Recommendation on fitting in Horseshoe Bay

DH & I will be on the Escape in June with 3 days in Bermuda (8am Weds - 3pm Fri).

So far this is our iteniary

Day 1: 2-tank dive (ship excursion) 9am - 1pm

Day 2: Hamilton (on our own) and evening Bermuda Triangle Cruise (ship excursion 8pm - 9:30pm)

Day 3: Kayak (ship excursion) 10:30am - 2pm

We have three options on when to fit in Horseshoe Bay and would like your recommendations. Side note, we are not beach people. We'll want to walk the trails, gets some pics and just jump into the water. We don't want to just lay around soaking up the sun for hours. Probably the only time we'd be sitting around is maybe 15 mins after jumping into the water to dry off a bit.

Option 1 - do it after diving on Day 1. We'd take the minibus there, then if that is no longer running when we want to leave take the public bus back. The draw for this is that we'll already be in our swimsuits and have a bag with a towel and our mask and we could possibly not even go back to the ship after we return from our excursion. Downfall for this, will it be crowded getting there probably around 2pm (or maybe 3pm if we are hungry and do a quick buffet stop at the ship before heading back out)?

Option 2 - On day 2 head to Hamilton (by ferry) and have a backpack with swimsuits and take the public bus to Horseshoe Bay when done. Same downside as above, will it be too crowded when we get there?

Option 3 - On day 2 head to Horseshoe Bay and have a backpack to put wet clothes into and take public bus to Hamilton then ferry back. If we did this, we'd probably be out for a bus (either shuttle bus or public bus) around 8am so we'd possibly be there before crowds.

If we did Horseshoe Bay on Day 1, we'd probably do the dockyard stuff after Hamilton on Day 2. If we did Horseshoe Bay on Day 2, on Day 1 after diving we'd stay in the dockyard and check out the National Museum and anything else we see.

Thanks for the feedback!

There’s not a ton to do in Hamilton to devote a full day to it- some shopping, restaurants, grab a few drinks but enough to keep you busy for a few hours at most. I’d do Horseshoe before or after Hamilton. And to be honest if you’re just going to walk around and jump in really quick the crowd levels won’t make a difference.

Sprinkling in a couple taxis with the busses and ferry’s will also save you a ton of time (but cost a little bit more). We stop for drinks and a snack before or after Horseshoe at the Fairmont Southampton which is nice and convenient.

I see several options. On Day 2 go to Horseshoe in the morning by Minibus, then take the public bus to Hamilton. Then ferry back to the Dockyard.

Or Day 1 after the tank dive, take the ferry to Hamilton. Wednesday is Harbour Nights so plenty of time for Tank Dive and Hamilton on Day 1. Then Day 2 do the beach walk between Warwick and Horseshoe.

Too bad you haven’t worked in St.George. NCL has a free ferry there.

Doing three ship excursions is not easy to work around. Is that the only time the tank dive is available?

 

Too bad you haven’t worked in St.George. NCL has a free ferry there.

 

Agree on St George- it’s arguably a lot more atmospheric than Hamilton and very easy to get to with the free ferry.

Thanks everyone. For the dive, on our own or through ship it is offered at 9am or 1:30pm. We figured 9am works better so we are then done for the day vs having to make sure back to do the excursion.

Our initial plan was to do St George and Hamilton on Day 2 but it didn't look like much was there of interest to us.

In Hamilton the main attraction for us was to visit Fort Hamilton, which closes at 5. Good point on going after diving to Hamilton, we'd make it in time for seeing the fort then we'd have Harbour Nights.

If we switched Horseshoe to Day 2, whenever we returned we could then ferry over to St George.

Thanks everyone. For .... snip ....have Harbour Nights.

 

If we switched Horseshoe to Day 2, whenever we returned we could then ferry over to St George.

It would be of help to see the 2017 NCL free ferry to St George's schedule:

SBtS

It would be of help to see the 2017 NCL free ferry to St George's schedule:

 

 

SBtS

Thank you for posting this!