– BERMUDA_TRIP JOURNAL_COMPLETE –
June 17, 2006 – June 24, 2006
Saturday June 17, 2006: It was just before noon when our flight touched down on the runway at the Bermuda International Airport and after a very calm two hour flight I was ready for some much needed rest and relaxation. Julie and I had been looking forward to this trip for months and during the planning phase we had decided to knock off a day or two of diving so that we might get to do some sight seeing on the island. Bermuda is very well known for it's wreck diving, after all the movie 'The Deep' was filmed here back in the late seventies, but it also has a host of land attractions including military forts dating back to the early 1600's.
After taking a cab to Tuckers Point and being shown to our villa we went through the normal rituals of unpacking and getting acquainted with our new surroundings (the place we would call home for a week.) We had ordered our rental scooters ahead of time so that they would be at the villa when we arrived. Due to a mix up we were told they would not be delivered until after three that afternoon. That meant we had some time to kill so we opted to take the resort's shuttle over to the private beach club while we waited for our transportation. In Bermuda, only residences are allowed to rent or own cars... so if you want to get around you have to rent a scooter or take a taxi (and let me tell you, the taxis are expensive!!)
The beach club was absolutely amazing... clean, quiet and beautiful! We had a quick bite to eat while over looking the beach from the clubhouse and then it was back up to the villa where our scooters were waiting for us. I hate being stuck in a place with out transportation... unless of course it's on a live aboard! We then decided that we should go check out the dive operator we would be using for the week, Triangle Divers, and make sure that everything was set for our dives. Well let's just say it was a good thing we made this our first stop. Some how they ended up getting our reservation mixed up and thought we were diving the following week, at least that is what we were told. We had to adjust our sight seeing schedule slightly because they over booked the boat on the days we were supposed to have dived.
We walked around the beach club there at Grotto Bay for a while and then headed back to the villa for a beer, while we put together our dive gear for tomorrows dives.
Sunday June 18, 2006: We arrived at Triangle Divers this morning around 8 o'clock and right away it was obvious that everyone here is on island time. The Captain and crew were very nice and totally laid back, they all had a kind of a "take your time, we're in no rush" attitude about them. It is weird that I say that because by the end of the week we had the same attitude!
Graham, the Captain, gave us the briefing on our first dive site, called Cathedral Reef, which lies on the east side of the island. It is a huge underwater dome, with several holes or windows near the top that allow shafts of sunlight to penetrate inside for the making of a very interesting picture. There are lots of swim thru's and the lava rock rises up to just below the surface. This was a nice dive site. The water temperature was a bit cooler than I had expected for this time of year (73 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit at depth), not to mention that the visibility was also very poor (30 feet max) due to the strong surge. I don't believe I had a single picture that was worth keeping from this dive. How Very Sad!!
Back on-board the boat, and a little disappointed with the dive, I asked Graham what was up with the visibility here and if he could find a site with better visibility for the next dive. He told me that Bermuda is very sensitive to the conditions in the mid-Atlantic ocean. In other words, even though tropical storm Alberto did not pass directly over the island (or for that matter even close to it), it still caused strong currents that impacted visibility. He went on to say that the visibility on the north side of the island was twice as bad because of the storm. He did offer some encouragement by saying that the visibility in Bermuda normally settles down very quickly once the currents die down. Oh well, I guess you just have to take what you get.
Dive number two was on the shipwreck Kate, an English iron steamer that sank in 1878 just off the east side of the island. The Kate struck an unknown reef 22 miles northwest of Gibbs Hill lighthouse and then, soon after that, the vessel hit Long Bar reef where it began to take on water. The ship was then grounded to prevent it from sinking until her cargo could be salvaged.
It didn't seem that we moved the boat all that much in between dives, but the visibility was much better on this site (50 feet). It is quite impressive to see the remains of a ship's hull where it was buried into a reef. There was a lot to see on this wreck. The ships engine, propeller shaft and deck winches are still easily recognizable. There was also a very cool narrow swim trough at the base of the reef that leads you up under the bow of the ship. Not that much marine life on the wreck, but we did run into a blanket of silversides behind the reef near the entrance to the swim trough. This was a very nice dive!!
After getting back to the dock we had a nice lunch at the Grotto Bay Beach Club and then it was off to the beach at Tuckers Point for the rest of the afternoon.
Monday June 19, 2006: We departed the dock again this morning at about 9 o'clock. Graham said the surge on the dive sites may have lightened up slightly over night but the visibility would still be less than normal. Normal, according to Graham for this time of year, is 150 feet plus! Our first site was Nassa Point reef near Cooper's Island on the east side. The visibility was about 60 feet and there was still a strong surge flowing east and west. On this dive we saw some excellent soft corals, sea whips and some large dog-toothed snappers. There were also lots of sergeant-majors, parrotfish and yellow-head wrasse on this reef.
Dive two was on the shipwreck Pelinaion, a 385-foot long Greek steamer that sank in 1939 near Cooper's Island on the east side. This cargo vessel was loaded with manganese ore en route to Baltimore, Maryland when she ran aground on the reef. This wreck is mostly broken up now, but you can still make out the huge boilers and winches on top of the reef. We also found an anchor and tons of anchor chain but we didn't find the propeller that Dane, the Dive master, had told us about. The site was teaming with marine life and with the better visibility the colors were also much more vibrant. This was another great dive with much better photo opportunities!
We decided to spend the afternoon swimming right there at Grotto Bay beach next to the dive shop in Castle Harbour. We were not diving again until Thursday afternoon so Graham let us lock up our dive gear in the shop instead of having to haul it around with us on our scooters. We then had a nice lunch and a couple of margaritas followed by some down time sunning ourselves on the beach and playing in the calm surf. This evening, after cleaning up and editing some pictures, we took a scooter ride into St. George for dinner at the White Horse Restaurant in King's Square.
Tuesday June 20, 2006: Today was going to be a sightseeing day. We wanted to see as much of the island as we could in the short amount of time we had. We decided to start with the Dockyards at the far western end of the island and then work our way back. It took us almost an hour and a half to get to the Royal Navy Dockyards by scooter. Once there, we took a tour of the old Royal Navy Fort and the Maritime Museum and then did a little shopping before lunch. We also checked out the rum cake factory and some of the other smaller shops. We stopped by Blue Water Divers at Somerset Bridge on the way back to see what their operation looked like and also checked out a couple of the beaches along South Road.
We then returned to our villa where we got cleaned up and changed for dinner. That evening we ate at the famous Swizzle Inn (referred to us as a good eat by several people) and then met up with my brother Mike's girlfriend Cristina, who had flown in earlier that day. Mike was sailing in the Newport to Bermuda Race and was due into the Bermuda Yacht Club sometime late tonight or early in the morning Wednesday. Julie and I had set aside some time to spend with them hanging out at the yacht club during the after race party.
Wednesday June 21, 2006: This morning we took off to Hamilton to meet Mike and Cristina at the Bermuda Yacht Club. This year was the 100th anniversary of the 'Newport to Bermuda' race so there was quite a showing of boats not to mention the parties that followed. After saying hello to the crew of the 'Raider' and catching up with Mike, Julie and I took off to the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute there in Hamilton. The BUEI (also known as the Teddy Tucker Museum) is full of history about diving and the shipwrecks surrounding Bermuda. One of the rooms in the museum is filled with nothing but treasure found by Teddy Tucker over the years. This is a must see attraction if you ever make it to Bermuda.
After spending several hours at the BUEI we headed to the Bermuda zoo and then we stopped by Crystal Caves for a tour of one of the islands many cave systems. This was also a great attraction and a very nice way to cool off during a hot and humid day. Later on that evening we joined Mike and Cristina for dinner and then enjoyed the Hamilton street festival that is held every Wednesday night. They close off Front Street (the main drag in Hamilton) and all the art dealers and sidewalk venders set up their booths for the tourists that come into town off the huge cruise ships. There are bands, dancers and all kinds of great food as well. We then went back to the yacht club, where the party never ends, for a couple of beers before going back to the villa for the rest of the night.
Thursday June 22, 2006: By this morning, we have already accomplished most of what we wanted to do and see on this trip. We still have two more dives on our agenda for this afternoon and I would like to sneak in one more day at the beach to just take in some sun and relax before heading back to the real world. So with our free time this morning we decided to check out the Bermuda Aquarium over at Flatts Bridge. Yes, Bermuda has an aquarium... not as nice or as large as the National Aquarium in Baltimore, but it does have a very cool seawater tank and an outdoor sea turtle pool.
After lunch we headed to the dock where Graham briefed us on the afternoon dive plan. We were going up north!! This was great news, because there was a shipwreck I really wanted to dive and Graham assured me we would hit it today. Our first dive was on North Rock reef; this is the northern most point of Bermuda and the northern most living reef in the world. The visibility was much better today and the reef looked so much more alive with color and marine life. At one point during the dive, as I ascended from a large swim trough, I discovered a very old anchor chain embedded in the top of the reef that led to what looked like a huge ship's anchor. It was hard to tell if it was in fact an anchor because more than half of it was buried in the bottom of the reef. This reef also held some of the nicest sea fans, sea whips and anemones we had seen all week.
Dive number two was on one of the shipwrecks I had come to Bermuda to see. The Cristobal Colon was a Spanish luxury liner that sank in 1936 just east of North Rock after hitting the reef at 15 knots. She is the largest shipwreck in Bermuda at 500-feet long with a 61-foot beam. The wreck is now broken in half on either side of the reef and scattered over a wide area. You can still make out hull plates and portholes along with engine parts, boilers, deck winches and a spare propeller that was sitting on the deck at the time of her sinking. This is a really awesome dive, and even though there were not a lot of large marine creatures on this particular dive, they do normally see them on this wreck. I also took a good shot of a large and healthy sea urchin I found hiding among the wreckage. I would have to dive this wreck 20 times to see all of it and even then I would probably overlook something. Another great dive... thanks Graham!!
That evening we started out with a couple of ice-cold coronas as we cleaned up our dive gear, downloaded pictures and decided what we should do about dinner. It was kind of late already and by the time we got to Hamilton most places would be closed. We decided to go with what we knew... the Swizzle Inn! It was close, the food was good and so off we went!!
Friday June 23, 2006: Okay, I think this is going to be a beach day!! Tuesday afternoon, on the way back from the Dockyards, we stopped at a couple of beaches just off of South Road. One of these beaches was called Chaplin Bay Beach and not only was it very secluded, but it also had the makings of a great photo opportunity. We packed up our cameras and beach packs, jumped on the scooters and headed off on our half hour ride to Chaplin Bay. The sign for this beach is so small that we missed it on the first pass, so it must have been around eleven o'clock this morning when we finally strolled on to the sand.
Bermuda is basically the ridge of an extinct volcano, so most of the island is made up of lava rock. Some of this rock has been beaten by the ocean for centuries and has formed some of the nicest sculptures one could hope to photograph. Between the two cameras I had with me I must have taken three hundred pictures just at this one beach and if I'd had more time I would have liked to have done some sunrise and sunset photography here as well. My brother and Cristina dropped by while we were basking in the sun and hinted that the big race team yacht club party was tonight and that we should attend.
It was getting late and we still needed to finish packing for our flight out tomorrow, so we decided to call it a day around four o'clock and headed back to the villa for a snack and a shower. After getting cleaned up, organized and making sure we could fit everything back into our luggage, we rode to the yacht club where we met up with Mike, Cristina and the rest of the Raiders crew. Everyone had a really great time this week and this was a nice way to finish it out.
Saturday June 24, 2006: The worst part of any vacation is always the last day. Just knowing that you are only hours away from having to re-enter the real world, where time speeds up to a point that it almost runs you over, is enough to make you want to cry. It is twice as bad when you have just spent a week in a place that is a poster child for a place called paradise! This morning we finished packing up and then had a nice breakfast out on the terrace before saying goodbye to my brother and Cristina. She had an earlier flight out than ours and my brother was sailing Raider back to Annapolis, Maryland with the rest of the crew.
We snagged a taxi around ten o'clock and made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare for our 12:45 flight back to the states. The flight home was uneventful and the lines for customs were not bad, but it is always funny to watch the expressions on the faces of the TSA guys when they open our pelican cases and sift through our underwater camera equipment. Come on, does it look like bomb making stuff... I think not!!!
By: D. Vanderbilt
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