TRAVEL FEATURES
Bermuda may be closer than you think
With all the focus in recent years on cruising to Bermuda, many travelers may have overlooked that this mid-Atlantic archipelago, with its rose-colored beaches, motley towns and fragrant breezes, is only a 2 1/2-hour flight from New York.
But Bermudians have not forgotten. An apocryphal story continues to circulate here about two New York City residents betting who could travel fastest to the Hamptons or Bermuda, play a round of golf and return. Guess who wins?
While cruising may offer cheap access to a tiny slice of this notoriously pricey territory of the U.K., flying to Bermuda allows travelers to spend leisurely nights on the island along with sun-soaked days in its emerald and azure waters. Visitors can dine in its fine restaurants, absorb some of the oldest Colonial history in the New World and enjoy Bermuda's courteous, genial culture - a unique blend of British, African, West Indian and Portuguese influences.
BARGAINS THIS YEAR
With planning, a Bermuda trip doesn't have to clean out a tourist's wallet. Since 2003, when Bermuda suffered a devastating hurricane, tourism has thinned, despite a quick reconstruction and frequent visits by cruise ships. To attract visitors, Bermudians are celebrating the 400th anniversary of the British settling of the archipelago in a big way this year, with plenty of discount travel packags. Jet Blue Airways, for example, is offering packages that include airfare and three nights' stay for as low as $379 a person (not including taxes and fees). Several airlines are offering $198 round-trip flights.
WHAT TO DO
Bermuda is the perfect size for a long weekend trip. Visitors can take in the capital and business center (Hamilton in Pembroke Parish); the historic center (St. George's); and the former home of the British Royal Navy, which has been converted into a maritime museum and shopping center (Dockyard in Sandys Parish).
Those with more time can visit, say, the Crystal Cave of Hamilton Parish and the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse of Southampton Parish.
ST. GEORGE'S
The seat of Bermuda's government for two centuries, St. George's is the oldest permanent English-speaking town in the New World. Its center is King's Square, where the stocks and pillory smack in front of a large St. George's bank serve as a reminder that history has a way of repeating itself. Near the water, a ducking stool dunked women who were gossips or nags - the town holds re-enactments several times a week for tourists.
Nearby, picturesque St. Peter's Church serves as an emblem of the relationship between Bermuda's European settlers and their slaves, emancipated in August 1834. A cedar gallery on the western end of the church served to segregate blacks from whites, and the church had a separate burial ground for the black population of St. George's, where many of the headstones bear no names. Visit is the Bermuda Heritage Museum, which records the story of slavery in Bermuda (Samaritans Lodge, St. George's, 441-297-4126).
WHALE WATCHING
Humpback whales migrate north through Bermuda's waters in April, an excellent time to go on a whale-watching tour. The Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute (40 Crow Lane, Hamilton, 441-292-7219) offers seven-hour whale-watching tours for $90. Watchers can spot humpback whales - which can grow to 50 feet long and 79,000 pounds - blowing, slapping their tails, diving and breaching.
BEACHES
Bermuda's prime attraction is its world-renowned beaches. Though Bermudians don't swim all year round, many visitors do, with average water temperatures falling to a barely bearable 65 degrees in winter.
Perhaps the most beautiful - and popular - beach is Horseshoe Bay in Southampton Parish, a slice of creamy pink sands lined by azure water and verdant foliage. For snorkeling, there are accessible reefs in Church Bay (Southampton Parish) and natural stone columns rising from clear waters in Tobacco Bay (St. George's Parish).
For a more isolated beach experience, head to the powdery white sands of Turtle Bay (St. George's Parish), adjacent to Clearwater Beach and nestled among bird sanctuaries and nature preserves, as well as Astwood Cove (Warwick Parish), which can only be reached by a slightly precarious cliff-side path.
WRECK DIVING
While Bermuda's glassy waters and layers of reefs are perfect for snorkeling and scuba, the numerous shipwrecks in shallow water have garnered the most attention among divers.
Triangle Diving (11 Blue Hole Hill, Hamilton Parish, 441-293-7319) takes PADI-certified divers to the Spanish shipwreck Cristóbal Colon, which is about 10 miles offshore. At Blue Water Divers & Watersports (Elbow Beach, Paget Parish, 441-234-2909; Somerset, Sandys Parish, 441-234-1034), divers can kayak out to Pollock-shields, a 1915 German wreck. Off the West End, shipwrecks visited by divers include the 1881 North Carolina, the 1943 Hermes and a U.S. Civil War blockade-runner that sank in 1864, the Maria Celestia.
For those who want to learn about shipwrecks without getting wet, there's the Bermuda Maritime Museum ($10, The Keep, Dockyard, Sandys Parish, 441-234-1333,www.bmm.bm), a collection of artifacts and cultural heritage displays housed in breathtaking historic buildings.
SHOPPING
The best places to shop in Bermuda are concentrated in three locations: Hamilton, St. George's and Dockyard, which offers the Clocktower Mall. Shopping tends away from cheap T-shirt and souvenir shops in favor of more upscale (and expensive) stores, including one of the relatively few
The Bermuda Perfumery
Stewart Hall, Queen Street, St. George's, 441-293-0627,bermuda-perfumery.com
This perfumery lodged in a striking historic building stopped making its products from Bermuda's flowers in the 1960s. Though it imports its blending oils now, the perfumery focuses on the fragrances of Bermuda - oleander, jasmine, passion flower, frangipani and Bermuda lilies. The perfumery does make one oil - from Bermuda cedar - which it has turned into a popular men's fragrance. Stop here for a tour of the blending and aging process and a whiff of the perfumery's delicate fragrances.
English Sports Shop, 49 Front St., Hamilton, 441-295-2672
With branch stores all around the island, the English Sports Shop is a great place to purchase Bermuda shorts, jackets and matching long socks. It also carries madras, capris, Hawaiian shirts and an array of other men's and women's clothing, including some fashions that have been all but lost to time, such as the cravat.
GETTING AROUND
BY CAR While taxis are a wonderful way to see Bermuda, as the country's cabbies are true ambassadors and love chatting up visitors - they are expensive. After an initial drive from the airport, consider alternate forms of transportation to save money or negotiate a price on a taxi for the day. Cars cannot be rented on Bermuda.
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