sportif7

does anyone recommend booking any of these places ahead of time or just showing up the day of?

does anyone know if this restaurant is open on Mondays? do you need a reservation? I'll be here on a cruise looking to eat off the boat one night

Just off Dawn this morning. We did H2O Water Sports. It was $15.00+tip to get there. It is located on a fairly quiet bay. We had reserved 3 single jet skis and we were the only ones signed up. This was the 1st time for all of us. Let me say I am a VERY BIG CHICKEN but I had been soo looking forward to doing this. After a brief lesson, I was the 1st ski pushed into the water. That gave me a few minutes to get acclimated. It's a quick trip across the bay, under the bridge and into the ocean. We could see the Americas Cup race beyond the bridge. Before getting under the bridge I panicked and headed back to the docks. The guide was very good and understanding. He asked if I wanted to ride double with my son or husband but I knew I would just ruin their fun. I found the jet ski very wobbly and I kept over correcting. I never relaxed- apparently the faster you go, the more stable the ride, I wasn't buying it!!! The guys had a blast, went looking for turtles but didn't see much. Out at the shipwreck there were tons of fish and they sped around the water, out by the AC race and the RCCL ship arriving.

 

I guess the moral of the story is- if you have very nervous riders or young beginners- H2O water sports would be a good place. The location at Dockyard is in a very busy harbor with the ferries, tour boats etc.

 

 

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it's funny you say you found the ski wobbly because most new skis have an anti-tip sorta mechanism so they require less balance then the old days (say going back 20 yrs ago or so)....I rode one as a kid doubled to my dad before they added this feature not realizing about leaning into turns and such...needless to say I wiped us out multiple times for being too rigid...were their skis new appearing?

So many choices! But i so appreciate all the feedback!!

So happy for these hacks! I'll def have to pack good shoes... or buy a pair for that matter being i live in flops...

anybody have any idea how long of a walk from horseshoe to warwick it is? some people mentioned paths and rocks? are people walking it barefooted or with sneakers, flops, water shoes??

Best way IMO is to rent a scooter. Wife and I were there in May and was one of our favorite things we ever did. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed riding them and we were able to easily cover the entire island and how total freedom on when/where we wanted to go. Also much cheaper than trying to rent a taxi.

 

St. George will be quieter with more beaches, Tobacco Bay is great for snorkeling. Clearwater Beach/Turtle Bay are on the other side and are nice relax beaches as well.

 

Hamilton is a fun town and has the more city feel to it. I love being able to see both places. Pretty easy to ferry over there and get around by foot if you want to stay near the main city area.

scooters are fun, don't get me wrong, we rode them on our honeymoon...but i think we would want to get a little history of the island and i feel like when your self-guided you miss out on that a little...but thanks for the tips on hamilton and st george!!

If you want to see the island then the best way to see it would be a 'blue flag' taxi tour. After spending a thousand plus dollars on a cruise, a 4 hour taxi tour will only add $200 to the total cruise cost and you will see the island. Get another couple from your Roll Call to join your tour; this will cut your cost in half.

 

As for the jet ski tour, you understand that this would be a guided tour with a tour leader; you will not be on your own. If you rent jet skis, I would go with Hamilton, less trvel time involved.

 

As for a public beach with facilities, there are only 2 - Tobacco Bay, near St George's and Horseshoe Bay along the South Shore. If you want to snorkel, go to TB. It is nice but small and can get crowded; but in no way is equal to HSB. HSB is the most popular beach, and it is gorgeous. It does get crowded but by walking northeast along the beach and following paths, you can get to Warwick Beach which never gets crowded. As you walk to WB, you will pass deserted coves with beaches.

 

As for the glass beach, it is not a beach in the sense that TB and HSB are beaches, but shore with sand and ocean polished glass pieces.

 

SBtS

thank you this was super helpful...have you taken a blue flag taxi before? i saw a thread earlier that listed a bunch of drivers...curious if you have a recommendation or if any taxi will do...that walk along HSB beach sounds amazing btw!!

do you think it is feasible to see/explore both st george and hamilton both in a day on the taxi tour? if not, which do you think is more worth it...

We used KS this week and they were great. They have 3 locations, 1 in the dockyard. The water was rough but we were fine with that. We had a reservation but people were walking up and booking tours. New jet skis and great staff. We saw a lot of turtles and shipwreck on our 75 minute tour. I would definitely recommend. They have different tours though and we did the high speed one. I would not recommend that one for young children or people not totally comfortable in and on the water. Originally we were going to do a tour out of St. George but had to change to the dockyard at the last minute. No problem changing it.

great to know! thanks for sharing this!!

Probably crew or ships security is tipping off the Bermuda police. That is what the article I linked to said. I don't know for sure but I doubt they are doing random cabin searches or searching every cabin. As far as undercover cops, someone on another thread here asked about the nightclub at the Snorkel Park. I went once to check that nightclub out and there were drugs being sold. Not my kind of scene, somewhat scary so I left. That was a number of years ago so my report on that should be considered dated. It might now be a wholesome place.

i'm glad i read this...i was just looking into this nightclub as something to do off the boat the night we are in town, but if it's a sketchy scene you can count me out especially in a foreign place...it's one thing to be in NYC or Miami, but I've watched locked up abroad and brokedown palace :')

my husband and i want to try and capture most of the island as best as possible without breaking the bank over the 2 days/1night we have in port...any suggestions for the best way to accomplish this? it seems that a private hire blue flag, while covering much territory, may push our budget being that they recommend like at least 4-5 hrs at 50/hr. We also were considering doing a jet ski tour, but we are unclear where it makes the most sense to leave from in order to see the best sights. It seems like the one that leaves from Hamilton might be nicer? Any thoughts? Is it unreasonable to try to see Hamilton and St. George both, and if so which is better to venture toward? I would definitely like to spend some time at the beach, maybe one that isn't super crowded, but still nice with facilities? The only beach I'd love to just stop at and see was glass beach...we're open to ideas, tours, cruises, ferries, etc.

haven't been there, but this may help a little: http://snorkelparkbeach.com/club-aqua/

 

SBtS

Thanks for the link.. i had seen something similar on another site... just curious if anyone had actually ever gone?

We have H2O booked for next week. We have never jet skied before- I'm very nervous. I have emailed them a couple of times and they were prompt and friendly in their response. I'll let you know my thoughts when we get back.

 

 

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That would be great! Thanks!!

anyone know anything about club aqua at the snorkel park...supposedly a nightclub? has anyone ever been?

any reviews on the jet ski tours? worth it, not worth it? best to leave from which location? would love to hear the feedback...cruising into kings wharf in august for 2 days...