Read Bermuda – Day 3

For day four of our week-long trip to Bermuda we headed off to St. George on the other side of the island. St. George (or St. George’s) is known for Tobacco Bay, Fort St. Catherine, and the historic town of St. George.

While taking public transportation was definitely an option to get to St. George, we opted for a private taxi to save time. Once again we used to services of Mr. Rodwell Wade (441-734-9982) who was at our door waiting for us ahead of schedule. The ride to Tobacco Bay in St. George took about 50 minutes and cost about $45 before tip.

We chose Saturday to visit Tobacco Bay since that was the only day during our week-long visit that no cruise ships would be in port. We were the first people on the beach when we arrived around 9:30am which allowed for some nice people-less photos of Tobacco Bay. Since we planned to spend a good portion of the day at Tobacco Bay, we rented two lounge chairs and umbrellas for about $50. But you can enjoy Tobacco Bay for free by bringing your own blanket to sit on the sand, which is where our kids sat, in the shade under a tree. They also offer Wi-Fi, bathrooms, and indoor showers free of charge. Even as the day went on, the beach remained relativity empty compared to days when cruise ship passengers flock to the beach.

Snorkeling is very good at Tobacco Bay. The rock formations form natural breakwaters so the water is calm and clear. We fed the fish cereal which made created a feeding frenzy and allowed us to view dozens of fish at once.

After eating the lunch we had packed we dried off and headed off to our next stop. We walked down Barry Road for about half a mile to Fort St. Catherine. We arrived at Fort St. Catherine excited and ready to let the kids explore the historic fort. However, upon getting there we discovered it was not open. Contrary to much information posted online, Fort St. Catherine IS NOT open on weekends. So we could only look at it from outside and felt like the Griswolds at Wally World in National Lampoon’s Vacation.

Since Fort. St. Catherine was closed that meant we had more time to enjoy St. Catherine’s Beach next door. St. Catherine’s beach is a beautiful wide and sandy beach that seems to always have extremely calm and clear water. The beach is also famously known for sea glass, however, on this most recent trip it was way less abundant that on previous visits.
Facilities at St. Catherine’s beach consisted of a single port-a-potty but there’s a restaurant nearby at Achilles’s Bay called Blackbeard’s Hideout. There’s a massive St. Regis Hotel under construction at St. Catherine’s beach which turned the formally tranquil area into a construction site. We’re sure that once the St. Regis opens the area will be forever changed.

After spending some time at St. Catherine’s Beach we headed back to Tobacco Bay to shower and change our clothes on our way into the town of St. George for dinner. The walk to St. George was about a mile. We brought lots of water and a Piggyback rider hiking carrier with us for this excursion. Along the walk we stopped off at Unfinished Church for some photos.

Once we arrived in St. George we set off to explore the area. The kids enjoyed the stockades in King’s Square and walking around inside the historic Town Hall. We were there too late in the day to witness the “dunking of the wench” at the town dunking stool. But our youngest son was still very interested to look at the dunking stool. Apparently it was a form of punishment used in the early days particularly for gossiping women. We also checked out the full size replica of the ship Deliverance.

After the kids were done exploring we walked over to The Wharf Restaurant for dinner. We sat right at the water’s edge on along the bulkhead in the wharf and enjoyed the amazing view. Prices weregenerally pretty reasonable for Bermuda and being on the waterfront. Drinks were about $9 and entrees were in the $20-30s. The food was tasty and the portions were generous. We ordered fish chowder at a half dozen restaurants during our visit and we’d place The Wharf’s chowder toward the top of our list.

However, dinner here was not without issues… Our three and five-year-old children have various food allergies so we asked if they could have the children’s menu chicken tenders grilled instead of fried. We also reiterated that we want to make sure it’s still a child’s portion. The Wharf accommodated us, however, when the bill came it was a total of $33 for the two children meals instead of the $9.50 each as the menu stated. We asked why it was so much more expensive, especially when we I made it a point to say we wanted the children’s menu meal, and the sever blamed the chef. Just because a 3 year old child can’t eat the breaded chicken, they shouldn’t have to pay an adult price.

For my second drink I ordered a Rum Swizzle but the server brought me a Dark and Stormy instead. I pointed out to him that’s not what I ordered, but I drank it anyway since I didn’t want to waste it/send it back. (He did offer to change it). At the end of the meal we never received our credit card back after giving it to the server to pay the check. Unfortunately we did not notice it until getting back to our rental. We tried calling The Wharf and emailing them a few times the next day but they never responded to any messages so we ended up having to cancel the credit card.

But negative experiences aside at The Wharf, our visit to St. George was fun and enjoyable. The kids fell asleep in the taxi on the way back to our rental, resting up for the next day’s adventures.

Next up is Bermuda – Day 5.