Bermuda 3: Caves and Beaches

On Tuesday, June 13, 2023, I awoke on our cruise ship in Bermuda around 6 a.m. and saw from our balcony that there was a pleasantly pink sunrise going on.

Here was the view from bed.

Most cruises arrive at a port in the morning and give you until 5pm or so to explore a place before heading out. This cruise arrived in Bermuda at 9am one day and stayed put until 5pm the next day, giving us time to get to know the place better.

We arose early that second morning so that we could catch a ferry from Dockyard to Hamilton and thus get our day started early so we could "do it all." Our first big destination was the Crystal Caves.

The ferry was only a few dollars and much faster than taking a bus the long way around.

These four stayed inside the ferry to avoid the wind up top.

I thought it was cute how all of the buildings were painted all different colors, but with the same pale pastel style of color.

Hamilton is the capital of Bermuda, and, along with St. Georges at the east end, is one of only two official towns on the island.

There was a fun "BERMUDA" sign in Hamilton, so we took a group picture there with the camera on timer.

Jared also enjoyed this pink Vespa in front of the sign.

Jared caught this guy on a bike, which I thought was cute.

As we walked towards the bus stop for the next leg of our journey, we stopped in at the Queen Elizabeth Sculpture Park.

It had pretty flowers and cool trees.

There were fish in the pond, and people hanging out there.

Jared got a close-up of a bunch of people.

While there, I was able to get close to this bird, which is apparently a Great Kiskadee.

We walked by a pet store, and the kids freaked out.

Apparently the pet store doesn't usually let you in there, but the kids talked their way in and were allowed to play with the puppies for a few minutes. They were in heaven, and the puppies seemed to really appreciate it.

Here's a video with 40 seconds of pure Puppy Happiness. I love Erika's initial comment.

As we took a bus from Hamilton towards the Crystal Caves, we saw more of the traditional colorful houses along the way.

We also caught glimpses of bays and boats, since we were never too far from the ocean.

Some of the seats on the bus were missing their padding, but we were able to travel around for like $15 a person that day instead of the $150 that an excursion would charge (which adds up when you multiply by 10 people). We also really enjoyed meeting local people on the bus.

The driver let us know when we were at our destination and we walked along a beautiful path to get to the caves.

This tree had awesome roots.

And there were many handsome chickens walking around loose.

Soon we reached the Crystal Caves. They were discovered only in 1905 when two 12-year-old boys went searching for a lost cricket ball. A better access tunnel was carved and tourists started visiting the site just a couple years later.

The limestone in the area makes amazing formations as drips of water deposit minerals over the centuries.

Stalactites (which hang down and stick "tight" to the ceiling), and stalagmites (which you "might" trip over, cuz they come up from the floor) sometimes merge into "columns".

Tourists used to float on a little boat down the caves, which would be fun. But now there is a floating walkway. It has to be floating because the water rises and falls about 3 feet with the tides. The water here is connected to the Atlantic Ocean and is salty.

It was a very cool place.

The stalactites were so skinny and fragile-looking!

And the reflections made it look stunning.

The guide said that despite its shallow appearance, the water is really 50 feet deep.

He also said that they send a scuba diver down once a year to clean up anything that gets dropped in there. He said that there were currently about 20 cell phones down there, so to be careful!

Here's our group at the end of the path.

I brought a laser pointer, and when he turned off the main lights, it was fun to shine it for a minute. It would bend as the water refracted the light.

What a magical place! When we were deciding what things to do that day, this was Kelsi's top pick, and I'm glad we were able to make it there.

We were the last ones out, and as the next guide was turning off the lights, I shined my laser pointer (with its 100-light scatter tip) and the guide said, "Woah! I've got to get one of those!"

The pathway out looked cool, too.

Jared made a new friend at the gift shop.

Next we walked a half a mile along a road and through a jungle towards the Blue Hole in Tom Moore's Jungle.

We found this fun spot, which had dangling, dripping roots and a shallow pool of water.

Then we continued down a path through Tom Moore's Jungle.

We passed a rocky beach, but didn't stop there.

Finally we reached the Blue Hole, a water hole in the middle of limestone. There were a couple muddy paths that went to jump-off ledges at different heights.

Chase contemplates his mortality...

Kelsi is committed...

So...close...to the water...

Kyle and Erika jump together.

I even displace some water.

Sienna away...!

You can see how much mud was on our feet by the brown splash.

Everyone was surprised to find that the water was salty, which seems to be how it always is in Bermuda.

Here's a video showing everyone jumping into the Blue Hole.

Like all of the other water we experienced in Bermuda, the temperature was pleasant, which made it fun to swim around and just float.

There was a big, bright red crab hiding in one of the rocks, and it was creepy to see it walk around.

We walked a little while through Tom Moore's Jungle towards Tom Moore's Tavern, but saw that it was going to be really far, so we went back.

On the bus to Hamilton, Chase struck up a conversation with a lady from the Philippines. She was so surprised when he started chatting away with her in Tagalog! (Chase served his mission in the Philippines). That was awesome. 

As we drove along, the bus driver got in a heated conversation with some of the passengers about which cricket team was better in the upcoming cricket match. If you didn't know better, you'd think she was really angry. But she paused and told us with a smile, "It's just banter," and then launched back into another tirade. Everyone was smiling and laughing as they took turns talking smack, and it was delightful.

Here's a 1-minute clip of the bus ride, where you can hear the lady talking smack, hear everyone else chiming in and laughing, and see a little of Bermuda as we drive by (on the left side of the road). As one of her rivals gets off, the driver says, "You're holding up my bus!" It was really cute.

Our last destination for the day was Horseshoe Beach. It would not do to visit Bermuda and not go to the beach at least once!

Blue water and pink sand.

We found some benches to sit on for a bit, and Kyle and Erika rented a couple of them.

The sand there is very fine, like powdered sugar, and is famous for its pink hue.

I think this is their pink flamingo imitation.

Here you can see the little specks of pink that give the sand its pink hue.

We followed the advice of a lady we met at the Blue Hole and went around to the left of the main beach to get to some pretty, secluded spots, surrounded by cool rock formations.

There were lots of rocks to put our stuff on, so we didn't need the benches as much to keep our stuff out of the sand.

The water was nice, but the waves that day made it unsafe to swim far or snorkel much, so we just enjoyed the water.

Here is Kyle with his Little Mermaid part of your "WORLD!!!" imitation.

And here is a little video of their perfect timing.

I did try snorkeling for a bit, but there was nothing to see without going out where it would have been dangerous in the current conditions.

The rocks made the area look so dramatic.

Erika and Kyle brought their lounge chairs over to our area.

The first time I saw one of these, I thought it was a little bronze symbol anchored onto some stone. I eventually realized that these are mollusks (called Chitons). They have 7 interlocking shells and can hold on very tightly to rocks.

We had a passerby take our picture on the beach.

At that point, we decided to head back to the ship. We really didn't want to miss the boat, so we left ourselves some buffer time. As it turned out, the first bus that came along could only take 3 of us before they said it was full. Fortunately, the next bus was mostly empty and could take everyone else who was waiting. We were glad when everyone arrived back at the ship in plenty of time.

Before changing back into dry clothes, Erika, Linette and I took another ride on the "Tidal Wave" tube ride there. It had a pretty exhilarating drop.

That night at dinner, some music played, and the waiters danced to "I Gotta Feeling."

During dinner, the ship pulled away from the dock, and the land started getting smaller in the distance. I think we had to head east to get past the reefs before we could go west again, so we saw the island go by again a little later.

After dinner, we went to a Disney movie trivia game, where they played a clip from a song and you had to guess what movie it came from. We had Kelsi and the kids, so we got 17/17, including the obscure one from Brother Bear.

That evening we played "Ripple" in the Card Room. Here's a picture taken off of the mirrored ceiling.

We also went to Johnny Rocket's and got milkshakes again.

Kyle got a little sun that day, resulting in a chocolate, strawberry and vanilla "Neapoli-tan."

We hit the hot tub that night, or as I was calling it, "the sunburn detector." The water was really hot, though, so we mostly sat outside of it.

In the next and final episode, we have one more day aboard the ship, and then spend a day in New York City before heading home.