Luxury Trips and Tips

Add a little Bermuda sunshine to your cocktails

Why not bring a taste of the sunshine back with you from your Bermuda holiday and recreate some of their favourite cocktails at home. Here are just a few of their rum based classics.

Dark and Stormy

Rum plays an important part in Bermudian cocktails and is specially blended on the island to produce various colours and strengths. Bermuda’s most famous of blenders is Gosling’s who have been perfecting the art since arriving on the Island from England in the early 1800′s. Their rum is used in a variety of cocktails, the most famous of which is the Dark and Stormy, which uses their popular dark rum – Gosling’s Black Seal – named after the black wax seal on the bottle.

The Dark and Stormy is a high ball cocktail that’s really simple and simply refreshing. It is made by filling a tall glass with ice, adding 4 to 5 oz of Gosling’s Stormy Ginger Beer and topping with Gosling’s Black Seal Rum. It’s finished with a squeeze of lime and adding the wedge to the glass. This is one of the only cocktails to have been trademarked, meaning if it isn’t made with Gosling’s Black Seal Rum and Stormy Ginger Beer it isn’t a classic “Dark and Stormy”.

The Rum Swizzle

The Rum Swizzle is Bermuda’s number one cocktail and is a mixture of rum and fruit juice. It’s so popular that many locals have developed their own way of mixing this drink which is handed down through the generations. A traditional recipe for a Rum Swizzle is to start by filling a pitcher one third full of crushed ice. To this is added 4 oz dark rum, 4 oz of gold rum, 5 oz of both pineapple and orange juice, 3/4 oz of grenadine (or 2 oz of Bermuda falernum if you can get hold of it) and 6 dashes of angostura bitters. The mix then needs to be churned vigorously to produce a froth and then strained into a martini glass. Traditionally the Rum Swizzle is frothed with a Bermuda swizzle stick – a stick that ends in three prongs cut from an allspice bush.

The Bermudian

The Bermudian is a refreshing rum and mint based drink – it has got hints of a mojito but uses additional flavours of pineapple. Make this using a cocktail shaker. First muddle (crush) a couple of sprigs of fresh mint in the shaker, then add ice, 2 oz gold rum, 4 oz pineapple puree, 1 oz grand marnier and a good squeeze of fresh lime. Give it a good shake and serve straight up in a martini glass garnished with a twist of lime.

Bermuda Breeze

A thirst quenching long drink, the colour of the Bermuda Breeze is reminiscent of the soft pink beaches that run the length of the island. The distinct colour of this drink comes from combining cranberry juice and grapefruit juice with 1½ oz dark rum. Fill a tall glass with ice, add the rum and top up with equal parts of cranberry and grapefruit juice, followed with a splash of grenadine. Garnish the rim of the glass with an orange wheel.

Discover the tastes and flavours of Bermuda for yourself on a holiday to Bermuda. The Couture Travel Company are the Bermuda holiday experts and will help create a culinary adventure to tantalise your taste buds.

Alongside the well manicured golf courses and tourist attractions on Bermuda, there has been a conscientious effort on behalf of the government and conservation bodies to preserve areas of the Island’s natural habitat.

The resulting conservation areas and national parks have created natural habitats that attract a wide range of flora and fauna. Here are just a few of the areas where nature lovers can appreciate the wildlife Bermuda has to offer.

Coopers Island Nature Reserve, St Georges Parish

Cooper’s Island Nature Reserve is based on the former NASA radar site that was used for tracking space shuttles. Now under active restoration this reserve is home to a salt-marsh habitat and pond, and a couple of beaches (Long Bay and Well Bay). Here visitors can spot some of the Islands most important wildlife inhabitants: the Bermuda skink, land hermit crabs, the tropical longtail, the Bermuda petrel, bottle nose dolphins, humpback whales, the West Indian topshell and green turtles (who use the protected seamount and sea grass meadows as a nursery to raise their young).

Bermuda’s South Shore

Visit Bermuda in the Spring and you are almost guaranteed to see humpback whales as they migrate past Bermuda’s South Shore. Between March and April each year humpback whales pass Bermuda on their migration route to the food rich north Atlantic waters.

Having spent the Winter mating and calving in the tropical waters of the Caribbean, humpback whales migrate to the polar waters of the Atlantic to spend their summers feeding and raising their young.

The Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute (BUEI)

The Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute in Pembroke Parish is part museum, part conference centre and a hub for exploring and understanding the waters surrounding the island.

Their focus is on everything from marine biology to the technology of underwater exploration and deep-ocean ecology. They offer glimpses of the wonders that can be found beneath the ocean’s surface and aim to educate and inspire a greater appreciation and understanding of this underwater world.

The Arboretum

The Arboretum in Devonshire Parish is a 22 acre national park that boasts a wide collection of trees and shrubs. Following shaded walking paths around the park you will come across rolling meadows and forests with fine examples of cedars, Surinam cherry forests, rubber trees with hanging tendrils, flowering golden acacias, avocados and fiddlewood groves.

Listen out too for the birdsong of some of the park’s other inhabitants. The bird sanctuary inside the park is home to rare bluebirds, red birds and trilling cardinals. Their songs will accompany you on your journey around the park and if you look carefully you will catch a glimpse of them as they flit amongst the trees.

Spittal Pond Nature Reserve

Spittal Pond Nature Reserve is a 64 acre nature reserve at the centre of which is the 8 acre Spittal Pond. The reserve is right next to the South Shore of the island and provides an unrivalled location for birdwatching on Bermuda.

During the Autumn and Winter months the pond is a major transition area for migratory birds crossing the Atlantic, and as such is a great bird spotting site. Here you can spot waterfowl of many kinds, from geese to flamingos, the most common of which include include kiskadees, white-eyed vireos, mallard ducks, northern cardinals, herons and moorhens.

As well as birdwatching you can enjoy the reserve on walks past spectacular views of the island and the ocean. Look out for the unusual geographical formation Checkerboard, a large, flat slab of limestone whose weathered grooves give it it’s checkerboard name. Or for the sight of the earliest sign of human habitation on Bermuda – initials graffiti’d into a rock believed to be carved by a shipwrecked Portuguese sailor in 1543. Whilst the rock has since been removed the location is now marked with a brass plaque.

More information:

Coopers Island Nature Reserve -http://www.conservation.bm/coopers-island/

Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute – http://www.buei.org/

With an astounding 150 limestone cave systems Bermuda has almost as much to explore underground as it does above. In fact, spelunker’s (cavers) are drawn from far and wide to delve into the labyrinth of cave systems and discover a fantasy world of stalactites and stalagmites, underwater caverns and grottos and crystal clear blue pools.

Most of Bermuda’s caves are found to the east of the Island between Harrington Sound and Castle Harbor and offer opportunities for all levels of cave explorers. Professional cavers can explore to their hearts delight and reach some of the more inaccessible sections of the caves. Some sections of the caves are also underwater giving experienced cave divers the chance to explore more inaccessible areas only seen by the lucky few.

However, there are plenty of caves with inland openings allowing easy access to this underground world. If you do decide to visit some of Bermuda’s caves, it is worth noting that some require access via a series of steps and that the cave floor can be wet, so wearing appropriate footwear is advisable.

1. Prospero’s and Cathedral Caves

Both of these caves are located in the grounds of the Grotto Bay Beach Resort allowing guests staying at the hotel unlimited access.

The main feature of the Cathedral Cave is a large turquoise lake fed by sea water seeping through fissures in the porous limestone rock. A platform at the side of the lake allows visitors to take the plunge into its depths. For those not so keen on taking a dip the cave is well lit and has viewing platforms on which to take in the cave’s beauty.

Prospero’s Cave was the first cave to be discovered in 1609 by Sir George Somers and was initially named Island Cave. It was later renamed to Prospero’s Cave. Visitors to this cave will be treated to spectacular stalactite and stalagmite formations that rival those found in Cathedral Cave. Both caves are believed to be connected by underwater passageways.

2. Crystal Caves

Located in the Hamilton Parish, the breathtaking beauty of the stunning rock formations in Crystal Caves make it one of Bermuda’s top attractions. Pontoons floating on crystal clear underground lakes take you on a journey around a cave full of spectacular glistening white stalactites covered with crystallized soda straws. A site truly befitting of the name Crystal Caves. A glimpse into the underground lake will reward you with a stunning vision of underwater rock formations seemingly just inches below the surface. These are in fact over 50 feet below the water’s surface but appear much closer due to the clarity of the water in the lake.

Crystal Cave was discovered quite by accident in 1905 by two local boys, Carl Gibbons and Edgar Hollis, when they went looking for a lost cricket ball. Whilst visitors to the caves today enter via a specifically built entrance, you can still see the hole where the the boys first entered the caves.

3. Fantasy Caves

The Fantasy Caves are sister to the Crystal Caves and it’s easy to combine your caving outing to include a visit to both caves.

The Fantasy Caves are just as breathtaking as the Crystal Caves and offer visitors views of dazzling rock formations that look like frozen waterfalls. This effect is due to years of calcite mineral deposits building up on the walls creating some stunning effects. Looking down into the lake you will also see the the start of the passage ways linking the cave with the Atlantic Ocean.

4. Devil’s Hole

The Devil’s Hole is actually a large sink hole formed when a subterranean oceanic cave collapsed. The blue hole this created now acts as a naturally formed aquarium where you can see a variety of native marine life. Angel fish, green moray eels, jacks, sharks and the Bermuda green turtle can all be viewed from specially built viewing platforms.

The Devil’s Hole is one of Bermuda’s oldest tourist attractions and has been on the list of things to see since 1834. The local’s named it Devil’s Hole due to the eerie noise made by the sea water entering and leaving the hole making a sound like the moaning of the Devil.

Discover Bermuda’s underground secrets as part of your Bermuda holidays. The Couture Travel Company can build you an exciting travel itinerary that will take you to some of the most beautiful parts of this Atlantic Island. Whatever you want from Bermuda they will create a unique experience that you will never forget.