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.
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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
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​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.
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​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.
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There were chickens and roosters running everywhere.
...and we kept walking. Geesh, is it really that far?
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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
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​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.
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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.
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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)
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Obviously from the pictures, I'm located in the middle of them all doing a leisurely walk.
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The airport runway is to the left of us.
The water to the right.
I had also ask if this area was anything like being at Maho and watching the planes come in over top of you. The reply I got was "no"!
We would experience plane after plane coming in over top of us...and the answer to my question is still a definate "NO" from me as well. Not the same at all. They don't fly in low like Maho, but still a fun experience to watch as we walked by.
These planes came quite frequent too.
But then again, this road was quite long. LOL
The kids being kids and bored during the walk, stopped and played tic tac toe on the road...geesh (Actually Kenny started this, which gave us a chance to catch up to them...then Kendra took over).
We arrived at the end of the road finally.
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A lot of signs telling us where we had been...but none telling us where to go.
As we stood at the corner of the road, there was 2 directions you could go. To the left would take you along the airport on another very long road with not much in site. The other would take you up the hill, where you couldn't really tell what was up there, but I did know that was the direction of the lighthouse and the little town.
I said we should go to the right, Kenny said to the left. Well, I knew there was a bus stop somewhere around the lighthouse, I just didn't know how far. So, Kenny won and we decided to head down the long road along the airport.
I started taking pictures of the intersection road signs so that when I got home I could actually look up where we had walked and see it on Google Earth.
At one point we felt so confused and just not sure what we were doing. We stopped. We stood in the road. There was traffic. We decided the only right thing to do was to flag down a local. A work truck was coming and he was our lucky prey of the day. We flagged him down and ask where the closest bus stop to catch the #6 was. He had no idea....:eek:
BUT...he was very nice and said "It has to be around here somewhere because I see the buses driving around here on the streets." He could probably see the look in our eyes and said "I'll tell you what, I'll circle around and see where it's at for you and come back." Wow, how nice of him. He said "STAY HERE!!! DON'T MOVE. I'll be right back." Off he went in his little work van.
We all looked at each other and noticed that he was heading toward the hill where I said I thought the bus stop was. I said "see, that's the way he went instead of the way we were headed. I just know it's that way and we might as well turn around and at least start walking that way until he catches up to us." Yea, I don't listen to directions well.
Before long, he pulled up behind us saying "You don't listen very well do you? I said stay put" and he was laughing. Then he said "Now turn back around and walk the direction you were going and the bus stop is down, around the corner, and in town." Sigh. He tried to explain to come to a street, turn this way, down there...um say what? Well, at least we knew there was one in the direction we were headed...even if we got lost again, we could ask someone else for directions.
Then the driver said "I tell you what, one of you come with me and I'll show you and bring you back and then you can show the rest." Say what? How nice....or...someone was about to get kidnapped. LOL I would volunteer my husband. haha. The rest of the kids said "if you could just pile us all in there, we don't require seats and can even hang on the roof" hehe...of course they were just joking...or were they? He laughed and said he would get in trouble for having passengers in the work van and we completely understood.
The hubby got into the van with the guy we didn't know, I gave him "that look", kissed him goodbye and assured him that I would take good care of our daughter as she grew up. Of course he squinted his eyes at me and my last memories of him would be a cold glare from his eyes as he pulled away.
Since THIS time we DID know that we were at least headed toward a bus stop, we started back tracking and walking in the other direction again...while we all contemplated if the hubby would come back. Some said "So do you think he'll come back? Or do you think he'll have him drop him off at the end of the street so he don't have to walk that far and meet us there...because that's what I would do." LOL Other's said "You think it was safe to get in the car with a stranger? I'm glad it wasn't me." Others said "So what would you do if he don't come back?" Courtney, which the the weird one of the bunch said "So, do you think you'll ever remarry?" LOLOLOLOL Geesh people.
So I'm not a widow and we didn't spend the rest of the time in Bermuda with a search party...he returned and had to walk with us. (Although he did admit that the thought of just meeting us at the end of the street did cross his mind, he didn't want me to worry about him).
The leaders of the pack fell behind and this was a picture I took while I was in front of them and I threw the camera over my shoulder, so they couldn't see it, and snapped a picture. I did pretty good and actually caught Michelle with a smile...which doesn't happen often and especially if she knows a picture is being taken of her. LOL
We could see the building. The hubby had told us that we would come to a pizza place first and the bus stop was right across the street from there. At that point, the kids heard nothing about the bus stop or its location and the thought process stopped at the word "pizza". FOOD!...and off they went like they had just found new energy.
We made it to the Pizza place and figured we would grab a pizza to go.
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​Or maybe they served chicken instead?
Actually I'm not sure what kind of birds those are. Are the Bermuda chickens? They don't look like any of the chickens we have here.
We went inside and there was a huge line to order food. While we were standing in line, I took out my bus schedule and seen that it said the #6 bus runs at ____, well wait, we actually have no idea where we are at to know, but I was guessing it would be soon. I decided to step out of line and ask the lady at one of the counters and she said it comes around 12:40pm. IT WAS 12:35PM NOW!! Yikes! I told the kids that the bus was about to run so did they want to be on that bus or be eating instead? They decided to head to the bus stop and not take the chance. We would stick to our original plans and eat back at St George when we arrived.
We waited...12:40 came and went.
We were still waiting. The last picture I took of us standing at the bus stop was at 12:59pm. I believe the bus probably came within 10 minutes of that. Of course the kids had the "See, we could have got a pizza to go and been eating at the bus stop" comments. Oh well.
I just wanted to add...IF any of you plan on doing the walk from Clearwater to the #6 bus stop. Here's our details of the timing (according to my pictures).
We left Clearwater, walking along the beach area, but still on the grounds, at 12:08pm. We arrived at the pizza place at 12:43pm. However, factor in the time we spent waiting on the guy to circle around and come back to tell us where the bus stop was and then walking back in the direction we came from and then turning back around again, I would say to cut at least 10-15 minutes off that time had we just kept walking.
So, it's maybe a 1/2 hour walk to THIS bus stop. Not really bad, just bad if you don't know where you are going and even worse when it's your first time. Are we there yet?
Here is a map I just made of the route we took. It's really simple.
​Now I really wanted to know if I could find a bus stop up at the top of the hill. So, me being me, I went onto Google Earth and pulled down and "walked the street" along that route. I did find something that looked like a bus stop after you made it up to the top of the hill and started walking around the city area with houses. It was at the corner and there was a pole there. On Google Earth, it also showed someone sitting on a bench there, so I'm assuming it might be a bus stop. It's at an interesection. Here's a picture. Any thoughts?
As you can see from my map above, I have marked this location on it as well.
I would love to hear from others if this is actually the #6 bus stop and if not, where would it be?
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We make it back to St George and the bus dropped us off at the main road. I knew exactly where I was at and we started to walk. We made it to Town Square again and I said "Hey, we could just take the HOHO bus we already paid for and head over to Tobacco Bay". Of course the first thing out of Kenny's mouth was "Does it have food?" After getting a definite "yes" from me, that was enough to satisfy him and back to the Beach Bus stop we went. We were there at 1:27pm.
Within a few minutes the same driver from this morning (the guy) pulled up. Dude...take us to Tobacco Bay! (He looked like a true surfer dude...seriously, long blonde hair, no shoes and kinda awkward). He was very funny and had a great personality. He was eating his lunch and of course offered us some. We figured we could each get a bite out of it and it would be gone so we declined. We joked all the way there and he said our group was pretty big and glad he was able to fit us all in, even though there's a sign that says "Maximum is ____" and I think it said like 6 or 8, I can't remember. Once again, we were sitting on laps, but that was ok. We knew it was a short ride there.
We arrived at Tobacco Bay at 1:39, but this time the driver went all the way down the hill right to the building at Tobacco Bay. How nice! No far walk down the hill. We could get right to the food.
The deck area with chairs, tables and umbrellas to eat at and our view from the deck.
We decided to head down to the beach and claim our real estate for the rest of the day. For some reason, we decided not to rent chairs this time. Putting our towels and blankets down on the sun would be just fine this time.
Here's the beach area. As you can see, it's not a huge beach, but still well worth the visit. This also shows the chairs you can rent. They have the adjustable tops over them that you can move along with the sun to stay under the shade if you want. Of course it had been raining off and on all day, so...no need for that.
This would be our area we claimed. You can tell the kids kinda dropped their things, threw a blanket down and ran to the concession stand.
You can rent boards there if you'd like. I don't think I have ever seen anyone in them either time I was there.
I found it odd that they had a pool table outside. I'm not sure if it stays out there all the time (I would assume it does). But would think that the weather and salt would not be too good on it.
Not many people were in the water today.
I headed out to the water and to the right with Sakari while the kids ordered their food.
Then Brayden happened....he came along and scared them away.
I believe someone was throwing food in the water for them to come the way they did. There were people standing up on the rocks above us. As you can tell, the water was cloudy and stirred up and without the sun, I wasn't able to take good pictures.
Kendra came out to snorkel with us while the others were waiting on their food to come out.
The one and only parrotfish I would see.
Plenty of Chitons around this area too.
As I said, the sun was not out and the water was churned up, so not very good snorkeling at all today. We were going to head out to the deeper area along the rock walls. But with the water being so cloudy, we decided it was a bad idea.
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I do like that this place has a sign that shows the various fish in the area there at Tobacco Bay. This is very helpful.
Kenny & Michelle doing some more climbing:
I'm off taking pictures again since snorkeling was going to be out of the question today.
The menu and pricing:
The kids food arrived and it really started to look yummy. I told the hubby to go ahead and order us something. It was making me hungry.
We took the table next to theirs and waited on our food to come.
As soon as I got situated, it started to rain. Oh well, I was already wet...but wait, our beach bags and towels are still out on the beach. Eh, we decided that Kolin was the lucky person today...we'd just send him out there to grab everything while we ate. LOL
As soon as he got everything gathered up and brought to us on the deck, it stopped raining of course. :D
Now does anyone notice the basket of chicken fingers that Kendra has??? See how many she got? Well when mine came, once again, I only had 3. Kendra stated that they came with 4, but they somehow gave her an extra. This would be a repeat of our day at Horseshoe. I'm always getting the short end of the meal.
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After everyone was done eating, the family decided to go exploring. I decided to stay back and take pictures.
I'm not really sure what this "plank" is out here for. It look like a small ?maybe? boat dock area, but the water is too low for that.
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​They all headed down into the water and around the corner. Sakari actually followed this time. Yikes.
Another Titanic moment...only on land.
I think they left the hubby behind this time.
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​Kendra noticed they had all taken off without here (as they were returning) and wanted to come.
She gave them the pouty face and ask how they got down there. It took her awhile to jump off this thing into the water. She didn't know how deep it was. Ok, hold your nose, one, two, three, go! Ok, it was only knee deep if that. LOL She's hilarious.
So she decided to go in a different direction. That'll teach them to leave her...or would it?
Nope, they paid no attention to her going a different way so eventually she would turn around and crawl up on the rocks they were at. Only coming back down was the same as the first time. Should I jump?
Billy was the only one that decided he would sit this one out (other than me). I managed to get a picture of what he did instead.
​There was a neat rock with a hole in it. I always manage to find weird things to take pictures in, but I just couldn't get the picture I wanted to capture.
Kendra noticed what I was doing and said "Hey, take a picture of me and Billy in the hole. " Um Kendra, I don't think you guys can fit in the hole....
So then she said she'd sit in front of it and me get the picture. I took the picture and told her what good did it do to take a picture in front of a hole...when she's IN FRONT OF THE HOLE. ???? LOL, so she moved a little to the side. Still not the look I think she was trying to achieve either.
It was starting to look a little dark again and I figured it was about to rain. Although we had a decent time there, the rain and lack of sun just didn't make it the same experience it was the last time. The weather really does have an effect on your day. I don't care what others say.
There's our ship!!!
A few last pictures before we packed up to leave.
I had noticed a lot of people walking up the hill and to the intersection to come down to Tobacco Bay. I was really unsure what to do. I did see a bench up against the building at Tobacco Bay and there was a sign that said "Beach Bus" on it. Do they actually come down the driveway for pick up and drop off now? There was another "much older" couple there waiting for the Beach Bus.
We would watch taxi's come down the hill, ask if we needed a ride, then park there at the building...maybe until they found someone or hoped that someone would ask for a cab ride back.
We waited maybe 15 minutes for the Beach Bus to come back. We did see some people walk back down the hill after standing up there for awhile. I thought maybe they figured out that the bus stop was back here now and I just knew we were going to go for round 3 of fighting for the bus. Sigh. I remember making a comment that IF they were waiting on the same bus as us and IF that bus came and decided to pick them up at the road, I was going to be a little upset. They came down the road about half way and then just stood there. They never did come all the way to the bus stop. Thank goodness.
Mr Chiquita Banana:
Or maybe he was a snake charmer. I'm really not sure but he was doing a balancing act on his head trying not to be bored. This was taken at 4pm. So that tells you around what time we decided to leave.
This bus kept coming around Tobacco Bay while we were there. I think it's the tour bus. We seen it several times during our stay there, but they never had anyone get off of it.
It's like the choo choo at the dockyard, I just didn't snap the picture in time to see the "train" on the front.
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The HOHO bus arrived with the same funny surfer driver guy. We knew all 10 of us would pile in, sitting on each others laps and getting really close and personal. BUT, remember this time there was the elderly couple waiting too...who would also need a ride...a ride with us...sitting on top of each other. After we all got in and told them "come on, you can do it, plenty of room still" they walked around to the other side and the gentleman sat in the bench seat next to me and said "hop on honey" and put his wife in his lap. Awww...we all cheered them on and we all laughed and joked about how lovey dovey they were and how much he was enjoying it. It was going to be a great ride back! :D
The driver did say that they decided to change the HOHO bus stop to down by the building at Tobacco Bay. It just didn't make any sense to have everyone having to walk up and down the hill to get there and they "want to make everyone feel as comfortable as possible...even when you have to sit on each others lap." wink wink. LOL He said they were still learning what works best for them and everyone using the system and still making "tweaks" to it and this was one of the improvements they had made. GOOD FOR THEM! Love this bus! We were off and headed back to town. But, instead of making the circle like they do, he headed right and back the way he came cutting off a lot of time. I mean after all, he did know we were all going to the ferry and it was pretty obvious there were no laps left to put anyone on.
Now, wait a minute...we just passed the street to where we get off at. He turned right, um... ok, I know this street of course, then a quick left off the main street...HE WAS TAKING US STRAIGHT TO THE FERRY DOCK!! Wow, even better service. He was the greatest! He went as far as he could to the gates and we all piled out like the circus clowns you see get out of the small bus...wondering how we all fit in there. He did make the comment that this was probably the most he ever had in there at one time. I'm not sure if this was also part of the "added service", but I sure liked it. We didn't have to walk all the way from the town center back to the ferry dock and that was perfectly fine with me since we had done just about all the walking we wanted to today.
In to the ferry dock building we went where they would have live music playing and people inside sitting in the chairs listening and waiting on the ferry. The rest of my family went ahead outside to get in line and a few of us went to the restroom one last time.
Once I made it outside, they were 2nd in line at the gates. It was 4:15pm
The ferry came at 4:20pm. Now that was perfect timing if I do say so myself.
We got on the ferry and get this...WE GOT A SEAT!! A seat AT A TABLE. Woo hoo. I felt like I had just turned Platinum on the Bermuda St George ferry now.
We were seated and comfortable and kicked off our shoes to relax at 4:29pm.
​So this is what it looks like inside with no people.
Kendra yells, oh my gosh mom, look what I have...
She comes to the table and says "it's a baby shark tooth"
Sigh...only my child would find a piece of sand that resembles a shark tooth. She's so goofy.
We arrived back at the dockyard and was walking off the ferry at 5:18pm. It was good to be back after such a long day. Whew. Now we just had to drag ourselves back to the ship.
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We arrived at the dockyard from the ferry and the sun was shining again.
I snapped pictures along the way. I remember this glass bottom boat from last time we were here. We had rented the Boston Whaler and they were passing by us. Sakari loves the painting on there. So I had to take a picture for her.
​There's our beautiful girl waiting on us.
It was starting to get cloudy again, but the sun was trying her best to make an appearance.
The clocktower in the distance:
We dinged ourselves in and up to our room we went to shower and get changed.
After my shower (around 6pm) and getting dressed, I decided to head out to the balcony and take some pictures. To my surprise the sky had turned a beautiful pinkish color. It was stunning!
​More of the beautiful sky and the surroundings.
Within a half hour, it looked like this...
To our surprise, we found this laying on our bed when we returned today:
WOO HOO! We are leaving at 5pm after all!!!! I was super excited about this. (Although I found it strange they would have an all aboard time just 1/2 hour prior to departure. Yikes)
So obviously we would have to discuss our plans for the day. Had we known this ahead of time, we just might have decided to rent another whaler close by at H20 again. But it was a little late for that, so I guess we'd just have to stick with our original plans.
The family decided to head to O'Sheehans for some...late lunch? early dinner?...or just plain FOOD!
I always enjoy their food and menu. I don't think there's really anything bad on it and there's always something I can find to eat from there.
Sakari loves her Kolin. They are really close despite their age difference. He's the only other child I still have at home and I think that's why they're so close.
The kids looked thrilled. I think they were worn out from the day and all the walking and then waiting on their drinks to come. Trust me, they livened up after that.
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Well at least Kolin was happy with his Angry Orchard.
I always love their artichoke dip.
Sakari loving her big girl drink.
We hung out for awhile after eating and just enjoying each others company and making use of our UBP. :D The place wasn't too crowded so we figured we weren't tying up any seats by doing this.
Then we decided to take Sakari to the kids club for awhile and also sign her up for sitting tonight since it was the GLOW party. Sakari knew something was up since the other kids were discussing bits and pieces of what they were going to wear and asking me about the glow sticks I had purchased for everyone. Sigh. Sakari was a little upset and saying she wanted to go to the party and use the glow sticks. I was trying to tell her it was for adults only and they would be having their own little party in the kids club. I think this is the first time she has ever resisted going there...and of course on a night I'm wanting to do something. Just my luck. She usually begs to go.
In the end, momma won the battle and she reluctantly went.
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We all headed back to the room to get ready.
I busted open the glow sticks and the family was having some fun deciding what colors they wanted and most of all...where to put them. Someone turned off the lights in both rooms after awhile and it became a game of guessing who was who.
Once everyone was done "playing", we headed off to the glow party.
The Glow party is held at Spice H20 on the back of the ship. The place was hopping and the party was getting started.
Silas the CD was getting the crowd going and everyone was ?dancing?
The crowd was huge and not much room to stand or dance at times.
The girls stopped and got their faces painted as they were coming in. I didn't realize until I took this picture that the paint actually "glowed".
See Kendra's cup she has? They had the specialty cups for the glow party and they would flash all kinds of colors. She had to get one for her kids. If you have the drink package, the drink is free of course and you just pay for the flashing cup that they put the drink in. I believe she said they were $2.50 for the cup.
Courtney decided she wanted one too. When the waiter came by and she handed them her card, they looked at her weird and ask who's card did she have. You could tell she was shocked and said it was hers. He ask her where her mother was, which is a touchy subject for her when someone says this (although the waiter didn't know) because her mother was killed in an auto accident when she was 10 years old. So, this kind of set her in a bad mood and she ask what her mother had to do with anything. He proceeded to tell her that it was not her card and she was too young to drink. He walked away with her card. He later returned and brought everyone their drinks but Courtney's. He ask her again who the card belonged to. At this point she was upset and told him it's her card, she's been using the card all week because she has the UBP and she was 22 years old. He kept questioning her and she finally got mad and snatched the card from him and walked straight up to the bar and handed it to the person there, who took her order and handed her the drink. Sigh. When the waiter came back around, she flashed it in front of him and said thanks for nothing.
Now I understand her frustration completely. I grew up looking extremely young. I was still getting carded when I was 40 in certain situations. When I was in my 20's people thought I had just turned a teen. So I completely understand both her side...and also the servers side. He obviously didn't want to contribute to a minor and he was uncertain. But it was kinda weird this was the first time it had happened on the cruise and it was now Thursday. There wasn't anyone else on the ship that questioned it. Oh well, it gave the rest of us a good laugh for the night. (Most people can't believe Kendra is 27. IMO she's the one that looks like she's about 16). LOL
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Courtney had her cup and all was good.
We headed out to the dance floor to ?dance?
Right before that, Kenny & Michelle decided they didn't want to stay. So they left like party poopers.
We had a lot of fun...but ?dancing?
Me and my girls love to dance...whether it be "freestyle" or the line dances. We love the sailaway dancing, which we didn't have. We love the White Hot party, which is the Glow on the new ships. BUT...they did not play any of the "dance songs" that we always dance to on the other ships. No line dancing, no wobble, no electric slide, no nothing. We were so looking forward to that. It never happened.
Honestly, this Glow Party was more like a RAVE party. People jumping up and down, fist pumping, it was not dancing. My how things are changing. This is one of the things I didn't like about the new ships (both the GA and BA), it's just not the same as the smaller ships.
We left at 11:30pm and decided we have had enough of fist pumping jumping around type of dancing and we headed to pick up Sakari. I wasn't going to continue to pay for sitting for something that just wasn't going to happen (regular dancing) and it just wasn't what we were expecting. Darn.
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Sakari said she got to dance, so it sounded like she had a good time.
We came back to the room and our towel animal for the night was a crab.
Sakari did some drawing while we watched some t.v.
It was a "fishy" night because she said she wanted to see more fish in the ocean snorkeling and this would give us some luck for tomorrow. "We ARE going to the beach tomorrow right mommy?"
Although I don't think we'll be seeing any Orca's Sakari.
The hubby decided to pay for the 48 hour internet package with Bermuda and he went out on the deck for awhile to check his emails.
Now I know in the past that others said you can sometimes pick up a signal from the dockyard if you are down on deck 7. But we were on deck 12 and he was able to get a signal.
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​That concludes our Day 5.