Bermuda Cruise - Day 4, part 1, Horseshoe Bay Beach
Monday, June 1st, 2009I have so many photos to share from this day that I thought it best to break it into several posts.
The room service on the first day was decent, but we definitely prefer the breakfast in the dining room over all options. We started our day in the dining room where I ordered way more than any human should order for breakfast. I couldn’t help myself…I wanted pancakes, eggs, bacon, AND the fabulous oatmeal. I didn’t get a chance to eat everything, but that was because we were trying to make the next bus to Horseshoe Bay and the service was ridiculously slow.
We exited the ship and noticed that a pink bus was at the stop, so we hustled to catch the bus. We got there, and we thought we were in luck as they had just enough seats for us (and it was the right bus). Unfortunately, remember those passes that I said everyone else had yesterday and we didn’t? Well, it turns out that the ferry will accept them, but the busses will not. They suggested that we might be able to get them in the visitor center, but by the time I stood in line at the visitor center, the bus was gone. They informed us that the only place that we could redeem our ship’s passes for real passes was back at the ship. UGH! It wasn’t terribly far away, but it was a good distance. Gabe stayed near the bus stop with Maddie while I ran around trying to get our passes. So, I started the day off with quite a bit of walking! Oh well, I guess I needed to work off all that cruise food, right?
We were upset about the bus passes because the schedule indicated that the buses only come every 30 minutes. Apparently, they arrange for some special buses while the cruise ships are in port, and another one arrived not too long after the first one.
When I finally came back with the proper passes, another bus was waiting and they had just enough seats for us again. This time, we were able to board. It was a bit tricky with the stroller (they had a tiny area to stow the stroller), two backpacks (one for the “stuff” we needed in port for Maddie, one for the big camera), and a squirmy 15-month old!
The bus ride to Horseshoe Bay Beach was not too bad. We had hopped onto a special bus that was mostly taking passengers to the beach, so it made only a few other stops. It didn’t seem to take too long to get to the beach, and Maddie was content to sit on my lap and look out the window at all the water and colorful houses. The scenery was very pretty! It’s so striking how narrow Bermuda is in most places (and let’s not forget that it is a series of little islands, not just one island). We could often see the beautiful ocean on both sides of the bus. During this trek, we traveled over the smallest drawbridge in the world, Somerset Bridge.
We arrived at the beach and had to walk down a fairly steep hill to get to the actual beach from the bus stop, though it wasn’t nearly as bad as I had heard from numerous reports on Cruise Critic. Everyone had recommended paying the taxi $1-2 to ride up the hill, but I’m not sure it’s necessary in most cases. It’s not THAT bad.
When we got to the sandy area with changing rooms and rentals, we stopped to take off our shoes and apply generous amounts of sunscreen. Gabe and I had a little sunburn from St. George’s since we neglected to lather ourselves as much as we had lathered the baby. Maddie smiled and wiggled her toes when we put her in the sand. We thought this was going to go very well!
Getting the stroller from the road to the beach was a bit of a challenge. As you can imagine, it doesn’t roll well through the soft sand. And the sand was so very soft. I loved how it felt on my bare feet! The stroller was much easier to push once we got closer to the water.
Right away, Maddie seemed to hate it. I think that the waves were too loud and scary for her. I can see how that might be a little frightening if you’re seeing it for the first time. We had all kinds of hopes of getting some beautiful family photos, but it was clear that this was not going to happen. She was somewhat content to be held but only when combined with the pacifier. She was most happy when she was in the stroller. I cannot emphasize how much she loves her new stroller. We are very happy with it!
I love the following photo. It’s not the family photo that I had envisioned, but it is truly priceless. This sums up Maddie’s thoughts on the beach better than I ever could in words.
We had to dip her toes into the water once since this was her first encounter with an ocean, but she was not a fan. It was a very quick dip.
We wanted to explore all the rock formations along the side of the beach, which proved to be a little tricky in places with the stroller. We could get through most parts without any climbing, but one place required picking up the stroller to get over a few rocks. It wasn’t too bad, and it was worth the view (and no, it wasn’t dangerous, just awkward). We used the Gorillapod on the rocks to snap a few shots of the two of us since Maddie didn’t want to cooperate for photos.
Maddie was very content in the stroller, and I got a kick out of taking photos of her “fun in the sun.” Does life get any better?
After we strolled around a bit, Maddie fell asleep in the stroller. We made the trek up the hill instead of paying the taxis, and it wasn’t too terrible. We didn’t want to disrupt Maddie’s nap, that’s for sure! We were the only ones getting on the bus at the stop, and we were going a very short distance to the lighthouse. The bus driver was kind enough to let us carry Maddie onto the bus while still snoozing in her stroller. Very convenient! We just made sure to put on the brakes and keep a good grip on the stroller for our short ride. More about the rest of the day in the next two posts…
Added 
