BOAT RENTAL WITH H20 WATERSPORTS
After our fun jet ski tour with H20, we had reserved a whaler boat to rent for 3 hours.
Boat= $80 first hour $30 every hour after and renting for 3 hours total (charged for 2 hours) =$140 for 3 hours.
(plus gas at $11/gallon up to 5 gallons?) (take $40 for gas)
They gave us a map...which is the same map that you will receive when you get off the ship or the map they will send you on the Bermuda site if you request a packet. They will circle where they are located at and the area that you are allowed to take the boats. It does not go all the way toward the Southshore beaches. It's mainly around the Somerset area, circling into the bay and down around the ship and back around the other side going past the snorkel park area.
I knew I wanted to hit up sea glass beach as a stop and circle all the way around and head toward the ships for some pictures. Then continue into the bay until we got to the bridge by Somerset, passing H20, head back to the Vixen and then finish it off with a trip to a private island I had found on google earth.
Those were my plans...would it happen? Would ANYTHING go right for me as planned on this trip?
This is the map they gave us with the markings as to where we could go.
They started at the H2O location, under the Watford Bridge in the bay under the Somerset Bridge circle around toward the Vixen and back. Well, this is what we just did on the jet skis so we really didn't want to do that again.
I told them I wanted to head toward sea glass beach and circle around the ships and then back so he gave me that drawing...which of course is obvious what to do without a drawing or a map. Just saying...
From the markings he made on the map it looks like you can go all the way over to Pembroke Parish in the City of Hamilton if you'd like, but I'm not sure what is there and since I didn't research it, it wasn't something I was interested in doing. I see several little parks and islands listed on the map.
In the opposite direction you could go just past Sandy's Parish area all the way to the start of Southampton Parish. I remember reading about a pretty beach there, but I don't recall the actual name. Oh well, next time around we'll adventure out a little more now knowing where all you can actually go and having a map, I can plan a little better.
So like I said, my goal was to hit up sea glass beach. I did print off walking instructions just in case this was something we decided to do on one of the evenings...but I was talked out of that by our wonderful people here on cc saying it was too dangerous to do along the roads. So, plan 2 was to take the bus to the military cematary and be dropped off to walk down to the beach. Plan 3 I thought sounded so much funner...take our own private boat there instead!!! woo hoo
Here are my directions I printed prior to going:
The above was done by another cc member, I just copied it onto a word page and added things. So credit does NOT go to me.
We headed out and since I do such heavy planning and research, I knew what to look for when it came to Black Bay Beach. I immediately spotted it and knew that Sea Glass Beach had to be next to it...and it was very easy to spot.
We pulled up, but this area is VERY rocky. Not really a beach you would swim at and definitely not a beach/water area I would recommend just jumping in the water without water shoes on.
We pulled up and anchored, jumped out and headed for the beach.
The will be the very first time that I have ever seen what this "sea glass" stuff is. I hear (read) people talking about collecting this stuff for years now and never knew what it was. So here I am.
And here it is...
Tons of sea glass everywhere.
So what is sea glass? It's basically "trash" that people have thrown into the ocean such as glass bottles, pottery, jars and so on. With the waves of the ocean and churning over and over, for many years, the glass becomes rounded and the entire piece feels smooth. Then the waves takes it to shore. I'm really not sure what determines how all this glass ends up particularly on THIS beach (and down on Alexandra's Battery Park) and I guess that would be something neat to look up. Maybe just the way the tide and waves come in. I don't know. I'm not an ocean expert, but I find it kinda neat.
This beach mostly had browns, greens, tans, white, off white and a few milky frosted looking light blue. I remember reading that red and blues are highly sought after and are very rare. I mean when I think about it, how often do you ever see any bottles that are red or blue these days? I remember some of my moms and grandma's knick knacks, but that's it.
The only other people that we seen there that day were 2 ladies. I will say that they had BAGS FULL of sea glass. At least 2 bags per lady and they weren't little bags either. I don't know if they were locals or from the ships.
Now I know I had read in the past that they have started posting signs that say that you are NOT allowed to remove any of the sea glass from THIS beach. However, you are allowed to take a few pieces from the sea glass beach over in St George. My question is How the heck would anyone know WHICH beach you took it from? Seriously? It's all the same. So, it seems like there have been reports of some of the sea glass being confiscated upon entry to the ship at times with no questions asked as to where you obtained them.
Oh well, I guess it's worth a shot and I will not admit nor deny anything that we did. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I also did not see any such sign saying you are not allowed to remove it...I came from the ocean, not the road. I plead the 5th, just saying. I did read someone say they had some in their hubbys shorts because it's not like it's detected in an xray machine, however I would think if you are thinking about taking more than a few pieces, then jingling will give you away...just saying.
Ladies in the background taking their MORE than fair share of goodies.
Some of the areas had it stacked pretty deep, others are just spread out on top of each other in places. I guess it would all depend on the tide that day.
We spent a good 1/2 hour there and then noticed this....our boat had floated up toward the shore. Oh just great! We knew this was going to be an adventure trying to get it back out because we were now going to have to hand push it out because we couldn't start the engine in the water there with all the rocks.
I adventured over to where they have these cheesy looking concrete walls that people have made and put designs in them with the sea glass.
On the other side of this was even more of the sea glass along that beach as well.
​
There was plenty of it under the water not washed up on shore as well...(my attempt of an underwater shot)
Kendra was busy making her own little creation:
Then it was time for us to head out. We all started pushing the boat out and "trying" to get in the boat. I have to say this...it's NOT easy at all. They do provide you with a ladder that you hook to the side of the boat. It can only be hooked in 1 particular place and it attached there. Whenever I would try to get in, the entire boat ladder would kind of go under the boat (if that's not a sign to lose weight, I don't know what it is) and it would kind of throw me back. The other problem was that there's nothing to grab on to on the boat itself. The only thing around there are the strings/ropes/whatever you call it that holds up the little "sunroof awning" which isn't going to hold you. So, you are forced to have all the guys "trying" to hold your hand and pull you up. It took us all forever to get in the boat.
By the time we made it up there, we had drifted too far over toward the big rocks in the area. That was not a good sign. Kendra and I quickly jumped on the front of the boat and put our legs out to keep the boat from hitting it...the last thing we needed was any damage to occur to a boat that's not ours, and the guys once again had to jump off the boat and pull us back out then attempt to get back on in deeper water. Ugh.
WE MADE IT FINALLY>>>>WOO HOO
We were finally out deep enough that we could safely start our engines and get out of there.
​
We were off and headed on down toward the ships. The water was just so beautiful and it seemed to be a much nicer ride in the boat than what the jet skis were earlier. Not as bumpy. However, you could tell that Billy was trying to get us wet on purpose and I caught one of his "splashes" in the following shot.
​
The kids were absolutely enjoying it. It was even neater when Sakari yells...there's our ship!!!
​
I'm really glad we decided to go down to Snorkel Park that first night and look around. Otherwise, I would have never really had a feeling for where we were at. In this following picture, I knew from the looks of it that this was the putt putt place within snorkel park.
