Present:
Bermuda Is Eco-Bright & Beautiful
Bermuda Is Eco-Bright & Beautiful
Hurricane Fabian with its 120 mph winds and 140 mph gusts was an ill wind that struck Bermuda September 5, 2003. It tore holes in the upper stories of resort hotels, turned trees into matchsticks, and sent the limestone quarried slates of cottages soaring.
It had barely stopped blowing when the Bermudians were out picking up the debris and repairing the roofs. The basic philosophy of the worldıs tidiest archipelago was in place. Premier Alex Scott credited the fast recovery with the spirit of "real Community."
Any island archipelago in the middle of the Atlantic and with no rivers, springs or freshwater lakes has to get it right from the beginning. It rains: save it. It grows: use it. It's here: take care of it.
Whether you arrive in Bermuda by air (less than two hours from New York and Boston) or by cruise ship (May-October), you are immediately aware of a bright and shining tidiness. There are no rusty cars (a dent or chip of paint fails inspection); no billboards; no polluting industry; no graffiti-covered walls; no litter. Gardens, whether vegetable, herb or flower, are scrupulously maintained and obviously precious.
Within 22 square miles, this self-governing British dependency has established 79 national parks and a dozen nature reserves and bird sanctuaries. Two hundred acres of open space as well as 28 historic structures are owned and maintained by the non-profit Bermuda National Trust on behalf of the public. There is a Botanical Garden and an Arboretum. Furthermore, since "arable land" cannot be built upon, small farms exist all around the island chain.
Bermuda has more golf courses per square mile than any other country on earth, and these serve not only for recreation but to protect land from overdevelopment. "If there's a world crisis and we can't import food, we can always plow the golf courses and put in a crop" one taxi driver-guide told me with a smile. "With our climate it wouldn't take long."
The uniform white rooftops on the pastel houses may look like boiled icing or whipped cream, but they are the waterworks of the householders. Roofs are made of porous white stone cut in 45-pound squares, plastered together and coated with a sealing lime whitewash. Acid rainwater neutralized by the lime runs down drains into cisterns beneath the houses where it is stored then pumped as needed. Hotels, on the other hand, use desalinization or reverse osmosis for their water supply.
Water sports are the cream of island activities from swimming and snorkeling at wondrous spots like Church Bay to renting sailboats, power boats and parasailing gear at the new Water Sports Center in the Dockyard. Scuba divers will find visibility at some sites exceeds 150 feet. Diving is a year-round sport, but best exploring season for the more than 350 known shipwrecks is considered to be mid- March to November. To preserve marine life, no netting or lobster potting is allowed inside the reefs. You don't dive? The Bermuda Aquarium has added a spectacular exhibit simulating the underwater world of North Rock, northernmost point of Bermuda's coral reef, and the newest tourist and educational attraction is the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute opened in 1997 on the Hamilton waterfront.
Bermuda's famous pink sands ring the islands. All its 34 beaches are public up to the tideline, by the way, though rock floes interrupt the continuity here and there making a walk around the perimeter difficult. No matter. Try the parkland Beach Trail from the Mermaid Beach Club to the Southampton Princess (where you can, by the way, swim with the dolphins in the hotel's own 3-acre habitat). A National Trust walking trail around Warwick Pond has allspice trees as well as a number of Bermuda cedars and is envisioned as part of an eventual "emerald necklace" of preserved green spaces all across Bermuda. You can also hike nearly the entire length of the island chain via the 18-mile-long Railway Trail, a wide path laid on the bed of what was in its time (1931-1948) the world's most expensive-to-build railway. The Department of Tourism has a free book of self-guided special interest tours covering historic as well as natural sights with estimated walking times, though you are welcome to dawdle.
All the walking, biking and outdoor activities of Bermuda naturally lead to spas, fitness centers and heart-healthy menus. You can join a maxi-life and body tone program, go for concerted weight reduction or take individual treatments.
Bermuda is not a cheap holiday though the price range of lodgings and restaurants is competitive with many U.S. resort areas, and off-season packages are reasonable. The economy is based on banking and international business as well as tourism, and despite a population density second only to Monaco there is total employment and literacy.
Getting around the islands is easy though Bermuda has no rental automobiles, and even residents are permitted only one vehicle per household. Motor scooters, mopeds and bicycles are available by the hour, day or longer, while the pink buses and ferryboats go everywhere. Taxis wait at stands (cruising wastes fuel) and are metered, or they may be hired by the hour. Note that top speeds of 10 mph in town and 20 mph outside town save gas as well as tempers. You have no choice but to leave your road rage at home along with your driver's license.
The 140-plus islands and islets are the craggy top of a submerged extinct volcano surrounded by coral reefs. Beyond the reef the ocean is three miles deep, and the land itself is hilly with a high point 260 feet above sea level. The climate is often compared to Santa Barbara, California, that is, it is semitropical with moderate humidity and year-round temperatures of 60-84 degrees. Any day in winter when the thermometer fails to reach 60F, visitors get bonuses to make up for it.
Bermudians know first hand how fickle nature can be. The forests of cedar that once supplied a shipbuilding industry seemed unending, but in the 1940s a great blight killed 95 percent of the trees and with them the favorite nesting sites of the Bermuda bluebird. Slowly the cedars are coming back thanks to a successful reforestation program, and nature reserves have accommodated the birds.
The Bermuda petrel or Cahow, one of the world's rarest seabirds, was considered extinct for 300 years when 18 pairs were discovered on tiny Nonsuch Island off the coast of Castle Harbour in 1951. The Bermuda Biological Station for Research (BBSR) has been monitoring the colony (70 pairs at last count) and reported that though Fabian destroyed many nests, the birds were not breeding at the time. The BBSR sponsored a crash program of rebuilding concrete burrows for the cahows and reintroduced ten chicks to the isle.
Other eco-sensitive government policies include cruise ship restrictions and clean air, fisheries, fish pot ban and coral reef preservation acts. Building permits for all new structures specify that buildings must be able to withstand 110 mph winds.
In 1996 Bermuda grew by 10 percent when United States, British and Canadian military bases pulled out and returned 1,380 acres to the island government. Out on the strip of land that was once the Royal Canadian Naval Base, grew Daniels Head Village, which became the 9 Beaches in 2005. The watersports-oriented cabana colony consists of 84 waterfront and over-the-water units (some with see-through floor panels) on 18 acres. Guests are transported dock-to-dock by boat.
Even a hurricane doesn't slow down eco-progress in Bermuda.
Bermuda Department of Tourism
1-800-BERMUDA
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