Blue waters and relaxing life: all we dreamt about. Bermuda is so much more than an island, and offers you, also, a life lesson.
Being part of British territory, we expected much more influence from the Queen's land. However, it is blended into a Caribbean feeling and the American dream proximity.
More photos here -> Bermuda
Bermuda is known from historical events as much as for the pink-sand beaches: Elbow Beach and Horseshoe Bay. At least for us, with such large influence of the sea history, Bermuda was always recognized within the Bermuda Triangle, where boats and planes would disappear. It goes back to discovery times, including reports from Columbus and his sailing "friends". Such incidents continued to take place throughout the time. Several explanations and theories were created, however in many cases the incidents remained unexplained. Let us leave that to our imagination.
And with this was born the Bermuda Triangle theory, as one of the most scary places to sail through. And if that wasn't enough, pirates were also common in the area. Europeans, on board of boats in search of the new world, were continuously looted.
Well, not so much new world anymore, no pirates were seen along the coast during our time in the island. Maybe even they went looking for better life opportunities?
Now, seriously, technology and stronger stable boats, led the navigation to outcome those issues.
Bermuda itself is hard to describe in one single word. It’s a combination of mythic with breathtaking landscaping. There was no place we would not stop to have a quick look.
When compared to other islands in the Central America, Bermuda is still not a capitalist country. Tourism business is the number one source of income, and very well explored by the price of everything...
Hotels, some very known worldwide as Fairmont Hotel, are very pricy, and even if you try BnB, you will find very expensive places, mostly located in Hamilton, the main city.
Radical adventures - trying to be a local
There are certain things that if you are not local, or either interacted with them, you won't know or do in a new place. We did 3 main activities that made our trip very different:
1. Driving around the island
Renting and driving around is, in a majority of times, a scary step during your vacations. You want to avoid scams in places you don't know, or accidents that may end your vacations in the worst way possible. But incidents like this can be very much myths or just fear. In reality, we may have accidents anywhere in our comfortable spaces, just by distractions. In fact, when out of you comfort zone, you overpay attention during dangerous situations, correct? Anyway.
There are several other reasons not to leave the hotel private beach. However, renting a moped, slowing down the traffic with our constant stops for photos, may not be a bad idea at all. In fact it couldn't be better. Driving two days around the island allowed us to visit most interesting points, and finding very unique and reserved places that are out of the tourists scope. It’s a great option if you want to do some sports, or cliff jumping into the mesmerizing blue water. You can see some of that in the video by the way.
2. Windsurf
For years, windsurf was on the "must try" list. It isn't cheap. In fact Bermuda would not be the place to try the first time if you consider the cost of the class or renting equipment. But could you imagine starting anywhere else? That calm blue water, perfect temperature, open space with no one else around? Are we picturing it well enough?
3. Cliff jumping at Admiralty caves.
There are things that you try young, but you fear it later on. Cliff jumping is a scary thing, but if you did it young, it is almost like biking, just be sure you know what you are doing.
There is a specific area in Bermuda, known well by the locals, that all generations of that island had been going for cliff jumping, with several caves dug naturally by water on the rocks, where you get access back to the top. There is no beach near the cliff, so you need to swim a bit, or you climb the cliff back up, using the caves.
Little details that make a place special.
There is always one outcome that results from tourism: the economic exploration. Although it is a very expensive place to go, it is not contaminated with tourists. Meaning, although you have the resulted overprice challenge, that you can't get rid of, the landscaping and culture is very well preserved by their natives.
And this little detail is, in fact, what makes Bermuda such an amazing destination. If you are interested in cultures, differences and interaction, Bermuda has all that to offer. Besides that, you can have the amazing beaches and relaxing vacations.
What a strange place where people stop their activities, jobs or driving just to ask us if everything is ok or if we need help or guidance. What a beautiful place to be.
Curiosities
Bermuda has some details that make it so special. These are facts you can probably find in wikipedia or other platforms, but we like to share it!
1- Water is obtained from the rain. Most all houses have the retaining water system from the rain, that is naturally filtrated and deposited in the basement of the house. It is fascinating to picture how people just adapt to adversities, no matter where.
2- A very big portuguese community migrants. It’s interesting to be in a place that has such a large number of migrants, but I’ve never expected to find them from Portugal on this small island. Most of them were from Azores, another small paradise in the Atlantic, that we want to visit soon.
3- In 2009, Queen Elisabet and the Duke of Edinburgh visited Bermuda’s for the 400th anniversary of the island. It was the first trip Queen Elisabet stayed on the island for more than a day. They disembarked in Dockyard where 102-year-old Hilda Smith played the piano for them. Hilda was the oldest habitant of the island, and passed in 2013.
This adventure happened in 2016, reported in 2018/19.
That is all about this fantastic adventure and hope you enjoyed it. Let us know if we can help you anyway. Get in touch, subscribe our website and we will be back with more adventures anytime soon.
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