Port sof Call - Bermuda Cruises:

~ Port of Call (Click to Enlarge) Bermuda ~

Hamilton, the main cruise-ship port, lies in the middle of Bermuda. Cruise ships dock along Front Street, which runs next to the water. Two ships can tie up at a time. There is a cruise terminal at the waterfront, which has public telephones, rest rooms and a tourist information booth. The city's many sights and shops are within a short walk of Front Street.

As many as three cruise ships can tie up at St. George. There are cruise terminals at the docks, which have public telephones, rest rooms and a tourist information booth. All of the shops and points of interest are within walking distance—and this is a great port for walking.

Larger cruise ships usually anchor in the Great Sound, the large bay in western Bermuda, or tie up at the Royal Naval Dockyard, which is also at the western end of the islands. The Dockyard is located at the northwestern end of Bermuda. The towering stone buildings that were once part of the early-19th-century British naval installation have been renovated into shops and restaurants. There's a maritime museum, too. The dock—opposite the main Dockyard buildings—can accommodate one cruise ship at a time. Telephones, rest rooms and a tourist information table are located on the dock. The ships that anchor in the Great Sound often tender their passengers to the Dockyard in smaller craft.

~ Hamilton, Bermuda ~
Hamilton is the hub of Bermuda, serving as both its capital and commercial center. While it's not a large city (population 15,000), it has a surprising amount of hustle and bustle - at least compared to the rest of the island. Locals refer to it simply as 'town' - 'going to town' means, without a doubt, going to Hamilton.

Attractions include the Bermuda Cathedral, a weighty neo-Gothic building that is one of the city's dominant landmarks; the Bermuda Historical Society Museum, which contains models of the ill-fated Sea Venture; and the Bermuda National Gallery, containing works by Thomas Gainsborough, Joshua Reynolds and Winslow Homer.

Fort Hamilton is a substantial hilltop fort with a bird's-eye view of Hamilton Harbor. It's one of a series of fortifications erected in the mid-19th century during a period of rising tensions between Britain and the USA. The ramparts are mounted with 10-inch rifled muzzleloader guns, capable of firing 400-pound cannonballs through iron-hulled vessels. These devastating weapons were, fortunately, never required.

~ King's Wharf, Bermuda ~
After the American War of Independence, the British were no longer able to use ports in their former American colonies, so they chose this site on hilly Ireland Island at the western tip of Bermuda as their 'Gibraltar of the West.' It served as a dockyard facility and resupply depot for ships heading between Nova Scotia and the British West Indies. The fort was built between 1814 and 1863 by nearly 10,000 convicts who were quartered in unspeakable conditions on prison ships stationed in the deepwater cove.

The fort is built of limestone blocks in Georgian style and was first used by the British navy as a base to launch their raid on Washington, DC, in 1814. It later served as a North Atlantic base during both World Wars but was abandoned as a costly outpost in 1951. Since then the buildings have been renovated and given a second life. The dockyard now includes the fascinating Bermuda Maritime Museum, located in the fort's former keep, an atmospheric pub, a movie theatre, a craft market and the Bermuda Snorkel Park.

~ St. George's, Bermuda ~
It was a British admiral, Sir George Somers, whose shipwreck in 1609 near the site of St. George may have inspired Shakespeare to write The Tempest. Little St. George's Island went on to become the thriving capital of the new British colony of Bermuda. Today it is no longer the capital. That's just as well, since it has managed to retain the charming look and feel of Elizabethan England.