Touring St. George

There was no rainbow this morning, but the sky was clear and the weather was warm. It was the first day we felt it was nice enough to sit outside for breakfast.

We headed back to the bus stop and caught a bus at 10:50 to go to St. George, which is on the exact opposite end of the island. We thought it might take an hour to get there, but after we had to stop and get off the bus at the bus terminal in Hamilton (sing Alexander Hamilton) to switch buses the whole trip was closer to two hours. The first place we stopped was St. Peter’s Church which is the oldest Anglican Church outside the British Isles and the oldest Protestant church in continuous use in the New World (http://www.stpeters.bm). We didn’t go in, but we did take a peak inside and walk around the cemetery. I was happy to find a geocache in a super old tree here.

After taking one wrong turn we walked up to the Unfinished Church. This church is just a shell of a building where construction was started but never finished. In 1874 construction started to replace St. Peter’s Church, however due to funding issues, disagreements with parishioners, and a hurricane that destroyed the roof, the church was never finished. I roamed around trying to locate a geocache when I heard Erica say that she found it. I was so proud. A chicken decided to hang out by me as I was retrieving the cache. He was looking at me like I was going to feed him. He reminded me of the Boys when I get out their can of wet food. At one point he actually flew up at me. I think he though the container was food so I threw it on the ground. He pecked at it and realized it wasn’t and then left me alone. I can definitely say I have never been attacked by a chicken while logging a geocache before.

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From the church we turned our sites on heading to a beach at Tobacco Bay. Along the way there was another geocache for me to nab. The bay was super calm and looked like a perfect place to swim or wade. Too bad we didn’t wear our swimming suits today. Murphy’s Law would have it that we wore them yesterday and didn’t swim (accept for Erica’s dip) and today it might haven been nice to have them. Oh well. We got some frozen drinks at the bar and stood in the water and saw some fish swim by. Amanda and Erica did more wading in another area while I put my tennis shoes back on and ventured over the rocks. I enjoyed climbing and seeing the bay and nearby fortress from another angle. We got one more drink and walked over to Fort St. Catherine. We took a quick pit stop at Achilles Beach where I attempted one more geocache, but came up empty handed. We did see some pretty hugh parrot fish in the water though!

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On to Fort St. Catherine. We paid our admission and toured the fortress. I couldn’t help but hum the Game of Thrones theme song as I walked though the tunnels and chambers. They really reminded me of some of the scenes in the show. I also felt like there may have been useful information for the next “Talk Like a Pirate Day” even though I know the fort had nothing to do with pirates.

We left the fort and decided we could still make it to the Crystal Caves before they closed at 5:00. We hustled back to Tobacco Bay in hopes of catching a taxi. None of the vehicles parked there had the taxi sign on top but a bunch of gentlemen were sitting outside, so I asked if any of them were a taxi. They said yes! I asked if they were like Uber since they didn’t have the sign and they replied that they were cheaper then Uber. I asked how much it was going to cost me and they said $20. I felt that was fair so we hopped in. I think the driver was taking the scenic route and was also playing tour guide as he pointed out things. Fortunately Amanda had internet acess and found that the last tour at the caves was at 4:30. We only had 20 minutes to get there and GPS said it was going to take 15 so I mentioned to the driver that we were trying to catch the 4:30 tour. He immediately sped up the drive. Side note – I do have to say that the people of Bermuda are some of the most friendly and helpful people. Everywhere we go people ask us if we know where we are going or if we need help.

We got to the caves at 4:27 and bought our tickts for the tour. Amanda and Erica even had enough time to peruse the gift shop. The cave was impressive mostly for the water that filled it. At some points it’s 50 feet deep! The cave was discovered in the early 1900’s when a couple of boys lost their cricket ball. I can only imagine what it would have been like to discover it. The tour was over at 5:05 and we made our way the short distance to the Swizzle Inn. The Swizzle is the drink of Bermuda and made of 5 different rums, pineapple and orange juice.

At the Swizzle Inn we ordered crab dip, conch fritters, and bbq chicken nachos for dinner, along with a pitcher of Swizzle. All were good and enough to satisfy our bellies. We headed back to the bus stop and waited for the long bus ride home. We once again had to switch buses at the bus terminal in Hamilton (Alexander Hamilton . . .). No Hamilton is not named for Alexander Hamilton, but Henry Hamilton who was a governor of the island between 1788 and 1794. I just can’t stop singing the songs from the musical Hamilton. We passed Gibbs Lighthouse and it was great to see it lit up after we were up in it yesterday.

We got back to the hotel and Erica and Amanda went to the hot tub and I hung back to write the blog. We were too tired to play Phase Ten, so the tournament will have to wait until tomorrow to see if Erica can take a win.

Stats of the Day

Steps Walked: 13,250
Geocaches: 3 Found and 1 DNF
Chicken Attacks: 1
Temperature: 75 degrees