BEAUTIFUL BERMUDA

This lovely island nation boasts friendly locals and incredible views

- Tim Fletcher

The small fishhook-shaped midAtlantic island nation of Bermuda has become very important in our lives after visits in 2012, 2018 and finally in 2020, just before the COVID pandemic hit. Canadians make up about only ten per cent of visitors by air. Bermuda greets about 650,000 visitors a year, mainly from U.S. cruise ships. However, they mostly visit the Naval Dockyards or St. George’s (the two main cruise ports) or stay in their resorts, and we rarely encounter cruise tourists elsewhere, especially in the February-March time frame when we go. The U.S. dollar is the standard currency for visitors, accepted at par.

It is only 56 square kilometres, and with more than 62,000 residents, it is very densely populated. Yet it has great open spaces including wonderful parks and nature reserves, an inviting hiking trail along an abandoned railroad right-of-way, golf courses and even some undeveloped land. To visitors, it does not feel crowded.

It is not flat. Bermuda has a high central spine and anyone walking any distance must keep this in mind. Main roads running down the islands are flat or rolling, but many of the connecting roads are steep. While there are sidewalks in most commercial core areas, you must often walk on the very narrow roads elsewhere, mostly with no shoulders. This can be extremely dangerous as traffic whizzes by, and we soon learned to hug the walls of road cuttings or property fences as tightly as possible!