st.johns bay to st. george

[Tiger55]

Okay, last bit of info needed before we head out. We planned on hitting st.johns bay on our way back from the dockyard next week. According to the bus route, we would only have 45 minutes at st. johns bay if we take the bus back to st. george. My question is, how long of a ride is it to st. george from st. johns bay via taxi? Idea of the cost? Is a taxi easy to get in st. johns bay? I think this is the last part of our 'plan' we have to work out. We wanted to spend more time there to either catch some sun, or watch the sunset.

[Charles4515]

Okay, last bit of info needed before we head out. We planned on hitting st.johns bay on our way back from the dockyard next week. According to the bus route, we would only have 45 minutes at st. johns bay if we take the bus back to st. george. My question is, how long of a ride is it to st. george from st. johns bay via taxi? Idea of the cost? Is a taxi easy to get in st. johns bay? I think this is the last part of our 'plan' we have to work out. We wanted to spend more time there to either catch some sun, or watch the sunset.

 

Never heard of a St. Johns Bay in Bermuda.

[jdarch]

Do you mean John Smith's Bay? Smith's beach is off the South Road, way over on the Southeast shore and is at least 1/2 hour from St Georges. The reason it's lovely down that way is because its kind of off the beaten path. Maybe one of our Bermie members can answer better, but if you're on a schedule, I wouldn't count on lots of taxis down that way.

[jollyjones]

Okay, last bit of info needed before we head out. We planned on hitting st.johns bay on our way back from the dockyard next week. According to the bus route, we would only have 45 minutes at st. johns bay if we take the bus back to st. george. My question is, how long of a ride is it to st. george from st. johns bay via taxi? Idea of the cost? Is a taxi easy to get in st. johns bay? I think this is the last part of our 'plan' we have to work out. We wanted to spend more time there to either catch some sun, or watch the sunset.

 

There is no such place as St John's Bay in Bermuda. If you mean John Smiths Bay (which is well worth going to), you will have a tough time getting a taxi there - it's possible that one might come by but not very likely. The no. 1 bus stops right at the beach and runs every 30 mins - last bus about 6.40pm at the beach - altho' not many go past Grotto Bay all the way to St George's. But you simply get off at the Swizzle Inn (last stop before Grotto Bay), have yourselves a swizzle or two, and then hop on any bus that stops at the blue bus pole outside the Swizzle (1, 3, 10 or 11) and that says "St George's" on the front (or ask the driver) and you'll be back at the ship in no time, and at no extra cost if you have transportation passes.

 

BUT ... if you want to watch the sunset, which is at 7.04pm next week, John Smiths is no good as it faces east. You could try Shelly Bay beach (on the 10 or 11 bus route out of Hamilton) which has a glorious view along the north shore toward Dockyard. Or you could get the ferry back to St George's from Dockyard (the last ferry is at 3pm) and go over to Tobacco Bay which also faces west.

[Tiger55]

Yes, I meant John Smith Bay...thank you for the correction:p. Thank you for the tips everyone. I thought it was closer to St. George than it is. It's was going to be the last stop on one of our days, then head back to the ship.

[Charles4515]

Do you mean John Smith's Bay? Smith's beach is off the South Road, way over on the Southeast shore and is at least 1/2 hour from St Georges. The reason it's lovely down that way is because its kind of off the beaten path. Maybe one of our Bermie members can answer better, but if you're on a schedule, I wouldn't count on lots of taxis down that way.

 

I would say John Smith's Bay is about 20 minutes from St. George. Maybe we were just lucky but we were able to get a taxi there. It took about five minutes until one came by. We were going to take a taxi or a bus, whichever came first.

[jdarch]

I would say John Smith's Bay is about 20 minutes from St. George. Maybe we were just lucky but we were able to get a taxi there. It took about five minutes until one came by. We were going to take a taxi or a bus, whichever came first.

 

You're right - and on the return from a less frequented area, I always err on the side of caution. As I hoped, a CC resident like "jollyjones" came up with the real skinny. Enjoy your time in Bermuda! :D

[jollyjones]

... could be a problem next week. The beaches on the south shore already have some sargassum seaweed from all the storms going past to the south of us and Kyle is coming close enough this weekend to make it a lot worse.

 

You might want to stick with north shore beaches; I looked at Shelly Bay at lunchtime and it looked pretty clear, and Tobacco Bay is quite sheltered.

[Tiger55]

Thank you very much jollyjones!!!! Your advice is so helpful, and we are taking your advice on Shelly Bay. Our biggest reason for hitting John Smiths Bay was for the 'pink' sand which my GF wanted to experience without going all the way down to all the way down to Horseshoe Bay. Our first day we expect to spend most of our time at Tobacco Bay, hopefully the weather is nice.

 

If you have any other suggestions jollyjones, we are open for suggestions, the same goes to the rest of the posters on this thread. I thank all of you for your input....packing is in full force..countdown is on:D

[Cruizer_J]

We have only been to Bermuda once, but I would add this: We went to John Smith’s Bay about a month ago, partly because we wanted to see pink sand, partly because we expected it to be much less crowded than some of the other beaches. Well, we didn’t really see pink; I asked DW several times if she could see pink and each time she replied “no.” I wonder if the color varies somewhat over time, depending on what the surf brings in (?) I will say that there were only a few people when we were there midday on a Tuesday, and the beach itself was very clean. It only had a couple of the port-a-potty/outhouse type restrooms and no running water that we saw, but we thought that it was a nice little beach.

[jollyjones]

... but none of the sand in Bermuda is actually bright pink - it's white sand with a pinkish tinge - but it is quite different from a yellow sand beach.

 

This is a good article:

 

http://www.bermuda-online.org/beaches.htm

[Charles4515]

... but none of the sand in Bermuda is actually bright pink - it's white sand with a pinkish tinge - but it is quite different from a yellow sand beach.

 

This is a good article:

 

http://www.bermuda-online.org/beaches.htm

 

Some take the pink sand description too literally.......

 

In any case the south shore beaches are beautiful. And John Smith's is beautiful.

 

Some pictures I took there are at http://gallery.mac.com/rail#100066

[Cruizer_J]

I suppose that’s what I did – took the description somewhat literally. I had read enough posts here to know that the sand wouldn’t be bright pink; I just thought that we would be able to perceive the pink tinge. To be clear, we weren’t disappointed at all. We thought that it was a nice beach.