After a good night’s sleep, we spent a lazy morning in the cockpit working out where we wanted to go and what we wanted to see. Our first excursion was into Hamilton, the capital of Bermuda. We needed to get set up with internet and the only place to buy a SIM card at the weekend is in Hamilton. So we headed to the visitor centre, bought bus tokens and took the bus into Hamilton. The trip itself was an experience! The buses are great – clean and comfortable, but the roads were not built for such big vehicles. The drivers don’t seem to mind, however, and drive just as fast as the smaller cars – can be quite hair-raising! The route was very pretty, as we travelled all along the coastline.
Now quite often in our travels, we have arrived somewhere to find that the big event had happened the day before. Not this time! The Bermuda stage of the World Triathlon circuit was taking place, and it was a big deal. The local runner, Flora, had won last year, but unfortunately was injured, but the event was still very popular. The grandstands to watch the event were free, so we had a great view. We cheered on the Brit – Jonathan Brownlee – who didn’t win but put in a great performance. How those guys do that is beyond me. Ingrid Huldal, I am in awe!
after a 1.5 km swim, 40 km bike ride and a 10 km run these guys still looked ready to go!!!
When we arrived back in St. George’s, we headed to the Dinghy Club. There we met Brenda, the bartender, who gave us some tips on the best places to eat and suggested someone to talk to about places to scuba dive. After trying our first “Dark n Stormy” in its birthplace, we headed over to Wahoo’s for dinner. I had the traditional fish sandwich on raisin bread, while Moray tried the “Bermuda Triangle”. We tried to guess what that would be, with my suggestion being an empty plate! It turned out to be a trio of fish, pan-fried rockfish, breaded mahi-mahi and grilled wahoo. Everything was delicious.
Our next excursion was a walk around St. George’s. We first visited Somers Garden, which is a beautiful little garden with lots of different trees.
We then walked up the hill to take a look at the forts. Bermuda was important in protecting British vessels from pirates etc, so there are a lot of forts. They can’t have been much fun to live in, but they served a purpose. Most are just open to walk around, but St. Catherine’s Fort has been restored and is now a museum.
It was very interesting, though I must admit, while Moray loved reading all the information about the cannons, I was more taken by the fact that Charlton Heston starred in a performance of Macbeth here! We also met with Patrick here (suggested by Brenda at the Dinghy Club) who told us about Castle Harbour. We could take Sol Purpose there and anchor, and maybe scuba dive from there.
Next stop on our walking tour was Tobacco Bay. This is advertised as the best snorkeling spot on the island, with safe waters, a little café, and a nice beach. It is also one of the stops for the cruise ships, so was packed when we got there. While it was pretty, I doubt there was much fish life, given the number of people in the water, but we sat for a while, had a nice lunch and then continued on our walk. We completed the circuit back down into St. George’s, ending at the Unfinished Church. The history seems to be that a new church was needed so building was begun, but during the building, the congregation split, a fire at another church (St. Peters) caused funds to be diverted for repairs and a second church was built and completed. This one was never finished, and in 1926 was hit by a strong hurricane and damaged further. It now has some structural issues, so you can’t go in, but it is impressive to see.
Our next sightseeing was on Wednesday. We bought a full day travel pass, which would allow us to jump on and off any bus or ferry. Our first stop was the Crystal Caves. These caves were discovered when two boys playing cricket lost their ball in a hole. The boys went home, got ropes and kerosene lamps and lowered themselves into the hole. There they found amazing stalagmites and stalactites, along with a beautiful underwater lake. Apparently they spent a few hours swimming before finding their way out again. From the one minute we spent down there in the dark, all I can see is that they are braver than I am!
Across the street from the caves is the Swizzle Inn, which claims to be the home of the Rum Swizzle, another signature drink of Bermuda. They are delicious – maybe a little too delicious 🙂
We had lunch there before hopping back on the bus and over to Wadson’s Farm. This is a 40-acre organic farm, which provides a lot of the local produce on the island. They will also deliver to St. George’s on Fridays, so we looked around, chatted for a while, placed our order (including unrefrigerated eggs in case any boaters out there are looking for these) and then headed back to the bus.
Next stop was Dockyards. This is the new home of the cruise ships and there are usually two here at any one time. This was also the home of the Americas Cup in 2017. Everything here seems to be geared to the cruise ship passengers – water sports, bars, restaurants and shopping. We stopped for a drink at the Frog and Onion before getting a ferry back to Hamilton.
2 of the skyline wreckers at the Dockyards
Wednesday nights are Harbour Nights in Hamilton. Front Street is closed to traffic, and street vendors set up booths selling food, jewelry and all manner of trinkets.
We walked around for a little while and then got a roadside table at the Dog House. We had a great view of everything that was going on, and lots of people stopped to talk to us. I don’t think that’s because we are anything special – much more likely because we had a tower of beer! It started lots of conversations, especially when we added a plate of 50 wings!
our first of 2 towers of beer!
For us, the main attraction was the Gombey dancing. I’ll let the video describe that to you. The video is a little long but the drum solos at the end are great.
Thursday’s weather was lovely, so we pulled up the anchor and headed round to Castle Harbour. There is a cut through the coral here, which was very well charted so it was a relatively simple ride in.
There are a couple of mooring balls there, so we picked up one of those and then jumped in the water. We had a lovely afternoon of swimming and snorkeling. The highlight for me was when Moray found a cannon under the water!
Friday morning, we dropped the mooring ball and headed back into St. George’s Harbour. The waves had picked up a little so it was a bit of a bumpy ride back into the anchorage but once through the cut it was fine. The forecast was for some windy weather over the weekend so we wanted to make sure the anchor was well set, but once done, we headed back to shore. I did the laundry, while Moray went to meet the delivery from Wadson’s farm.
Saturday and Sunday was very windy, so we spent most of our time on board. The one time we ventured out, we just went over to visit Mike, Mel, Ben and Matt on Talaria. They had arrived Saturday morning, after a 5 day run from Portsmouth. It was Cinco De Mayo, so Mike and Mel treated us all to tacos! Wonderful!
Our only other excursion has been to the Blue Hole. We headed out, armed with cameras, swimsuits and a flashlight and spent a couple of hours checking out all the trails, most of which end with a cave. Unlike the Crystal Caves, these are free to visit, but that means they are unlit. I wasn’t too keen on going in, but Moray persuaded me and I have to confess they were beautiful.
After doing that, we headed back to the Blue Hole itself, which is a sea-fed lake. It is clear and full of fish, and surrounded by low cliffs. It is one of the spots in Bermuda where it is safe to cliff-jump, which Moray loves. Moray headed round to the 15 foot jump, and I tried to video him jumping. I’m not the best videographer, but I think you get the idea!
I had no interest in jumping but swimming was lovely. We had been there a little while when a tour group came and their guide pointed out all the places where it was safe to jump, including one 10ft cliff. I don’t know what came over me, but suddenly I found myself at the top, preparing to jump! I doubt I will ever do it again, but now I can say I have cliff-jumped!
After drying off, we headed back to the Swizzle Inn for more of those delicious drinks and food! We got talking to a couple who had flown in for a week’s vacation from Boston, and after a while another couple who had arrived that day on a cruise ship asked if they could join us. We had a great time chatting with them, so all decided to carry on the day at Harbour Nights. One of these days, we will figure out that we are not in our twenties anymore!
One of the couples, Evgenia and Ruslan, came to St. Georges the next day, and we brought them out to Sol Purpose for a while. We had planned to head over to Castle Island but the forecast the next day was for 7-8 foot waves on the nose on the way back so we just spent time on the boat. Then we all went for a walk around the town, before finishing the day at Wahoo’s.
It is now Saturday, and we have found our weather window to head for the Azores. Chris Parker who we signed up for weather forecasting agrees as does several other sources of information (Fast Seas, Predict Wind, Passage Weather). Therefore today will be will be laundry and grocery shopping day, stowing things away on the boat so we are ready to head out on Sunday morning after refueling.
We will try to continue short blogs every 2 days to keep everyone updated of our progress. Again, don’t worry if you don’t see these blogs as communication will get trickier the further we get away from the US. We will file another float plan with our friend Edwin who knows what to do in case we have issues.
Sol Purpose 
Love hearing from you guys!! ❤️❤️❤️
Hey it looks as though we might be changing our plans for the route we take once we hit Europe. We were originally going up the coast of Portugal, across the Bay of Biscay and then on to the UK. It looks like we might head through the straits of Gibraltar, up the East coast of Spain and do the canals of France this year instead of, or as well as, next year. What is your timing for being in Spain and where will you be?
Wow, I loved the caves. You look so happy. Wish I was there. Joy
We are having a ball. Wish you guys were here as well!
Thanks for taking us on a tour of Bermuda! It is beautiful. I look forward to all the other places you will take us😁