Question 1

Bermuda on Your Own

Accepted Answer

The Dockyard rewards a slow morning on foot, and one ferry or bus ride takes you on to Hamilton or a south-shore beach. Plan the return as carefully as the outing, because the last boat or bus back matters as much as the all-aboard time. The Dockyard on foot: Walk through the Keep, the Dockyard's 10-acre fortress, to the National Museum of Bermuda and the Commissioner's House, which looks out over the island from its upper floor. A beach without a ride: At Snorkel Park, a limestone tunnel through the Keep's wall leads to a beach for snorkeling and watersports. By ferry to Hamilton: Ferries cross the Great Sound from the Dockyard to Hamilton, the capital, through the day. Getting back on time: All-aboard is usually about 30 minutes before sailing, and your ship posts the exact time. A ship will not wait for passengers touring on their own, so check the last ferry or bus back from wherever you go. Watch the clock: Bermuda runs on Atlantic time, normally an hour ahead of New York, so set your plans by the ship's time, not a phone that may still show home time. Look after your belongings: Thefts of unattended bags happen, including from rental scooters, so keep valuables with you.

Question 2

Getting Around Bermuda

Accepted Answer

Ferries and buses are the way out of the Dockyard. Ferries cross the Great Sound to Hamilton and also run to St. George's, and buses run from the Dockyard to Hamilton, where you can change for the rest of the island. One-way fares on buses and ferries are paid in cash, and transport passes covering both for one or more days are sold for unlimited travel. Bus timetables are not always kept, especially away from Hamilton, so allow plenty of spare time for the trip back. Taxis are available, and the scooter ride from Hamilton to the Dockyard covers about 15 kilometers and takes about 45 minutes. Visitors may not rent standard cars, but can rent small electric two-seater micro-cars or scooters. Somerset Bridge, between Somerset Island and the main island, is a 17th-century drawbridge with a gap of just 32 inches.

Question 3

Food & Dining

Accepted Answer

Bermuda's cooking leans on its fish, with British and Portuguese influences. Fish chowder is the dish to try, and wahoo and rockfish are the local catches on many menus. Bermuda fish chowder is considered a national dish, made with fish, vegetables and stock and served with black rum and sherry peppers. Boiled salt codfish and potatoes is a traditional Sunday dish, served with tomato sauce and olive oil, and some restaurants serve a weekend codfish brunch with banana and hard-boiled egg. Codfish cakes in hot cross buns are eaten on Good Friday, and cassava pie, dating back to 1612, is a Christmas dish. The Dockyard has restaurants and pubs a short walk from the ship.

Question 4

Culture & History

Accepted Answer

Bermuda blends British traditions with African, Caribbean and Portuguese roots, and it governs itself as a British Overseas Territory with one of the world's oldest parliaments. Its House of Assembly dates from 1620. The Gombey dancers, in colorful masquerade costumes, perform to drumming, above all on Boxing Day, when troupes parade around the island, and on other holidays such as Easter and Bermuda Day. Hamilton is the capital, and the Town of St. George's, the first capital, is a World Heritage Site. About 64,000 people lived in Bermuda in 2019. A referendum on independence was decisively rejected in 1995.

Question 5

A Fortress Built by Convict Labor

Accepted Answer

The Dockyard was built after American independence cost Britain its bases on the Atlantic seaboard, and for a century and a half it was the Royal Navy's main base in the western Atlantic. Enslaved Bermudians, refugees from American slavery, convicts from Britain and Ireland and laborers from the West Indies all worked on its limestone walls. Discovery: The Spanish explorer Juan de Bermúdez found the islands in the early 1500s, and they had no Indigenous population. The Sea Venture, 1609: An English ship bound for Jamestown, Virginia, was wrecked on the reefs in 1609. English settlement began in 1612, with St. George's as the first capital. Finding the channel: After American independence, naval surveyor Thomas Hurd spent about twelve years charting the reefs and found a channel deep enough for warships to reach the Great Sound. The Royal Navy chose Ireland Island for its new dockyard. War of 1812: The British blockade of American ports was run from Bermuda, and in August 1814 forces sailed from the Dockyard on the campaign that burned Washington, D.C. Convict labor, 1823 to 1863: For lack of local workers, convicts from Britain and Ireland built much of the base from 1823, among them the Irish nationalist John Mitchel. Conditions were harsh, and the last convicts left in 1863. The Commissioner's House, 1820s: Built over five years in the 1820s, it was the world's first house with a structural frame of prefabricated cast iron. World wars: In both world wars, the Dockyard assembled convoys before they crossed the Atlantic. Closure and a new life: The Royal Navy closed most of the Dockyard in the 1950s, the last naval station shut in 1995, and from the 1980s the buildings were restored for tourism and cruise ships. To learn more ashore: The National Museum of Bermuda, in the Keep at the Royal Naval Dockyard, covers Bermuda's maritime and island history, and its Commissioner's House holds displays on the island's defenses since 1612.

Question 6

Traveling with Family

Accepted Answer

The Dockyard is an easy family base because the beach, the fortress and the museum are all within walking distance of the ship. Add a ferry ride or a trip to the pink sand of Horseshoe Bay if the children have energy left. Younger children: Snorkel Park, reached through a limestone tunnel in the Keep's wall, is a beach right at the Dockyard with snorkeling and watersports. School age: The Keep's bastions, ramparts and big guns, from carronades to an 8-inch breech-loading gun, bring the fortress to life, and the Commissioner's House has wide views over the island. Dolphins: Dolphin Quest, in the Keep Pond inside the museum grounds, offers dolphin encounters, from a short introduction to a full day with the trainers. Teenagers: Horseshoe Bay, on the south shore in Southampton Parish, is known for its pink sand, colored by tiny red marine organisms mixed into the white sand, and has a lifeguard station staffed in summer.

Question 7

Accessibility

Accepted Answer

Ships tie up alongside King's Wharf, so there is no tender, and the Dockyard area is small and compact. A free summer trolley-train has run around the Dockyard and the cruise wharf; ask at the wharf whether it is operating. Visitors cannot rent standard cars, so taxis are the door-to-door option beyond the Dockyard. Ask the museum about access to the upper floor of the Commissioner's House before you visit.

Question 8

Beaches

Accepted Answer

Horseshoe Bay, a well-known beach in Southampton Parish on the south shore, has pink-tinged sand on the Atlantic coast. Closer to the ship, the beach at Snorkel Park is reached through a tunnel in the Dockyard's fortress wall. Horseshoe Bay's pink color comes from tiny red foraminifera mixed into very fine white sand. Its lifeguard station is staffed in summer, and there is a café for lunch. Warwick Long Bay is another well-known Bermuda beach. St. George's Parish, at the other end of the island, has beaches such as Tobacco Bay.

Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda

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