Dispatch from Bermuda

My husband and I exchanged a look of helpless acceptance when the first drops started to fall. Within seconds, it was raining so torrentially that our umbrella proved pointless and our rainjackets were soaked through. We were cresting a high point in the hilltop neighborhoods of Southampton, walking across Bermuda from coast to coast—a thing one can do instead of waiting for a bus or springing for a taxi, because it’s is just a mile and a half across at its widest point, and even less than that here at this spit between the island’s sole thoroughfare and its southernmost coast, strewn with pink sand beaches. 

That mile, though, is as the crow flies (or the gull, the Bermuda petrel, or White-tailed Tropicbird): the streets wound upwards past pastel-painted houses into cul-du-sacs and dead ends. The clouds finally split open, dumping water onto the homes’ geometric roofs, and from there into cisterns. There is no natural surface freshwater here—not a lake, river, or spring: more than half of a Bermudian home’s water supply comes from rain. 

This 21-square-mile, fish-hook-shaped, coral-limestone archipelago is home to a population small enough to fit inside a football stadium. Sitting some 650 miles from the nearest continent, its utter isolation has shaped everything about it. That goes back to its accidental founding: when a tempest stranded the shipwrecked crew of English ship the Sea Venture here in 1609, Bermuda’s modern-day story began. It’s been a haven in stormy times ever since.

At the bottom of the hill, across from Horseshoe Bay Beach, we ducked into a restaurant called Gulfstream and watched the weather sweep over the road with the apparent force of the Gulf Stream current itself—the warmth of which is what makes Bermuda the northernmost point in the Atlantic where coral reefs can form. In no rush—one can’t be on an island with relatively few cars and a maximum speed limit of around 21 miles per hour—we enjoyed fresh sushi and hot sake and used paper towels in the bathroom to pat ourselves dry.

Late winter isn’t the time of year people typically flock to this British overseas territory, whose subtropical climate is more akin to Cape Hatteras than to the Caribbean. But it’s when we keep coming back.  In our three visits, we’ve stayed at the Loren, with its minimalist modern rooms, romantic views, stunning art collection, and excellent sushi and festive cocktails at the Pink Beach Club, and felt like we were on a proper vacation even if the weather never broke 70ºF. We’ve stayed at the Oxford House, with Hamilton’s pastel bank buildings towering around us, and felt like extras in a vintage spy movie. We’ve stayed at the Rosewood and wondered what it would be like in the summer, with all the Bermuda-shorts-sporting golfers in full force. But we’ve yet to see it in peak season. For now, we’re content to wonder.

In late February, most of a visit here takes place on solid ground anyway, with beaches, trails, and walkways through caverns virtually to yourself. Freediving spearfishers invite you to crash parties catered with lionfish ceviche. Waiters reveal that they’re defected cruise ship employees and dish about how conditions on a major budget cruise line are so abusive, they jumped ship. Bartenders pull their own stashes of history books out to dazzle with trivia or field questions. It takes about four days to start running into people you’ve already met. 

People have long come to Bermuda to step into an alternate life, or disappear for a little while. John Lennon sailed to Bermuda on a 43-foot sloop from Newport in June 1980. Georgia O’Keeffe visited twice during periods of emotional tumult and tucked away to make charcoal drawings. David Bowie and Iman sought privacy in their home here.

Disappearances, of course, are central to Bermuda’s history (and wow do residents seem tired of hearing about the Triangle). Sometimes, the mystery was intentional: centuries of ships have wrecked or foundered on Bermuda’s reefs—and not all by accident. While wandering the UNESCO-protected, pastel-rainbow, colonial town of St. George’s, I tried a perfume called Mary Celestia that perfumer Lili Bermuda had recreated from a bottle pulled from the bow of a shipwrecked Civil War blockade runner.

The scent’s eponymous ship had been a paddlewheel steamer enlisted to sneak goods and supplies from Britain beyond the Union blockade into the Confederate South. Many such ships staged here, and many never made it out. These wrecks, strewn around the island’s coasts, have created “de facto marine conservation areas,” a diver-anthropologist named Philippe Rouja told me, sites that draw divers in the summer months.

Mark Twain is one writer who understood the appeal. Bermuda, he wrote, “is the right country for a jaded man to ‘loaf’ in. There are no harassments,” he observed, as only a tourist could. “The deep peace and quiet of the country sink into one’s body and bones and give his conscience a rest, and chloroform the legion of invisible small devils that are always trying to whitewash his hair.”

After that unexpected sanctuary at Gulfstream, the sun finally broke through the cloud cover. We walked the vast empty stretch of Horseshoe Bay, stepping over otherworldly fauna and flotsam—man-o’-wars, barnacle-encrusted artifacts. At the far end, we meandered through limestone passageways and along cliffs, over sand dunes on leafy trails flanked by walls of bay grape, eventually finding ourselves in a limestone-walled beach enclave called Jobson’s Cove. 

In this desert-island calm, not a cruise ship in sight, it was easy to see how Twain felt he’d found a haven here from civilization’s ills. “You go to heaven if you want to,” he wrote in a letter on his last-ever visit. “I’d druther stay here.” 

Things To Try

Bermudian culture is a swirl of influences: British colonial (from cricket to high tea); the American South (Hoppin’ John, after having played quiet but pivotal roles in both the U.S.’s Revolutionary and Civil wars); Portugal (and the Azores); the Caribbean and West Africa… The cuisine is a collision of all of it—in a fishing village where fresh-caught fish, salt, and rum play starring roles. 

The fish sandwich – Fish chowder is the national dish, with cod and boiled potatoes, but this sandwich is quintessential: deep-fried fish, coleslaw, tartar sauce, and hot sauce on, wait for it, toasted raisin bread. Salty and sweet. It’s craveable.

Gas station popcorn – Popped and sometimes spiced and packaged by hand in Ziplocs. Because why not.

The Dark n’ Stormy – Gosling’s goes way back in Bermuda. In fact, it’s being run now by the seventh generation of this Bermudian rum-making family. Gosling’s Black Seal and ginger beer is a classic, not to mention one of roughly four trademarked cocktails in the world.

The Bermuda Rum Swizzle–  Bermuda’s signature drink: Dark rum, light rum (likely Gosling’s Black Seal and Gold), fruit juices (pineapple, orange, possibly lemon), falernum, and Angostura bitters, traditionally mixed with a swizzle stick and served by the pitcher. 

Places to Drink & Dine

Bars

Swizzle Inn–  “Swizzle Inn, Swagger Out,” says the sign across the street from a bus stop and an ice cream shop. Serving since 1932, I’m sure this laid-back spot is mayhem in peak season, being the best known bar in Bermuda and the most famous place to order a Swizzle, but in the off-season we could not have been happier here. The ceiling is covered in a sea of dollar bills. The walls are covered in stickers and scrawls. Stacks of ledgers list decades of past patrons. The bartender was so delighted we were asking about Bermudian history that she produced a stack of her personal books about the island she kept on hand just in case anyone was curious. 

Sunken Harbor – Recognize the name? The Brooklyn original, run by St. John Frizell upstairs at Gage & Tollner, has been a James Beard Award semifinalist. This woodpaneled dockside mid-Atlantic outpost has been hiding away here in the Cambridge Beaches resort since the summer of 2022.

Gosling’s –  The Gosling family has had its flagship retail wine and spirits shop on Hamiton’s main strip, Front Street, since 1824.  

Restaurants

Wahoo’s Bistro & Patio – A St. George’s lunch spot for wahoo tacos, nuggets, burgers, smoked pate, chowder, and that aforementioned raisin-bread fried fish sandwich. We waited maybe 15 minutes on a chill, off-season afternoon, tucked into two seats at the bar (which may have only had two seats total) and then got a spot on the back patio where you can see neon-green parrotfish cruising around in the harbor shallows from your plastic chairs.

The Pink Beach Club –  An open-air, beachfront, art-filled bistro on the water below the Loren boutique hotel, where Chef Lourence Godhino told me he tries to keep lionfish (an invasive, reef-decimating, but delectable species) on the menu here year-round, for ceviche, tartare, or whatever he’s in the mood to make. Upstairs, the Marée Lounge is a bit fancier and known to host culinary pop-ups with visitors like the team from Uchi sushi as part of their Guest Chef series.

Tom Moore’s Tavern – The island’s oldest restaurant, serving French continental cuisine (including Grand Marnier soufflé) in a meandering 1652 house with multiple layers of literary connection, one of which is Irish poet Thomas Moore, who hung around on the property in the early 1800s. 

Achilles – Seasonal, in St. George’s: Mediterranean and Asian fusion in a modern, glass-walled building overlooking Achilles Bay with views of Fort St. Catherine and, locals say, some of the island’s best sunsets.

Fourways Inn – A bold pink 1720s manor house with 18th-century stone walls, brass chandeliers, live piano, fine wines, and a fancy brunch is a time capsule of colonial Bermuda.

Art Mel’s Spicy and Dicy –  A much-loved and no-frills (with no seating) lunch counter for fish sandwiches in a residential neighborhood north of central Hamilton.

Places to Stay

The Loren at Pink Beach –  Enjoyed this stay for the laid-back service, the private-feeling rooms, the sweeping views. It’s on a bluff above Pink Beach (tiny and true to its name), and it was the first new-build in Bermuda in decades. It opened in 2017, and it’s also the sleekest, most mod property you can book with floor-to-ceiling windows in its big ocean-facing suites. 

The Oxford House – A sweet, unassuming, independent guest house in a stately white manor with a dozen crisp, clean rooms. The front is lined with short stout palm trees and it sits right amidst Hamilton’s banking buildings. No lobby bar, but the staff puts out low-key happy hour snacks in the evenings and breakfast in the mornings. In operation for 90 years and, even with “reimagining” in 2021, I can’t imagine much has changed.

Rosewood Bermuda – Many of Bermuda’s stays feel like villages unto themselves, invisible from the road, tucked away on their own stretches of coast. This Rosewood is a newer version of that: the vast property has been the site of a resort since the 1930s, but its contents have undergone many iterations. The main building, renovated in 2018, is perched on a bluff overlooking an inlet and the dark-wood-paneled bar and restaurant spaces and sunny, secluded pool area are beautiful. Things are very spread out: The golf club is a hike (or golf cart ride) away (the dinner wasn’t worth the trip); and the beach and beach club are a hike beyond that. 

The Fairmont Hamilton Princess – The extremely distinctive “Pink Palace” that’s anchored the city of Hamilton since it opened in 1885. It’s full of history—being named for Queen Victoria’s fourth daughter, having housed World War II code breakers—but you’d never know it stepping into the crisp, clean lobby. It’s home to Bermuda’s preeminent modern art collection, including works by Andy Warhol, and Roy Lichtenstein, Damien Hirst, and KAWS, many of which are visible right in the lobby. There’s a Yayoi Kusama out back between the restaurant and the docks.

Places to Walk

Horseshoe Bay Beach –  The most photographed beach in Bermuda, understandably. Bright blue waves crashing against dramatic limestone cliffs and arches on faint blush sand. Jam-packed when cruise ships are in port, virtually deserted (except for the Portuguese man-o’-wars) on an off-season afternoon.

Jobson’s Cove – From Horseshoe Bay, we walked along a coastal trail that sometimes wove inland through thick foliage and sometimes traced the beach, and we landed here — a small, secret-feeling little lagoon tucked between big rock outcroppings and scattered limestone boulders.

Spittal Pond Nature Reserve – Bermuda’s biggest nature reserve, at 64 acres. Wild “jungle chickens” peck around in the understory of wooded area before it opens up on the coast to a rocky shoreline and a brackish pond, both great for birds. A walking trail through myriad ecosystems along the south shore cliffs showcases a couple natural features with signage sharing stories—some tragic—from the 1800s.

St. George’s –  The colorful village of St. George’s at the tip top of Bermuda is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the oldest continuously inhabited English settlement in the New World. Its streets date to 1612. St. Peter’s Church here is said to be the oldest surviving Anglican church in the Western Hemisphere. Also: “Unfinished Church”—a Gothic ruin abandoned in the 1870s due to internal church politics and a schism, King’s Square, and the narrow lanes around it. Dotted with restaurants and little shops.

Royal Naval Dockyard –  At the polar opposite end of the island from St. George’s, the British Royal Navy’s western Atlantic base from 1809 to 1995, and the spot where cruise passengers pour off the ships. We rode the bus down here and walked around the sprawling fort and ramparts on a no-cruise day and it was utterly empty (except for the random chickens), cool, and strange. It’s a cultural complex including the National Museum of Bermuda, the Bermuda Arts Centre, a brewery, and a touristy-seeming pub in an 18th-century cooperage. 

Church Bay – A small rocky beach fit for shore snorkeling in Southampton.  

Walsingham Nature Reserve – Also known as Tom Moore’s Jungle, this miniature wilderness of mangroves, caves, and turquoise underground pools right next to Tom Moore’s Tavern is named for a crew member of the Sea Venture, whose 1609 shipwreck that supposedly inspired Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

Other Things To Do

Bermuda Bookstore – Loved sifting through the stacks and picking up a couple no-barcodes, locally published Bermuda books at this downtown Hamilton indie bookshop (right across from a bigger bookstore option on the second floor of the department store on the opposite side of the street).

Lili Bermuda – In St. George’s, a women-owned perfumery established in 1928, now run by Isabelle Ramsay-Brackstone, who moved to the island from Montreal in 2003. Bermuda was a hub for Confederate blockade running, and one ship, the Mary Celestia, sunk 162 years ago with a sealed bottle of perfume aboard. Bermudian divers recovered it and Lili recreated it, with its notes of orange, bergamot, grapefruit, and sandalwood: that’s the “Mary Celestia.” 

Crystal Cave – A 30-million-year-old, insanely-indigo-colored, ocean-fed subterranean lake studded with stalactites and stalagmites, accessible by an admission booth with a small gift shop. Beautiful.

The African Diaspora Heritage Trail – A self-guided series of 14 sites—museums, statues, churches, caves, parks—that traces the island’s history of enslavement and aftermath, including the St. George’s Bermudian Heritage Museum in St. George’s, Hamilton’s Sally Bassett statue (a 2008 sculpture of an enslaved woman who was burned at the stake in 1730), and the Tucker House Museum (where the first Black man elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, Joseph Hayne Rainey, lived with his family after fleeing the Civil War in 1862).

Catamaran charters – Woman-owned private charter company True’s two-boat fleet does sailing, fishing, and on-board dining experiences for small groups with the option of adding a private chef.  

The Cahow –  The Bermuda petrel, Pterodroma cahow, known locally as the Cahow is Bermuda’s national bird and an extraordinary conservation story. The team working to bring it back from the brink operates in a private, protected reserve called Nonsuch Island that it’s not possible to visit without special permission (and favorable weather), but it might be possible to spot one of this Lazarus species in flight on the north side of the island, and meanwhile, do keep an eye out for the iconic Bermuda Longtail, which arrive in Bermuda with spring.