MITSUGIRLY BREAKAWAY's 1 last time for the year-review/pictorial
DAY 6: Taking the ferry over to St George and visiting Clearwater Beach, Cooper Island, Long Bay, Tobacco Bay and Turtle Beach. Then a great night on the ship at the GLOW party!!
DAY 5 on the ship
We woke up as early as we could (which was 7:30am for me) knowing that the first ferry over to St George would be 9:30am. From the experience I had last time we were here and catching a ferry, I KNEW that we must be early in line if we wanted to succeed with our plans on making the first ferry.
I have absolutely NO pictures from this morning. Not from breakfast, not from our balcony, not of the family...nada! I must have really been in a hurry! LOL
At 7:30am in the morning...this is what it looked like (ok, I take it back, I did take this picture)
Ok, it does look cloudy, but I do see the sun peaking out over there by St George and I was hoping for the best.
We headed to breakfast and told the kids we would meet them after that and head off the ship. Somehow, we never met up with them. But, I knew that Kendra knew her way around Bermuda now and she definitely knows how to get to the ferry entrance so...I was hoping for the best. I had told them I wanted to be getting off the ship and in the line by 9am.
Then we look outside and it's a nasty dreary looking day with some off and on rain. Oh just great. I don't care what people say about the rain not making a difference because "we're on vacation and not at work". Sigh. I'm sure a lot of people feel this way, but honestly, I'm not one of those. I love my job and what I do. To be quite honest, if it's going to rain, I'd much rather be at work. Just saying... People save for months, sometimes years to go on a cruise of a lifetime. When it rains, it DOES affect how your vacation "feels". No ifs, ands or buts about it. Do you go on? Of course you do. There's nothing you can do about it. Everyone knows I make the best of every situation that's thrown at me, but it does bring you down a little and attitudes change and moods change.
So...with that being said.
We waited and waited and never found the kids so we decided to head off. I think we were with Kolin and Courtney at that point. After getting off the ship, dinging out and walking out of the building and down the pier, they were at the end of the pier. Good kids!
We hurried to the ferry line and walked and walked and walked and "Does this line ever end???" It was longer than it was the last time we were here with 2 ships in port. YIKES! Would we make it this time?
As we were standing in line, it started pouring. We grabbed our towels to put over our heads and most of the kids ran under the trees to wait for the line to start moving. I stayed put because I figured I was going to get wet where we're going anyhow...so why not just start now.
WE MADE IT!! Whew. But, as always, we would not be getting the nice comfy seat inside at the tables. We would walk down the isle as those people glared at us with their "ah ha, that's what you get for not getting in line early" eyes as we walked by. We headed up the steps to upstairs. Oh just great. It won't be sun beaming down on us, it would be rain beating down on us.
I managed to find a seat beside a girl and put Sakari on my lap, where my legs would fall asleep most of the way over to St George. I was just at the edge of the part that had a covering over it. What did this mean? I would get wet or stay dry...it would mean both.
Kenny & Michelle got to sit across from me in the "more covered" area. Sam was behind me in the uncovered area and Kendra, Kolin and their families were out in the open.
We headed off after the ferry was filled. Hey, at least we had a seat.
As we were pulling away, it was getting darker and darker out...and so was the look in my children's eyes.
This is usually the part where you are able to take awesome pictures of your ship sitting at the dock, but it wouldn't happen today. It would only be dark and dreary pictures to be had.
On the ride over to St George, it rained, it sprinkled, we got wet and Sakari and I spent most of the time huddled under my, what use to be, dry towel which was now pretty wet...especially on my back.
Kolin had managed to strike up a conversation with a nice lady on the way over to St George. I guess they got to talking and somehow the lady ended up asking her if his mom's name was "Kim". After that, it was all over. My cover had been blown and I was recognized as Mitsugirly here on CC. LOL
Once we made it to St George, she came over to talk to me. Very nice lady with her husband and she's on the boards here. We had a nice chat and I would run in to her later in the week on the ship. I love meeting new people and making new friends...especially cruise friends. hehe I feel like we already have a lot in common to talk about and I'm always game for cruise or port talk. (grin)
We headed off the ferry and ready to hit St George. It had stopped raining for the most part.
A look back at where the ferry docks:
Since we had done this walk before, and messed it up, I knew this time to head down the small road (Water St) instead of continuing up the hill to the main street (York).
This would be the little market and liquor store that we went to the last time we were here. Except last time, we were coming from the street up above (York), trying to find our way down to the correct street. These are the steps we used to get down here that time. I officially feel like I know my way around here now.
Continuing along the road toward the Town Hall.
To the left is the Post Office. I joked around with Kendra about maybe we should stop here and purchase the 15 pack of tickets for the next time we come to Bermuda and we'll be ready. Although...I actually started to think I wasn't joking and something I probably should have done. However, we were in a hurry to get to the beaches and enjoy as much time as we could here in beautiful St George.
We arrived at the end of the street and in front of us was the Town Hall and to the right is the visitors center. This is where you go if you want to purchase the HOHO (Hop On, Hop Off Beach Bus) stamp.
Now last time we were here, I did not even see these punishment devices and I knew I wanted to get pictures here. Once I walked up to them, Kendra even mentioned "I didn't see these last time. Where they here?" LOL
Despite me trying to convince Sakari that if she's bad she'd be locked in one of these the remainder of the day, she wanted in it. Obviously Kenny doesn't know how to be serious. "Oh, I'm getting my picture taken?" smiles!
The hubby took things a little too far and decided to hang himself...
We headed over to the Visitors Center to ask a few questions and purchase our Beach Bus stamp. We were surprized to find that we were the only ones in here so far. I ask the gentleman behind the counter if they had more than 1 bus currently running and explained the reports a few months ago about 1 of the buses having an accident and they were only down to 1 bus. Our concern was having to wait forever to get a ride back to St George from St David. He assured me that there was more than 1 bus running.
I also ask how far it was to the nearest bus stop to catch the #6 bus to St David...just in case. He explained where to go and honestly, I was just a tad bit confused when he started pointing in different directions. I assume it was somewhere up on the main road.
We went ahead and purchased our stamp. Since we had such a large group, this did take awhile to get to all of us. At this point, a large line had formed behind all of us.
He starting asking if we had any "change" (meaning $5 or $1) and we always carry tons of small change with us. I kept counting out fives and ones for his twenties and he was most grateful. He said he was going to personally call the Beach Bus and get the driver on the phone and tell them we were a group of 10 waiting on them to head to St Davids. Once he was off the phone, he told us the ladies name and she said she was on her way. He confirmed that the waiting area for St David's was also in the same location as the St George bus and out we went.
When we arrived, I wasn't completely sure that we were at the right bus stop. I knew we were at the same place we went to the last time we caught the bus, but I didn't see any signs saying the Beach Bus Stop like I did last time we were here. (I even went back to my previous pictures of this bus stop and confirmed that there was indeed a sign).
We were the first there, so really no one to ask if they had been told this is the bus stop. I was sure it was and was hoping they hadn't moved it.
After us an older couple came and sat down on the bench and moved to give them a chair.
Then more and more people started to come. It was getting very crowded and very unorganized at this point. I didn't have a good feeling about this and started having flashbacks to our first day at the dockyard at the bus stop.
A bus came and it ended up being a bus to St George. The driver said there would be another bus coming shortly. At this point, there were people spilling out onto the street (just like the bus stop at the dockyard) and when that bus pulled up, people were jumping to get in. (They don't hold many people to begin with and it's like a small mini-van). I just knew this was not going to be good.
Next up was our Beach Bus. The lady pulled up and we just knew it was the lady he had called for us (the other driver was a guy to St George). We headed for the bus and I confirmed that she was going to St George. However, the guy in the picture above also tried jumping in the van with his family. Um...nope! Don't even try it. He started arguing with us that it was his bus. I think not. The kids got a little uptight at this point and of course...argued back. We were the first at the bus stop and just because they decided to step in front of us didn't mean it was their bus. As a matter of fact, Kendra pointed out to them that they were actually in line BEHIND us at the Visitors Center purchasing their stamp. So do you want to explain how you were here before us??? They ask him if he was even going to Clearwater in St David thinking maybe he thought this was another St George bus and we were trying to avoid the argument with him. He said he was going to Clearwater. Sigh. This guy was ridiculous, but guess what...we had 10 people and those 10 people made their way into the bus as he continued to argue and finally said "You just take it". Yea, I think we already did as we ask him if he happened to know the drivers name...no, he did not. Why did we know her name? Because the Visitors Center called her for US and gave us her name...that's why.
Day 2 of aggravation completed...or would it be. We were piled in sitting on each others laps at this point, but we were on our way to St Davids. It took approximately 15 minutes to get there. We told the driver we were interested in going to Long Bay and she took us all the way to the gates at Coopers Island Reserve. She told us that we were allowed to walk around the gates and wonder around the reserve, they just weren't allowed to drive there.
So off we went...
I knew we were headed to the very end/tip of the island here, but had no clue how far it was.
We passed various beach areas and the kids being kids would ask "Is this it?" Nope, we would keep going. I had a feeling I would know when it was the right beach.
We walked and walked...at least Sakari acted like she knew where she was going.
There were chickens and roosters running everywhere.
...and we kept walking. Geesh, is it really that far?
I THINK I SEE IT!!!!
Well hello there little guy. I'm so glad that Sakari had walked right by this snail without seeing it. His fate would be doomed had she seen it because it would have became her pet for the day and no one wants that.
WE MADE IT!!! Man this was a beautiful beach!
It actually took us 6 minutes to walk all the way down to Long Bay, but I can tell you that it seemed like it was a lot longer walk than that.
After several people on these boards suggested going here, I just knew it was going to be beautiful from the few pictures I had seen of it.
We had found paradise....it was confirmed.
The water was gorgeous! The sand was gorgeous! It was heaven on earth.
The family couldn't wait to get in the water. I think the joy of it was also that the sun had come out a little.
There wasn't another person here.
Man this place was beautiful. I thought St Catherine was pretty, I liked this place even more.
Kolin testing the water out...and running from it.
Another thing I had worried about coming to Bermuda in October was going to be whether or not we would be able to swim and enjoy it. I know the temps are cooler during this time but was assured that there's still plenty of swimming weather at this time of year too.
We did find the water to be a little chillier than last time, but when on vacation, we manage to swim no matter how cold. We would not let the opportunity pass us by.
It took some getting use to. Maybe after freezing the first 5-10 minutes of being in the water, then you started to get use to it. After that, you were good to go. You could get out for awhile and when you got back in, it felt fine. Not as warm as the last time, but you could definitely tolerate it.
Of course the kids never care at all (the little ones)
The nice thing about this place was there were plenty of trees (had there been a lot of people there and if the sun was out and extremely hot) that you could sit under if needed.
The hubby and Billy decided to go rock climbing...baby rock climbing.
They said they could see some big fish swimming in the water by the rocks. When we snorkeled over that way, we really didn't see much. I tell ya, they were hiding from us this time around. The rocks here were just like those at Horseshoe Baby Bay, TONS of huge crabs and snails crawling all over them.
I tried my best to capture some of them, but they (the crabs) were just too quick for me and my camera.
You could see the airplanes coming in over the water and headed toward the airport. I reflected on our times at Maho Beach in St Maarten. Great times!
They convinced Kolin there were fish over there...so off he went.
I continued to take more pictures of this beautiful beach.
The pretty colorful houses over at St David. I could see the lighthouse from here.
All of a sudden Kendra yells "DO YOU SEE IT???" I looked and looked and couldn't see anything. She yelled that it was a turtle and pointed off in a direction. Then yelled a few more times and pointed in different directions. Turtles were popping up their heads everywhere.
I took a picture...can you see it? Top of the picture (my aim was a little off, but I had no idea where one would be popping their head up at any time, so I just aimed and shot). Do you see the dot? That's a turtle.
I zoomed in on the picture above...this is a close up (so not very clear, but you can clearly tell it's a turtle).
DUDE! (Finding Nemo).
We continued watching the turtles go up and back down. The kids were excited, especially those that have never seen them in the ocean yet.
I started walking down the beach and taking pictures. The kids started following. It was time to explore a bit. The hubby finally came down from his rock climbing adventure and joined us. Time for a selfie.
Toward the end of the beach, you start to see some shells along the sand.
Now during my planning stages, I always go onto Google Earth and get as close in to where I'm going to "have a look around". I have studied this beach area for awhile and knew that directly across a small street was another beach that looked interesting. So, I decided I was going to walk over there and check it out. The hubby followed me and the kids were busy looking at the shells on the beach.
It was a very small beach, but pretty with the rocks sticking up in the water and on the beach. I took a 360 picture of the beaches.
I tried desperately to get a picture of both beach in one picture, but no matter where I went, it just wasn't happening the way I wanted it to.
I needed a fish eye lens for that....OR, as the hubby suggested, to walk up the hill and take one. That was something I just wasn't wanting to do at the time. LOL
So just decided to stay where I was at an continue exploring and taking pictures.
Another 360 attempt at getting both the beaches together.
Shells along the beach
It had some very interesting places with huge rocks by the water to explore:
The one thing I did notice on THIS beach was there was a lot of trash around it. Some weird things. I couldn't help but wonder why they didn't keep this beautiful beach cleaned up and it was ashamed that it looked like an abandoned area and could be so beautiful. It's a nature preserve. You would think one of the things they do is to clean up. I wasn't thinking until I got home and now after seeing these pictures, THEY JUST HAD A HURRICANE!! Geesh, what do you expect? Those things were probably washed up on shore during the crazy waves and they haven't got to it yet. I feel ashamed now.
I was not able to capture the picture I wanted here. This huge tree was growing...on top of nothing!! It was just up there and it's roots hanging down. It was strange. You could walk under it. It was like the ground had been pulled out from under it just exposing the roots and tree above.
There seem to be a lot of chitons everywhere we went this time. The last time we only seen them at Achilles Bay.
I believe the name of this bay was called Ft Hill Bay. I really wish I would have walked up the hill and explored more. I have since then looked it up and it says the building up there is a former NASA tracking station and the pictures of it look pretty cool. Of course I just got a "told ya so" from the hubby after telling him what it was. LOL
Back over to Long Bay to join up with the kids.
Billy seems to be the only one back at our "camp" and from what the hubby told me, Billy was starving and ready to walk back to Clearwater to eat. Not wanting to leave us all behind, he did wait, but impatiently. He did not eat breakfast this morning. He said that he really don't care for the breakfast on the ship so he'd "wait" and waiting is exactly what he was doing...only he was waiting on us. LOL
As soon as we all made it back to our things (and Billy) he grabbed his bag and started heading toward the road. Alrighty then, I guess we're leaving. LOL
We packed up and headed down the road toward Turtle Bay. We had stayed at Long Bay for 1 hour and I probably could have stayed a lot longer to enjoy the view.
We came to Turtle Bay and it was beautiful just like Long Bay.
They actually had picnic tables there. Maybe more people visit this beach than Long Bay? We did spot another couple there.
We didn't see any turtles there. I guess they had all moved over to Long Bay.
I really wanted to spend a little time here, but Billy just wasn't having it. I didn't think it was a great idea for us to split up even though I knew we couldn't and wouldn't get lost getting back to Clearwater. The rest of the kids started saying they were hungry too, so we just all decided to keep walking so that everyone could eat. I know everyone I have talked to said Clearwater was pretty too, just not as pretty as Long Bay/Turtle Beach. We'd just have to spend some time there instead.
I continued to walk and snap pictures and decided that I would like to come back here some day.
CLEARWATER BEACH
We all walked back to Clearwater. I believe the name of the restaurant there is called Gombys. I knew they had food and drinks, so we decided this would be the place we hung out for awhile...or the rest of the day. I did have something else pictured in my mind though. I thought it was just a little shack type stand, but it ended up being really big.
There was just something about this place that I didn't care for. I'm not sure. It just felt cheap and trashy to me.
There didn't seem to be anyone there visiting. A few employees, but none of them spoke to us at all.
We checked out the prices for food and drinks and the family was just unsure of it.
We just weren't feeling this place. I'm not sure what it was, but I did know it wasn't my "paradise" that's for sure.
As the family stayed up at the shack to make up their minds and order, I decided to head down to the beach to take a look.
This is what I see....
They had a dozer out there pushing sand around. Maybe from the hurricane? But it definitely didn't seem like a usable beach to me. I certainly didn't want my child running up and down the beach with this thing moving around.
To the other side there was a small section of beach. But I wouldn't say it was too pretty.
We were kind of disappointed after seeing this and the family met up with me on the beach. They informed me that they decided not to order anything from up there and the employees weren't too friendly.
We contemplated what we should do from here and where to go. I could tell they did not want to hang out at this place.
When the HOHO bus dropped us off, we had inquired when they would be back to this area and how often they ran. Now I know from previous research that it is supposed to run once an hour and I believe it was at the 45 minute block...as in 12:45, 1:45, 2:45 and so on. However, the driver told us she would be back at 2:45 and 4:45pm. (I believe it might have not been running as often this time around because of the rain and weather and there wasn't as many people brought to this area today that normally comes). Hmmm, it was only 12 noon. :eek: We knew there was no way that we wanted to hang out at this place for another "almost" 3 hours. No way at all!
The only other option, I told them, was to walk to the bus stop somewhere down the road and catch the #6 bus. They all agreed that this is what they wanted to do. We'd just catch the bus back into St George and find a place there to eat and away we went.
The grounds here at Clearwater are actually pretty big. I can see why they decided to make this the primary beach over in this area and put a food place here. Plenty of room to spread out.
They did have a playground for the kids.
We seen a building toward the end of the place.
I decided to explore it and it ended up being a restroom. Now I know I have read in the past that they only allow customers that eat and drink there access to their restrooms. However, this building isn't anywhere near the restaurant area. Hmmm. Strange.
We decided to check it out since most of us needed to use the restroom and...it was unlocked.
Maybe it wasn't actually part of the restaurant and part of the park instead. I'm not sure.
We finally came out to the road that runs between the water and the airport. I knew we were heading in the right direction.
Now I had done a little bit of research prior to going here, but it had been months ago when we first booked this cruise. I knew that the road curves around and I knew that there were bus stops toward the lighthouse. I remember even looking one up because, at the time, we had thought about catching the HOHO to the lighthouse and checking it out, then on to St George (after our trip to Clearwater). But, I never really figured out exactly where the bus stop was. Things get interesting...
So here's the LONG road you walk down from Clearwater.
You could tell who was in a hurry to get to their destination (and they had no clue where that destination was actually)
And you could tell who wasn't in a hurry...(I bet you all could have guessed who that would have been...the one that's late to everything)
Obviously from the pictures, I'm located in the middle of them all doing a leisurely walk.
The airport runway is to the left of us.
The water to the right.
