Expert: Michael - 4/16/2002

Question
Michael,
How do you rate Bermuda compared to the Caymans or Cozumel or the Virgin Islands - any that you've been to - or just your overall opinion on
- the island's beauty
- scuba diving
- expense
Do you recommend a not-overly expensive hotel for a couple w/out kids where you can snorkel from the beach that's very clean and quiet?
Thanks!
Jeanne

Answer
Dear Jeanne,

I am thrilled to be in a position to answer your question(s) from my experiances.  I love vacationing.  Linda and I have decided to make it a priority years back.  Life is too short, we work so hard.  Do enjoy yours to the max.

In my opinion it coud be detrimental to compare one vacation against another.  Luckily we have been to the Caymans, VI's and Bermuda, enjoying all three even if for different reasons.  I can speak to you of what you would expect from each and end up telling where I would go and why.

Oh, I've never been to Coz but would pass as I've fiends who tell me they very much had had it with kids on the beach asking to braid their hair and/or sell them serapes. Picture yourself relaxing with closed eyes or engrossed in a novel on the beach .... you're startled by "Exxcuuuzee me senorita.  Braid hair 50 centablos?  50 Centablos senoir.  Nice blanke.  50 cents datz all senoir."  Ten minutes later there back.

Cayman is a remoter island experiance.  I felt like Robinson Curosuo walking each morning down the road enjoying seeing parrots, that's right parrots, perched on the limbs of trees at the side of the road.  It was extremly hot and humid.  Nearly oppressive.  My walk had to be completed by 9AM.  We stayd on the east end.  Even more remote than the rest of the island, an hours drive from Georgetown their major city where you can buy tons of memorable tee shirts.  The natives I ran accross on my walks I stopped to talk with and were delightful. I saw a tiny straw shop out of a womans house and browsed around buying some trinkets.  She was wonderful.

There is nothing in Caymans that would draw me back but for one thing.  In a minute I will tell you.  The big feature  you hear of Cayman is Seven Mile Beach.  This is a woderful beach(s) but runs along an area you would swear you were on Collins Avnue.  I lost my sense of adventure.  Cayman is expensive by all standards. And on top of that the exchange rate is 30% in their favor.  So if you go to a georgeous beach like Rum Bay and sit under a palm tree in an iddylic setting, order something to drink this is what you can expect to pay.  $10.00 for the rum. $4.50 for the coke, 15 or 20% tip $2.80 is $21.80.  But because the exchange rate is 30% you will pay and additional $6.54 translating and totalling $28.80 in american funds.  Now think about this Jeanne and what you will actually be paying for a lunch for two at $50.00 or normal diner for two at $100 Cayman funds.

The water in Cayman is what would draw be back.  It is rated as one of the top three dive sites in the world.  I do not a SCUBA diver but am an avid snorkeler.  All areas entering from shore offered me another world beyond my imagination.  At Eden Rock I chased octipus and viewed gigantic tarpon.  I feared four foot barracuda and slowly snorkled away as my addrenalin flowed.  The array of colorful fishes at Cemetary Beach was plentyful.  And with a can of pringles filled with bread I was inundated with fish around me.    The visibility cannot be compared with anywhere I've snorked with the exception of Bonnaire, another of the top three dive loacations in the word. If I dropped a penny into a 100' depth I would see it hit the bottom.
I would give almost anyting, well even pay for a return trip to the Caymans if with my boys.  But they are grown now, starting there lives and it is difficult to pull something like this off.  So I will not return even though a nice adventure.

Cayman was really a nice trip.  Black coral was the buy!  I wouldn't hesitate to suggest it for a remote island trip.  For solitude.  Nothing to do but snorkle, enjoy beaches and nice food but at a high high cost.

The U.S. Virgin islands.  American as an be.  If you are driving a rented open back jeep don't toss your Cannon, Nikon or pocketbook in the back.  Charlotte Amalie is the main town.  Busy.  Very good beaches, water activity and entertainment.  Plenty variety of food from fast to gormet as in the states.  Afterall it is a U.S.territotry and/or possesion.  I viewed St. Thomas as beautiful.  I took a snorkling trip on the Furry, world's fastest catamaran at the time, to Buck Island.  Snorkling was excellent.  I have pictures of an endangered species sea turtle I chased.  Almost had him but the required May West would not allow me to dive under. I am not certain if I would return.  There are many other islands.  The buy is precious stones.  Jewerly.  While on vacation there I purchased a ruby ring for my bride.  Stopped on a cuised a second time and bee lined it to the Ballerina Jewelery shop.  Most incredible. Three people deep at the counters. Linda was sick on the ship (was confined to bed the entire cruise) so I tried to lift her spirits with emeralds.  A ring that would knock your socks off for half the money, or less, than you would spend in the states.  Honest.  Just remember that USVI are americanized. Relatively safe, but I tend to think a fast crowd.

That leaves me with Bermuda.  I have been to many islands Jeanne and Bermuda is the one that continues to cause Linda to cry when it is time to leave.  We return as often as possible to this little gem that sits in the gulf stream in the north atlantic.  Bermuda offers a semi-tropical temperature.  Two seasons, high and low. November through April are off season but the grass is always green.  The diving is a draw for divers as there are many sunken ships off the coast of Bermuda.  Perhaps 25 sites to choose from.  Bermuda is surrounded by reefs for miles off the coast of this tiny 21 squarte mile enchanted island.  For that reason the island is also reffered to by maritime people as Devil's Island.

Bermuda is under the influence of the queen.  This translates into "proper".  You will be treated with the highest respect with "yes mam" and "good day to you".  The people can't do enogh for you.  The Bermudan people are fantastic.  They are cordial and want to share their island with you.  Everyone of them.  The island is the cleanest I've ever been to, most safe, no poverty, and unlike many of the Carribean islands it is developed.  Bermuda enjoys one of the highest standards of living in the world.  This translates into a bit more expensive.  But not to the extreme as Caymans.  Their currency is pegged to the US dollar and is used widley accross the island chain. Cost of a good mael is what you would pay for a good meal in the states.  You can dine for less in nice places, or even Fish & Chips in a pub.

I must tell you that Bermuda is the most beautiful island I have been to.  There is much to do, or nothing if you choose to sit on a lovely pink beach, yes pink.  If you let sand run through your fingers you will see tiny bits of pink coral.  The scenery is divine.  You see Bermuda is an inactive vocano and the grape lined pink beaches along side the aqua marine water are highlited against the black/grey ash rock volcanice structures.

A great part of the Bermuda experiance is world-class shopping, fine dining from American to European and local cusine, the inherrent pub scene, the customs, her people and the flora.  Everywhere you turn will be hibiscus, bouganvillea and a spendid variety of natural growth around the island.

It is only approximately 600 nautical miles off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina making the trip from the easrtern seaboard and hour and tweny or fourty minutes.

I've ofetn wondered why I feel so different, like nowhere else when in Bermuda.  I think it has something to do with its culture and people.  Something like they have been caught in a time warp and they have not progressed as we have in the states in such a negative way.  I mean I know what a New York minute is.  In Bermuda they turn the clock on city hall back five minutes to make a point.  Everyting is easy and smiles in Bermuda.  It is a wonder.  I often refer to it as enchanted.
Bermuda offers tons of history associated witht he US is you cae for that sort of thing.

Finally Jeanne, I would recommend to call (800)BERMUDA and ask for a first time visitors package, or go to their Department of Tourism website www.bermudatourism.com and check it out.

I did not mean to run off so long, but your questions were many and I wanted you to get a clear picture of the differences.

The least expensive rate for a hotel with beach is Grotto Bay Beach Hotel.  Nice.  The private beach is in Harrington sound, not the ecean with waves.  Near the airport. Off the beach is your own sunken ship.  Hehe.  A close walk to the bus drop and the Swizzle Inn and things in that area.  But not close to the southshore primier beaches.  A good buy.

If I can be of any further help simply write.

Happy planning!
Michael