop for lunch and a pitcher of the potent potion (Rum Swizzle) at the Swizzle Inn (swagger out). :p

If you want to stay close, Tobacco Bay has some of the best snorkeling on the island, but be forewarned, it can get really crowded really fast! In fact, if there is a second cruise ship in St. George it will be towel-to-towel. As previously mentioned, St. Catherine’s or Achilles Bay, just up the street is a good alternative, but a little longer jaunt.

Mr. Cube

[janetz]

Carribeanbound, I thought your post very informative. We sailed the Zenith to Bermuda in 2004. I have to know, what do you do with all the sea glass? :)

[CaribbeanBound]

Used it to line the bottom of our aquarium!

[janetz]

What a great idea! It must look pretty cool. ;)