I’ve been to Bermuda more times than I can count and have to say that it was probably one of my favorite countries to travel to before the pandemic. I could probably figure out just how many times I’ve been there if I go back through my passport but, that’s beside the point. Unfortunately, at the time of writing this, Bermuda is still under a level 4 travel advisory according to the State Department. Unless you’re on official business or you’re a citizen, you may want to reconsider going there at the moment. Either way, if you are thinking of going, this shouldn’t stop you from at least planning a short vacation their once things settle down if your budget allows.
I first became fascinated with Bermuda back in 2012 long before I became a certified scuba diver. Growing up in Florida, I already had the tendency of wanting to be in the water so, getting my dive certification only seemed natural. As I researched places for future diving, Bermuda found its way onto my scope along with the hundreds of shipwrecks begging to be explored.
I was living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the time and working for an airline (US Airways). I was on a schedule that made it possible to fly back and forth to Florida twice a week; the flight benefits were great while it lasted but, I was not a fan of the hours! Working graveyards for almost three years was rough for someone who enjoys life by day!
On my flights back home, I used to flip to the map in the onboard magazines and dream of all the places I would like to go to one day if time and money ever allowed. I remember thinking how lonely Bermuda looked way off by itself in the Atlantic ocean, I could almost hear its little voice floating up out of the magazine saying, “Hey! Stop staring and come find out!”
But, so as it goes in many good stories, life continued to get in the way of any diving aspirations and frequent travel back and forth to Florida. Any diving interests I had quickly disappeared one day when I received a life changing phone call. I had just been offered the job of my dreams for a company operating out of California!
Within two moths of receiving that phone call, I packed up Philly, drove back home to Florida, packed up Florida and make the 3,000mi journey on I-10 West with California in my sights! I finally had all I could take of working nights and I was California bound, the land of my dreams! Caught up in moving and starting a new job, I became wrapped up in business travel, training, and new friends. Bermuda soon became a distant memory.
At some point after the dust settled and I finally got into the California way of things, I began thinking of diving again. I had found other hobbies at this point that included, hiking, camping, mountain biking, trail running, even skydiving but, something was still missing. I had stood on mountain peaks, conquered the land, fallen out of airplanes, but there was still the ocean to consider. Well, and flying, but that’s another story! In 2015 I took a short two week vacation back to Florida before a business trip overseas and while there, I decided that it was time I finally started working on my dive certifications.
In the diving world, your life is fueled by certifications. The first one is never enough. It’s kinda like Pokémon; you just have to get them all! Two companies own the monopoly on these precious things; Scuba Schools International (SSI) and Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI). PADI is more widely known and not all dive centers recognize SSI so I opted for the PADI certifications.
How should one go about getting certified you might ask? Well, its rather easy. If you do a quick google search for dive centers in your area, your probably going to see quite a few around you, especially if you live by ANY kind of body of water. Even quarries count. If that fails, you can go directly to the SSI or the PADI website and search your area. I’m planning on doing another blog post on this in the future so, stay tuned!
I completed my Open Water certification with American Pro Diving Center in Crystal River. I opted to complete their weekend course which involved 3 confined dives (pool dive) and 3 open water dives (in the river). This schedule is pretty standard for most dive centers. The first time you ever take a breath of air out of a regulator while your completely submerged is something that you’re not likely to ever forget.
Your body says, “Oh! I shouldn’t be doing this!” but, your brain says, “It’s fi-ine, stop being a baby!” And then you think, “Hey, I kinda sound like Darth Vader…Luke, really I’m not your father!” Any diver out there reading this can probably relate. It really is unfortunate that you’re limited by the amount of air you have in your tank because, once you get down there, you don’t want to leave.
American Pro Diving Center offered incredible service, and no I’m not a sponsor for them but, companies deserve to be recognized for outstanding service. And this dive center went well beyond my expectations. The instructors did an incredible job of making all of us students feel right at home in their small family. Admittedly, I was sad to leave after I completed my certification but, over the years I have gone back to do additional certifications and to buy dive gear. The majority of the gear I currently use has been purchased through this dive center and my future gear likely will be as well.
After finishing my Open Water certification I was thrilled and beyond ready to try out my new skills in Bermuda. However, with this upcoming four month business trip, I wouldn’t make it out to Bermuda until spring of 2016. As I made it overseas and fell into my daily life thoughts of diving quickly began to fade again as work and online classes began ruling my life once more. Drum roll please….
Then one day, I’m sitting in my room thinking of all the things I should do with my time off when I got back to the states and, it came to me. I was going to Bermuda. Knowing how easy it was for life to get in the way, I immediately hopped onto my computer and began researching flights and accommodations. By the end of the week, I had flights, hotels, transportation, and dive arrangements settled.
After after years of playing around with the idea, I was finally going to Bermuda. I had nearly two months left before my flight to this tiny island, so I decided it might be a great opportunity to do as much research as I could in that time. I booked everything so that I would come home from my business trip, do a few days of paperwork at our facility and then hop onto another flight to Bermuda.
I downloaded every map of the island that I could find, researched every restaurant, and searched forums for the hidden spots all the locals go to. Some of the sites I used to find places of interest were TripAdvisor and The Lonely Planet; just to name a few. In my research, I learned that Bermuda refuses to allow chain businesses from entering their economy; this is to ensure that local businesses thrive and their citizens are taken care of. Even the hotels are primarily run by locals. Bermuda doesn’t allow hostels on the island but, I have been told by other travelers and through blog reading that there are some locals that allow couch surfing.
If you do plan on going to Bermuda one day, keep this in mind. The most expensive part of your trip aside from airfare (depending on where you are in the world), is going to be the accommodations; get ready to spend almost $200 USD per night in the off season. I decided on the Grotto Bay but there are plenty of other options available; I got lucky with buying everything off-season but, it was still expensive. In previous trips I’ve stayed at the Fairmont South Hampton but, they can be VERY expensive, especially in Peak season so look for deals! Both the Grotto Bay and the Fairmont have a dive center on the property; this made my decision pretty easy.
The majority of things and goods in Bermuda are imported so this naturally drives the prices up. EVERYTHING is expensive, be ready to spend some money here. That being said, there are definitely ways to save money if you know where to look. This involves traveling out of season, booking months in advance if your schedule allows, taking the bus or renting a scooter instead of a cab (this being a good reason to get familiar with the maps; GPS does fail and GoogleMaps doesn’t always work), etc. I’ll talk a lot more about this in a future blog post but for now, take the journey with me.
Bermuda was first discovered in the 1500s by the Spanish but, later on in history it became a British territory. When the tiny island was first discovered, there were no natives who actually inhabited it; the island was used as a port for ships headed to America, the Caribbean, or back to Europe. There were, however, plenty of shipwrecks in this area that left many sailors stranded on the island before it was actually settled by colonists in the 1600s. Is this where the Bermuda Triangle comes into the story you might ask? Well, yes it is.
As the story goes, the Bermuda Triangle (aka the Devil’s Triangle) is as the name implies. It’s a giant triangle in the Atlantic ocean…well, an invisible one anyways (if your a nerd like me then you might say its a conceptual triangle). If you were to click the minimize button on planet earth a few times and then draw a line from –Miami–Bermuda–Puerto Rico—Miami– that would get you the Bermuda Triangle. So what makes this triangle thing so famous you ask? Well, let me tell you. Boats, airplanes, and people just seem to disappear. Well, sometimes the remains are found as in the case of all the shipwrecks open to divers and the occasional wreckage that wash to shore.
So, what causes this you might ask since you are still infinitely curious? So many questions, funny you ask. No one seems to know! There are some interesting theories floating around though ranging from alien abduction to inter-dimensional travel. However, the folks at National Geographic seem to think that the jet stream might be playing a sinister role in this region. Under the right conditions, higher than normal waves along with surprise storms are thought to be a major factor. Combine this with the shallow depths of some areas and random magnetic interference and, it could be a recipe for disaster.
As I look back and reflect on all my trips to Bermuda, getting lost in the so-called “Devil’s Triangle” or “Bermuda Triangle” was probably one of the very last things I was actually thinking about. At the time, I was more concerned with diving shipwrecks, who cares about the stinking triangle?! Let’s go diving! Actually, let’s go dive in the triangle while I’m at it! Now that sounds like it could be an adventure!
TO BE CONTINUED>>>
I thoroughly enjoyed this introduction to Bermuda! This is a travel destination that never even crossed my mind…
I’m glad you enjoyed the read! I don’t think that most people ever think about going there, it’s kinda forgotten about way out there haha.