It being "winter", and the water being "cold", we pretty much had the place to ourselves. There was a British couple who braved the fierce surf with us, but the facilities, including bathrooms, were closed for the season.
The pool table, however, was open for business.
We took turns exploring along the rocky shoreline, swimming, and relaxing.
There were several locals fishing; I think they said that the bright green and brown fish were not in season, but some other ones were. The water is so clear that we could see fish swimming around down below.
At one point, I headed back to the beach to go swimming again.
By this time, another couple had shown up; one of them was snorkling. The beach was starting to feel crowded.
I decided to put the waterproof case on my phone and take some underwater photos. This was about 5 minutes before I discovered that the gasket wasn't in the phone case.
(Spoiler: I eventually coaxed that phone back to life, once we got home.)
I used Sabrina's phone to take photos for the rest of the trip.
Just after noon, we had had enough beach time, and headed back to the house.
Along the alternate return route, we got to see the Unfinished Church (see day 2) in sunlight.
Our afternoon plans involved a bus ride, so after lunch we stumbled down the hill to the bus stop. We got some sandwiches at a cafe on the way, and ate them while waiting for the bus.
The bus system in Bermuda is fairly simple. There are 14 zones, and I think we were able to buy 3-zone and 14-zone tickets. The tickets came as a book of stamps, available at the post office.
The bus stops aren't necessarily anything fancy; in many (most?) areas, they're just pastel-colored posts on the side of the road. Pink means the bus goes towards Hamilton, blue means it goes away from Hamilton (and the central bus station).
Around 2:15 PM, we boarded the bus for a short ride past the airport and over The Causeway.
The bus dropped us off by a walking path that meandered through a park, towards The Crystal Caves of Bermuda (wikipedia article).
There were feral chickens around ever corner, eyeing us warily, but we eventually made it to the cafe/gift-shop/ticket-office building (it was a 5-minute stroll, if I'm honest).
I pushed hard for the two-cave combo deal, but the other three spelunkers contended that one cave per day was sufficient. It being "winter" and all, there wasn't exactly a line to get in; we had to wait around for a bit until there were enough customers to justify running a tour. Or maybe it was just until the next scheduled tour.
The guided tour took about 40 minutes or so. The tour guide was extremely enthusiastic and a wonderful storyteller.
It was fairly tame near the entrance, but we eventually reached the bottom, which was filled with fresh water that dripped down from the ceiling.
What made it interesting, however, is that below the layer of fresh water... is salt water, connected (via caves/tunnels) to the ocean.
The boat was apparently only for emergency/maintenance use, so we had to cross this underground lake on a floating bridge. The bottom of the lake being fed by the ocean means that the water level is subject to tidal movement, though, and it was almost high tide.
Crossing the bridge was somewhat hazardous, especially while taking pictures instead of watching for stalactites.
The views along the way were incredible, though, so I risked it.
It's definitely worth the visit, if you're ever in the area.
On the far side of the bridge, we were treated to a one-man performance about the origins and history of the caves.
I accused the tour guide of having a background in theater, but he denied it.
As there were only 8 or 10 people on the tour, we had plenty of room to wander around and take more photos.
During the return passage, we were delighted to discover that the tide had somehow risen a noticeable amount while we were busy learning.
After climbing the 81 stairs back to the surface and running the gauntlet of chickens again, we headed back towards the main road and stumbled across the Swizzle Inn.
As there was still plenty of daylight left, we resisted the urge to stop for a cocktail, and instead headed towards Tom Moore's Jungle, apparently AKA Blue Hole Park and/or Walsingham Nature Reserve.
The jungle-park-reserve had a well-maintained trail that took us along beaches, past caves, and through some dense forest.
There was also this bit of ocean that had tunneled inland. If you look carefully in the shadows of the trees, you can see several different species of tropical fish.
Eventually, the trail brought us out to the road by Tom Moore's Tavern, but it was closed.
We walked along the road back towards the Swizzle Inn. In hindsight, this wasn't a fantastic plan, as there were no sidewalks and most of the mile-long walk was on a main road. I mean... the speed limit was still about 22 mph, but there was a decent amount of traffic and a few blind curves.
It was just about 5 o'clock by the time we hoofed it back to the Swizzle Inn, so we rewarded ourselves with refreshing-and-healthy fruit smoothies.
The Swizzle Inn also happens to be a bus stop, so we had no choice but to eat dinner while we waited for the bus back to St. George's.
On the walk back to the house, my crew mutinied and dragged me to an ice cream shop. I'm not sure if anyone tried the back/left flavor.
Having successfully navigated public transit, we formulated a plan to do it again the next day.
We watched a documentary about the Bermuda Triangle that night, if I recall correctly. If not, I have no doubt someone will correct me.
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