Bermuda Trip - Day 5 - Bermuda Day 1

 Good Morning --- beautiful sunrise happening even with clouds.

LOVE the rays.

AND . . . . there is Bermuda.  We get to enjoy cruising past the whole island as we arrive.

Our escort - King's Wharf ahead.

We are off and ready to go.

Oops - no we aren't as I have forgotten the paperwork for our rental and make a return trip to the room.  During the short time we've been gone -- the room was cleaned and this guy met me.

Okay - let's try again.  We are walking around the port and across from our ship.

We've located Oleander Cycles and put ourselves in the LONG line that is taking forever in a VERY hot building.  Goodness.  Once we have our scooter --- off we go, with me snapping pics as I can during the ride.  

That means I don't have a ton of information - just use your eyes.

This is some of the most beautiful water I have ever seen.  Truth.

After about a 45 minute ride, we are on St. Georges Island with sore backsides.  Whew, these next three days will be interesting, for sure.  Our first stop is The Unfinished Church.  

This Gothic ruin is all that is left of the building begun in 1874 to replace St. Peter's Church.  It was originally built to seat 650 people.  Its simple, bold design called for a cruciform church, with walls regularly buttressed and perforated with tall, arched windows.  Two columns of brick pillars supported the roof internally and the building was crowned with a tower.  The church was never finished, due to various complications.  First, a split in congregation led to the Reformed Episcopal Church building its own place of worship nearby.  Then, in 1844, the Cathedral in Hamilton burned down and money originally earmarked for St. George was diverted to rebuilding it.  However, despite these difficulties, the new church had almost been completed by 1894 and the roof was added in 1899.  The congregation then elected to renovate old St. Peter's Church, abandoning their new church on the verge of its completion.  The western end of the church was badly damaged in the hurricane of 1926 and thereafter the walls and floor suffered from neglect, storm damage, and erosion.  The rest of the room has since vanished and one side of the internal supported pillars has toppled over.  Today, the ruin is preserved as an historic monument as part of St. Georges World Heritage Site.

It takes us a moment to get inside, but walking the property helps.

Parts can be found all along the walk.

On our way to Fort St. Catherine, we pass Tobacco Bay - a very popular destination.

Unfortunately, today is Labour Day here and the fort is closed.  Kinda crazy, but . . .   I even looked up the days it was closed and today was not listed.  Oh well.

We drove a bit down the beach to see if we could get a view of the fort.  We're now going rogue - see how easy it is for us to lose track?

As we continue down the road - we pass this monument, causing me to do some quick research.  In 1609, Sir George Somers and his men landed in Bermuda when their ship Sea Venture got wrecked at a reef close to St. George.  Four hundred years after the death of George Somers, a monument dedicated to the survivors of Sea Venture was erected in St. George.  The monument is a 9' wooden cross.  It is a re-creation of the original cross that was made by the survivors to claim this land for England.  The wood from the original cross was salvaged to build the new monument.  It is decorated with coins of King James 1 of England, for whom the claim for Bermuda was made.  It is estimated that there were around 150 survivors.  However, the 50 confirmed are the ones engraved on the monument.  The monument is placed at a high point near Barry Road, the location being significant because there are two important point that can be seen from here:  1.  The reefs location where the Sea Venture had struck and wrecked, and 2.  The Gates Bay area that survivors had used to actually land on the island and started the British settlement in Bermuda for the first time.  Never, fails - venture off course and find gems.

A few more corners down the road and we have found another place.  This is Alexandra Battery.  It is one of a line of forts built to protect the Narrows Channel to the fort.  The Narrows is the main shipping lane into the island.  Fort St. Catherine, Gates Fort, Fort Cunningham, and St. David's Battery complete this coastal defense.  Coastal defense was a significant feature and fact of life in early Bermuda as the British felt compelled to defend themselves from the French, Spanish, and Americans through the centuries.  Alexandra Battery was built on top of a fort called Buildings Bay Fort, and saw active duty until 1920.

On our way to explore.

Climbing to the top - what a view.

Right across the street?  Homes.  We now backtrack to try and get back on route.

A stop at St. Peter's Church is also disappointing --- closed due to the holiday.  A church?  I talk with a woman leaving the building and she says, "they take their holidays very seriously here."  Well, okay.

It's getting hungry, so back through town we go and back to the main island as well.

Crossing - 

The Swizzle Inn is the place to be.  

We always do at least ONE country food thing and here - this is it!  The Rum Swizzle is the national drink and was created right here.  That means we must have one.  In fact, a small pitcher might be in order.

I'm enjoying the decor --- very unusual, for sure.  There is money and writing EVERYWHERE!

Music sets the mood - really enjoying it here.

Lunch arrives and it is another "must have."  The Blue Hole Sandwich - Grilled Wahoo coated in island seasoning, spicy slaw, lettuce, tomato and tartar sauce on raisin bread.  Yep, you read that right.  Very good, but pricey, for sure.  $24.00 for one.  We're sharing.

 

A few more images and we are walking to our next destination.  It's across the street and through the trees.

Seriously.

Crystal and Fantasy Caves are next and I've chosen to see Crystal Cave today.  Just come along and enjoy the eye candy.  

Of course, I have information from the handout.  "In 1907, Carl Gibbon and Edgar Hollis were engaged in a spirited game of cricket.  One of the lads struck the ball with ferocity and it disappeared into a hole several yards away.  This ball was a prized possession and no effort was spared at attempting to retrieve it.   As one of the boys crawled  down deeper and deeper, it became apparent that this was not your ordinary hole. What the boys had discovered was, in fact, the entrance to a spectacular natural wonder.

When the Wilkinson family, owners of the property since 1884, were told of this discovery, they wasted no time in setting off to explore the entrance and to find out how deep it went. Bernard Wilkinson, the fourteen-year-old son of Mr. Julian Wilkinson, was lowered into the hole by his father using a strong rope tied to a tree. Bernard descended 140 feet with a lamp from a bicycle to light his way. 

What he found was beyond his or the Wilkinson family’s wildest dreams. It was an underground world of delicate splendor with magnificent crystal formations of every size and shape surrounding a clear lake 55 feet deep. 

Over the past century the caves have become Bermuda’s favorite attraction for thousands of visitors every year.  On his second sojourn to Bermuda, Mark Twain stopped at the caves on a journey to St. George’s and described the experience: – “We descended 150 steps and stood in a splendid place 250 feet long and 30 or 40 wide, with a brilliant lake of clear water under our feet and all the roof overhead splendid with shining stalactites, thousands and thousands of them as white as sugar, and thousands and thousands brown and pink and other tints. All lighted with acetylene jets.”

Much has been done through the decades to upgrade the accessibility and the comfort level for our visitors.  But nothing can enhance this exquisite fantasy world that Mother Nature began over 30 million years ago. When they enter the caves, every visitor still feels the same sense of awe experienced that day over a century ago.

Are you ready?  Have you stuck with me?  Well - let your jaw drop, ours did.

I know - a ton of pictures, but such a fun stop and so miraculous when you think about it.

Back to the restaurant to get our scooter and then just a few clicks down the road and we turn off and park again.  We are on foot for a bit once again.

I "think" I have all the turns right in my memory and cross my fingers as this is a hidden spot.  No markings along the way.  We find it and are soon down to swimsuits and ready to leap into The Blue Hole.  Mister before - 

and during.

Me before and during - 

and after.  So, refreshing.

About half way to The Blue Hole, we passed this bay.  On the way back, a stop is made and some more water fun takes place.

At the picnic bench overlooking the area, we have visitors while we change back into clothes.

It's been a great day and we are ready to start back to the ship.  As we start out, an accident happens and my phone is smashed by an oncoming car.  We then managed to get lost as we took a wrong turn, taking us on the Hamilton side of the island, with no connection to King's Wharf.  We have no GPS, all the downloaded maps are gone and life is fun.  We didn't put anything on Mister's phone so we are on our own.  It takes a bit, but we figure it out - I mean how hard can one little island be?  Back to the ship and since I don't have a phone - no pics.  It is what it is.  I'll figure something out for tomorrow.