STEP INTO THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE (Bermuda)

Member Name: Cat19

Product:	Bermuda
Date:	21/09/06 (888 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: activities, fine dining, beautiful surrounding and beaches, welcoming people

Disadvantages: not a cheap holiday option

I have not met many people who have been to Bermuda on holiday or indeed have considered it as a holiday destination. The reasons for this could include its reputation as being a bit pricey but mainly I think because most people planning to travel over the Atlantic for an island holiday are going to head for the Caribbean rather than Bermuda, which lies all by itself a thousand miles further north. Since I announced I was moving to Bermuda, I have had quite a few people say they thought it was in the Caribbean but in fact the nearest coastline / land mass to Bermuda is that of Carolina in the US which is about 600 miles away.

A few facts
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Bermuda is a 21 mile long and 2 mile (max) wide, archipelago of over 130 islands and its remote location meant it was undiscovered and uninhabited for many years. It was first stumbled upon by a Spaniard by the name of Juan de Bermudez, shipwrecked here in 1503 but he did not remain. Later, in 1609 a group of British sailors and officials were shipwrecked on the islands, after rebuilding their boats most continued their journey to America but some chose to stay behind and it is they who populated and brought slaves to the islands.

The currency is the Bermuda dollar which is at parity with the US dollar and Bermuda and US currency is used interchangeably. At the moment the exchange rate is very favourable, at about 1.8 to the GBP which I mention as I shall quote some prices in USD from hereon.

Population is about 60,000 and the culture is often described as English by the guidebooks, but this is simply not true and a Bermudian would certainly not think this. The streets and other public areas are immaculate, there is much greenery and buildings are often pastel colours creating that “chocolate box” look.

Your maximum stay as a holiday maker is three weeks. When you land at Bermuda International airport it is imperative that you either trample over your fellow passengers as you make an inelegant and uncontrolled dash for passport control or be prepared for an extremely long and slow moving queue. Bermudians are convinced that ALL visitors are really there to seek permanent residency on their beloved island and are (very politely) very thorough in establishing your true motivation for being there, to put it mildly.

Immigration process over and as a tourist you will be treated with warmth, hospitality and friendliness by Bermudians who will bend over backwards to assist you in whatever way they can. I have learned to pretend I am on holiday at all times.

Getting here
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There is only one direct flight to Bermuda from anywhere in Europe and it is operated daily from Gatwick by British Airways taking 6 – 7 hours. I have looked up prices many times and typically the return trip in economy class is GBP 750 and this increases to about GBP 900 at Christmas time. Occasionally BA will have a sale meaning flights can be found for about GBP 300 to GBP 400 but you will need to keep an eye open for these and might not find a cheaper flight if you have specific dates in mind.

Clearly BA are taking advantage of being the only operator on the route, I find it quite annoying that I know I can get a flight to New York which is the same direction and a bit further for less than half the price but this leads me onto my first tip. As Bermuda is less than two hours flight from New York, you might consider combining a few days in New York with a week in Bermuda. This way you spend say GBP 350 on your trans-Atlantic flight and it is easy to find flights between Bermuda and New York for about GBP150. For New York, you could substitute Boston, Toronto, Miami or Atlanta all of which can be got to directly and within about two hours.

My second recommendation if you decide to visit Bermuda would be to look at package deals even if you do not normally book packages as cheap accommodation is not in abundance in Bermuda, there are no hostels or budget hotels and I think it unlikely you will find much accommodation for less than GBP100 a night. A package deal is quite likely to work out cheaper.

When to travel
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Bermuda has four seasons at the same time as our own (but hotter!) and there can be rainfall at any time. When I started drafting this review last week I had put that hurricanes are extremely rare in Bermuda unlike in the Caribbean, however we were promptly battered by Hurricane Florence, so I edited.

In the hottest summer months, June – August temperatures hover around 30 degrees but don’t tend to go much over. It can get quite humid though, about 75 – 80% which can feel uncomfortable at times but not every day. Temperatures will start to drop off after October but in the winter it will still be a pleasant 15 – 20 degrees.

To conclude, if you are not that interested in going somewhere hot, then Bermuda is an all year round destination. If you want to swim in the sea and participate in watersports without having to don a wet or dry suit, then the sea is best enjoyed from the end of May until the end of September.

Getting around Bermuda
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You will not be able to hire a car in Bermuda but many visitors and locals get around by moped. These are available to hire for about $150 the first week and slightly less the following weeks.

The other options are bus, ferry and taxi. There are about four ferry routes that operate between Hamilton and each end of the island and ferries are roughly every half an hour. I have not used them much finding the buses more frequent and useful. There are 11 bus routes in operation, all of which start / end in Hamilton and cover all corners of the group of islands which make up Bermuda. During my six weeks here I relied mainly upon the buses for getting around, I found that they unfailingly run on time, are clean, air conditioned and a thoroughly enjoyable experience as the island is so pretty and the views so good. I would get on Bermuda public transport for pleasure and not because I need to go somewhere.

A one day transport pass for the entire island is $12 (approx GBP7), a weekly pass is $45, monthly $55 and three monthly $135, it is approximately half price for children except for the one day pass which is the same. Obviously the three month pass is only relevant to residents but I thought I would demonstrate how tourists are subsidizing the locals!

Taxis are plentiful from Hamilton and tend to hang around the main hotels as well. They start a journey with about $3.50 on the clock and a 10km journey will cost about $16. The island is not really big enough to have very long and expensive taxi journeys.


Eating, drinking and shopping
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Eating, drinking and shopping are three of my favourite past times and the first two are ones that I can indulge to my hearts content in Bermuda. I cannot enthuse more about the standard and number of restaurants to choose from which seems completely disproportionate to the size of the island and the population. After living in London for eleven years, I thought that the choice of restaurants would be one of the things I would miss most, now it seems inconceivable that this might have proven to be the case. In fact I feel spoilt.

In Hamilton, you will find most international style of restaurants and the standard of food in each of the ones I have been to has been very high. There are also several pubs / bars serving food which I have also found these to be excellent quality. The first pub we visited was the Pickled Onion and this remains our favourite. You do not get many “cheap” meals in Bermuda and to provide a very crude guideline to prices we generally pay about $10 -$15 for a starter and about $20 - $30 for a main course depending on the particular establishment. Wine is readily available from all regions and I believe slightly cheaper than in the UK, you should have no trouble whatsoever finding a very nice bottle in a restaurant for about $30 although of course you can pay more if you wish.

Outside Hamilton a lot of the restaurants are found in the large hotels and it is normal in Bermuda to go to a hotel restaurant, something I have not done that often in the UK.

Many of the guidebooks talk about how expensive dining can be in Bermuda, but most tourists to Bermuda are from the US, where the cost of living is lower and the guidebooks seem to be geared towards them. Whilst I find many aspects of life in Bermuda expensive (e.g. monthly rent of $9,000!!), I think the cost of eating and drinking out are not that much different to the UK.

Sadly my other favourite activity, shopping, is not one that I will be able to enjoy regularly without a couple of hours on a plane first. But that is my opinion as somebody living here, a tourist can easily spend a day browsing Hamilton’s shops, possibly more. There are pleasingly few of what I call tourist tat shops, a larger number of quality gift shops, several jewelers and a few designer clothes shops. Whilst you may find some extremely beautiful mementos of your trip to take home, you are highly unlikely to find any bargains.

Attractions
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Beaches and watersports are a major pull to Bermuda. There are many beaches to choose from and all have the same gorgeous pink sand and turquoise ocean. Snorkelling and diving are very popular on account of the water which is commonly described as “gin clear”. Also if you get a map of Bermuda’s diving spots, you will see that there is a large circle of shipwrecks around the island, something to do with the Bermuda Triangle perhaps. All hotels have lots of leaflets of companies offering snorkeling trips, diving trips, jet-skiing and boat trips so these are easy to organise. As a guide to some of the prices, an afternoons boat trip and snorkeling will cost about $50 and a couple of hours on a guided “jetski safari” is about $100.

I personally do not play golf, however Bermuda has many courses and is very popular with the golfing tourists.

I have deliberately not been to two of the most visited attractions on the island yet as I did not want to do everything in my first few months here. But these are the highly regarded Aquarium and the impressive stalactites and stalagmites of the Crystal Caves. I would anticipate spending a morning or afternoon at both of these attractions which can easily be reached by bus.

To the extreme west of the island you will find Dockyard and to the extreme east, St Georges town centre and portside. Both are worth a visit for the shops and architecture and again are easily reached by bus.

Gibbs Hill Lighthouse in Southampton (round the corner from my house!) is fully operational and working to ensure we do not add to our shipwreck collection. You can climb to the top for the best views of the islands and enjoy a traditional English Cream Tea downstairs afterwards.

Summary
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If you are looking to holiday on a shoestring then Bermuda is not a destination that you ought to consider. It can cost a lot to get here, a lot to stay here, you won’t be able to pick up any bargains in the shops and you will also need to have comfortable funds for your food and day to day incidentals.

However if cost is not a particular factor or if you have a special occasion and are blowing the budget regardless then why not consider Bermuda as a clean, safe and I think unique destination. There are plenty of sporting and other activities, when you don’t feel like it you are never far from a beach and to top it off the dining experience is fabulous.

Summary: A grown up holiday destination