Day trip to St. George

When I flew out of Bermuda to go back to VA, I noticed this amazing peninsula in St. George where this road that had a beach on either side of it, let out to a rocky cliff. So last weekend Sarah and I decided to take a day trip to St. George. I figured while we were out there, I might as well show her some of the cool things I had found out there. So, we hopped on the bike and headed out there. Now, doubling up on the scooter isn't so bad when we're just driving around town, but it's really not the ideal way to explore. Spending a couple hours driving around on the thing tends to make you pretty sore. But it was worth it.

St. George is really a couple of islands that are all interconnected by some bridges. It is the Northern and Eastern most points of the island. In order to get there you have to go across the causeway as you can see in the bottom left of the map. It is really windy there generally but this weekend it was nice enough to stop and take some pictures.

Yea, I know I look pretty goofy in that helmet. First we went up to the Lover's Lake area briefly before heading back down and going around the airport. We were on the way to the Lost at Sea Memorial when we drove by St. David's lighthouse and decided to go check it out because it was a really clear day. It was really cool. Not only could you go up in it, but it was free and you could actually go out on the balcony on the top.

 St. David's Lighthouse

 You know the Whelpley's love the Hokies!!

We could actually see the beach that I saw from the airport to the left of Sarah's head

 The fort and Lost at Sea Memorial are where the island comes out at a point



After checking out the lighthouse, we were going to go to the Memorial and Fort, but I made a wrong turn in the jumbled up mess of one way streets and we wound up closer to the beach so we decided to go there instead as the weather was really nice. We made our way to Turtle Beach and Clearview Beach out on Coopers Island which was the beach I saw from the plane and what is directly to the left of Sarah's head in the panoramic pic above. The beaches were all beautiful.

Watching planes land from the beach

 The spot where I was sitting had surf from both sides hit me at the same time.

Though cold it was very relaxing.

 Sarah packing up the bike outside of Gumbey's

After we had our fill of the beach, we got back on the bike and finally made our way to the Lost at Sea Memorial. It is behind this old fort with a lot of GIANT cannons. It also has a beautiful view of the lighthouse we were in earlier and the beach we had just left, though I've already posted some pictures of that stuff in earlier posts, here are pics of us climbing on stuff were probably aren't supposed to be climing on.



After driving around St. George and exploring some more forts and the memorial we had worked up quite an appetite so we decided to go to the Swizzle Inn for some Burgers and Ice Cream. Hey, it's the weekend. This place is famous for it's self named drink the "Swizzle". Honestly, it's nothing special though the locals and tourists seem to love them. From what I can gather the recipe is:

8 oz Rum (Gosling's Black Seal)

Juice of 2 Lemon Or Limes

5 oz Pineapple Juice

5 oz Orange Juice

2 oz Grenadine Or Bermuda Falernum

6 Dashes Angostura Bitters

Crushed Ice

Beach Season is officially underway

Well, it's not OFFICIALLY underway as the locals don't really go to the beach until May as the water is still a little cold, but it's definitely been nice enough for us to go the last 2 weekends. We have set a goal to go to every beach, fort, and lighthouse on the whole island. I know, tough life.

My first weekend back, drove down south road and saw this

So we decided to stop at a beach named Jobson's Cove.

We laid out for a bit and noticed a trail leading to the West so we decided to keep exploring and found some beautiful cliffs to the west.

Once up on the cliffs, we noticed there was a trail continuing west and more beaches so we kept going.

 The picture below is a close up of the stairway carved in the stone on this one

We continued down to Stonehole Bay, the next beach down where we stumbled across a scenic view that is without question the most beautiful spot I think I've ever been in my life to this point. Take that Alaska mountains.

The picture really doesn't do it justice. We kept walking west and eventually made out way to Chaplin Bay.

We kept following the trail and eventually stumbled across Horseshoe Bay Beach!! The reason that was a surprise is that had already been there before and had absolutely no idea that they were all interconnected in the way they were.

 We then walked back along the trail, getting some great exercise in a pretty beautiful locale. If you come visit, we'll have to take you on the walk!!! Though I imagine it'll get quite a bit more crowded when the summer begins!!

Pub Golf

The beginning of the month started off pretty slow. Sarah worked a lot and I went back to Virginia to do some wedding planning and see my family while I am waiting for my work permit to get approved, which by the way, I am still waiting!! Trip home was great, got to play golf with my father and grandfather and eat lots of cheeseburgers and pizza. Also went to the mall and Wal-Mart which I have a new found appreciation for. Bought a ton of stuff to bring back and despite having to pay a 25% import duty on a lot of the things I bring back, it's still a great deal. I got back on St. Patrick's Day, but didn't do too much as I had to wake up at 2:15 in the morning to get to Dulles in time. Thanks Dad for driving me!!!

Anyways, first full day back, I went on my first pub golf outing. Basically, for those of you who don't know what this is, you get dressed up in golf wear, the more ridiculous the better, and "play" 9 holes (bars). Decided not to go 18 as that would have cost a fortune and well, we aren't 21 anymore. Just like golf, the object of the game is to have the least amount of strokes as possible. Except a stroke is how my drinks you take from your drink to finish it. Luckily from my days as a pledge, this proved to be rather easy and I was able to get a hole in one on all 9 holes. Did I mention the object was to dress up ridiculous??

"Winter" is almost over!!!

I FINALLY got a job. Oddly enough, it is at Lido, the restaurant we went to for Christmas Dinner aka the best meal I've ever had in my life. It's a really nice place and is right on Elbow beach so the view sure beats the cubicle in the Bank of America tower.

Dining Room

Outside from the beach



However, it's going to be a couple of weeks before I actually start working because the government has to process my work Visa so that will give me plenty of time to . . . study for the GMAT!! And also to do some exploring. I went back out to St. George's last week and found the actual Lost at Sea Memorial this time. Much cooler than the other one. It is at an old fort that has some huge cannons and a light house and is quite beautiful.

We also had our first Valentine's Day as a married couple. I made us some garlic pasta in a wine sauce with some Jumbo Scallops and some Broccoli au gratin. It was quite delicious. Just to get an idea of how much food costs here, those scallops were $32.95 PER POUND!!! I almost laughed at the guy behind the meat counter but even though they put an outrageous price on food, you can't put a price on love (sappy groan).



Also, we have some new neighbors, kind of. There are 2 chameleons that live outside our bathroom window. I've never seen a real one before and it's pretty cool to watch them change color. It takes about 2 minutes from them to go from . . . .

 Dark Brown .. .

to a Bright Green to blend in with the Palm Trees



We've also gone out a couple times with some friends and experienced all that the Bermuda nightlife has to offer. Like last night which probably is the reason this blog post is going to be mostly pictures with little words. Last night we went outside of Hamilton to the Dockyard and took the bus back and stopped at various bars on the way back. We went to the Frog and Onion where they sell a 50 ounce beer where you get to keep the glass. And they were delicious might I add.

Notice the USA flag as my wife drinks her 50 ounce beer

 

We also went to a place called the "Prison Bar" which is actually right next to the Prison. The official name is Prison Officers Recreation Club, or P.O.R.C. Now I'm sure there is a joke involving police officers and the word Pork to be made here, but I can't think of one right now. We also went to a place called Henry's in Somerset which was beautiful. The DJ's were quite entertaining. And we also went to the Fairmont SouthHampton Princess which was a very nice hotel. We got 2 white russians which were the best I've ever had. The Dude would definitely approve. Until the bartender told him they cost $17 EACH at which point the Dude would not approve. Then we made our way back into town and called it a night.

 

Keep it classy ladies!!

Henry's

I didn't take this picture, but the hotel is pretty cool too

We also saw the Sorlandet in port downtown. Gotta give a shout out to my Norwegian heritage. It is the oldest operational fully rigged sailing ship in the world and it must have sailed here from Norway which must have been quite the trip.

 That's a LOT of ropes