July 11 - Day Five: Exploring in Bermuda (Part II)

“You go to heaven if you want to, I’d rather stay right here in Bermuda” —Mark Twain 

Here's the second part of our day of exploring Bermuda. We enjoyed our scooter ride up to St. George, there was a lot less traffic on the south road once we got away from the south shore beaches. St. George is where Bermuda began. The town was named after the legendary dragon slayer and patron saint of England and was Bermuda’s capital for more than 200 years. Town of St. George contains the highest proportion of historic buildings in the entire Island, and has been designated a Historic Protected Area to preserve its unique architecture.

St. George Town Hall

The town of St. George 

The view of St. George from Bob Burns Memorial Park. The harbor is beautiful.

The St. George Somers Statue in Bob Burns Park

St. Peter's Their Majesties Chapel 

Gates Fort sits on the edge of Town Cut a channel that was created for ships to enter the St. George Harbor. It was built around 1612 to stop any suspect or enemy boats from entering the harbor.

Town Cut...it was beautiful, so clear and so blue.

Alexandra's Battery Park. The fortification was built in the 1860s (this is were the second glass beach is)

Fort St. Catherine - The original fort in was built around 1614, but it was renovated at least five times, and work continued until late in the 19th century. Today this stone built fort houses a museum.

On our way back to the ship we stopped at a place called Blue Hole located in Bermuda's Walsingham Nature Reserve. Throughout the park, a network of underground tunnels connects the pools and caves with a steady supply of water. There's also a network of walking trails that lead to stunning natural attractions, including the Blue Hole and Causeway Cave, a deep-water grotto fed by the tides of Castle Harbour. The area is known locally as Tom Moore's Jungle, and we truly felt like we were in a jungle paradise...we just didn't have enough time to truly enjoy the park as much as we would have liked. It's the perfect place for an off-the-beaten-path day of hiking, swimming, snorkeling and rock climbing.

This is a cave you can swim in...it's just off the path leading to Blue Hole.

We actually got to see most of the island...taking almost all of the major roads in Bermuda. Leaving Blue Hole we took the north road back to Hamilton going by the Bermuda Aquarium and Flatts Village. It's a beautiful area of the island. We definitely liked the east end of the island better and we were so glad we had the scooter for the freedom it gave us to explore. 

This is the Flatts Inlet. It leads into the Harrington Sound inland sea area which is full of caves, grottos and subterranean passages. Mark Twain lived his last few days in Flatts Village in 1910. The village is all about the beautiful pastel colored houses, picturesque fishing areas, palm trees, great landscapes and nice eateries. Can you see that tide running in?

A map of the eastern part of the island.

A map of St. George