Bermuda Beckons

Escape to the idyllic isle of beaches, beauty and sea breezes.

- Rina Nehdar

WHEN A FEW UNDERWATER volcanoes blew into the sky, a confetti of colors landed to form what became the 138 British islands of Bermuda. Or so it would seem when one looks around today at the pristine communities that spread from those explosions in the heart of the Atlantic Ocean, about 600 miles or a two-hour flight from most of the U.S. East Coast. It is the translucent blue of stained-glass ocean, the pale yellow of hanging fruit, the fiery orange of coral reef into which Caribbean settlers later dipped their paintbrushes to color their houses, bridges and buildings. Then they cropped their pants, of the same colors, to create their namesake shorts. Not to be outdone, Mother Nature continued to flash her hues above and below the mint-green tropical blanket she used to cover her island.

You can best appreciate this land by bike or a walk on the historic Railroad Trail; the tracks are long gone, but the 18-mile disjointed route connecting the nine parishes of Bermuda still spans its length. The dirt path sometimes gives way to stairs and bridges as it slips through sapphire coves, canopies of juniper and ribbons of sea. Social Cycles will rent you a mountain bike and take you as far as you want to go.

If you’d prefer to see the island on foot, a two- or three-hour walking tour with humorous and insightful British transplant Tim Rogers or his native wife, Mary, of Bermuda Lectures and Tours, offers a great way to explore one stop on the trail, Fort Scaur. The fort once protected the Bermuda Naval Dockyard from pirates and marauders with its hidden cannons.