GE279 – Geology of Bermuda

Over the past couple of days we have been doing a whole lot of driving around on scooters.  By now we have essentially driven by every part of the island.  And i have inhaled far too much exhaust. On Friday we took a group drive into the capitol city of Hamilton.  We wondered around for a short amount of time, ate lunch on the waterfront and then headed back to BIOS.  We then took a boat ride out off of St. George where we snorkeled amongst the cup reefs.  We ended the day by eating out at the Swizzle Inn and then enjoyed a few drinks with the other BIOS residents at the Passing Wind.

On Saturday we were given a day off to do what we pleased.  We all began the day by riding into Hamilton.  Some of our group split off and headed towards the beaches.  I stuck around with Harry and Tact to explore a little longer.  We visited the Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity which was quite spectacular.  I walked around that for a while and enjoyed the serenity and peace of mind that the cathedral provided.  We then walked around Hamilton for a bit more and ended up visiting the Bermuda National Gallery which is located in the City Hall and Arts Centre.  There were several documentary photography exhibits on display that were very interesting.  They varied from documenting the lives of sex-workers in Cambodia to the side of Islamic culture that is not portrayed in the mainstream media.  We then departed from Hamilton to visit the South Shore beaches.  Eventually we met up with the rest of our group and toured the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse which is the tallest point on Bermuda.  The view from atop was amazing despite the gusty wind.  After the lighthouse we made our way back across the island to BIOS.  During the evening a small group of us took a taxi into Hamilton where we sampled the night life.

Today we headed back to the south shore and stopped at the Warwick Beaches which are by far some of the most beautiful beaches I have ever been to.  While there we collected samples of the sand and identified forams, limpets, bivalves and gastropods within our samples.  We then continued along the South Shore and stopped at Church Bay.  While there we were able to examine up close the development and stratigraphy of the lithified dunes that compose the island.  Also while there we found a couple Portuguese Man o’ War sails that had washed ashore.  I tried to turn one over with my shoe in order to get a better view, however I ended up popping it which frightened me greatly as I did not want to get stung by the exploding particles.  After we left Church Bay we continued down the South shore until we reached the end of the island at the Royal Navy Dockyard.  From there I headed all the way back toward St. George, and made a stop at a fried chicken joint with Luke.  All in all each day has been radical.

We had our long day touring by our scooters and observing the geologic interests of Bermuda.

Starting from our site in St. George’s, which is located at the upper north east, all the way around to Jobson’s Cove to Chaplin Bay to Church Bay to the Royal Navy Dockyard, the other end in west side. We stopped by at certain beaches identifying some cool rocks. Most of the beaches in Bermuda are known for pink sand mainly due to its accumulation of living organisms like corals, clams, etc. I appreciated some vibrant colors of emerald ocean and pink sands, and picked some fragments for collection. Maybe I’m going to use some of them for later research. It was, indeed, some legitimate day for geology.

Although it could be cold during the gust, I still liked riding a fun-sized scooter. The road keeps me awake and engaged. It took about 25 miles to get to and back from the other endpoint. On our way to Royal Navy Dockyard, we drove across bunch of curves, left and right, and hills, up and down. It reminded me of San Francisco where I used to go and hang out before I come to Maine. I was comparing that with the largest city in Bermuda, and I realized, Hamilton is just a miniature of SF, except Hamilton is much more cozier.

Before I come down to Bermuda, people told me it is way off-season for visiting. Now that I’ve stayed here for a week, I am confident to say, “I don’t think so.” I have my two thumbs up for Bermuda in January. Looking at a well-maintained but not flourished Royal Navy Dockyard, it was quite obvious that barely any tourists come to the islands during the winter season. While I don’t disagree with the possible complaints about the cold air and water, and unstable weather, I genuinely believe January is one of the greatest time of the year exploring Bermuda’s endemic nature as well as cool architecture. It was so quiet that anywhere we go is virtually reserved just for us. How cool is that? If I were to have a second chance, it could be a cool idea to come here again during summer season just to make a comparison with busy seasons.

Today we went all the way from BIOS to the end of the Island!

We have now successfully driven our mopeds the entire length of Bermuda. Woo! To break the long trip up into pieces we stopped at various beaches along the way. Pink sand was abundant, as well as sea glass, limpets, and shell fragments. At one of the beaches we stopped to count the number of Homotrema rubrum (forams) in one inch plots. We concluded that there are about 36-60 pink forams per plot. That’s a lot of forams! It also explains why the sand looks so pink.  It’s beautiful!

We even got to see some pretty cool cup reefs from up above. They really stick out due to the clarity of the water here. Sometimes if you look really close you can see parrotfish swimming around. Speaking of parrotfish, today we found evidence of parrotfish on the limestone at Stonehole Bay. They leave nibble marks on the rocks that have a very distinctive appearance.

And then Bruce showed us South Hampton Formation at Stonehole bay! What an interesting looking rock formation. At first glance it looks like loose sand. But it’s rock!

Then we found chitons leaving trails in the sand. They move so slowly, but this makes it easy to tell where they have been. We also saw some limpet trails. So neat! I really like chitons. Limpets are pretty awesome too.

Then we stopped to see a fossil coral reef! It is hard to tell apart from the rest of Bermuda limestone unless you look really close and see the red algae.

On the way back to BIOS, we stopped in Hamilton for a quick caffeine boost and some warmth. A dark chocolate mocha later, I was back on my moped and ready to complete the trip back to BIOS.

I can still feel the rain digging into my skin. It’s amazing how a bit of wind can make a passing shower a painful experience. Our ride home was a long one, as we were coming from the Royal Navy Dock Yard, at the far end of the island. It was a grueling hour and twenty minute ride, with bone chilling gusts along the way.

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Today was both fun and challenging, fun because we rode our mopeds all the way to the end of the island, but challenging to fight through the chilly (and sometimes wet) weather and fatigue…

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The last time I went for the swimming was when I had to cross 100 meters to pass the physical exam as a part of graduation requirement in high school. I knew how to swim, but I’ve been avoiding tuning up my skill, ending up being second to the last who finished that exam. It’s been 3 years since then, I didn’t realize I would be under the ocean until I actually went out. What was I thinking of doing in the middle of the Atlantic?

Despite trying it out for the first time, the snorkeling experience was not bad. Not bad at all. Because of the salt concentration in the sea water, and because I was not used to hold breath and exhale with snorkels attached, I found quite difficult to dive deep. The only thing I could do essentially was to become buoy and to float at the sea level, keep looking down at the ocean floor and coral reef. But I didn’t blame myself for inability in swimming — that was well enough for me enjoying offshore Bermuda.

What I was amazed at first was the underwater visibility. Not only you can see through the beautiful, white ocean floor (which explains why Bermuda shores look so emerald green), you’d notice fishes approach by from distant. I suppose the water visibility exceeds far more than 100 feet. It’s kind of an intriguing moment when I had some chances swimming with fishes; I felt like I became part of an aquarium exhibition.
Their appearance, their style, the environment they swim, all of the components made the fishes look so elegant. I can name some of them I recognized: Sergeant Major, Blue Angel Fish, Parrot Fish, Blue Head Wrasse, Lionfish, etc. Lionfish was quite a difficult one that I didn’t really find it. Instead Matt found Lionfish hiding behind the corals, and our guide speared it through. Good catch.

Swimming ocean in the middle of January does not sound a wise decision, but Bermuda would be an exception. Water temperature here hits around 65 °F, which Bermudians would argue, “it’s too cold,” but for college students in upper New England it sounds like a heaven. You may have heard some nervous rumors about how planes and ships disappear in the certain region of the ocean; for those who expected me to be missing in the Bermuda Triangle, I’m here to tell you. Too bad. I survived.

It started out beautifully today with sunshine and a little wind blowing on our faces while driving. In the morning, we headed to Hamilton and strolled around for a while, looking at some little shops in this area. Later, we went to south shore and found a very pretty beach there, filled with the pinkest sand I’ve seen in Bermuda due to the large amount of homotrema present. The sand grains were rather large and poorly sorted, especially around the rocks we sat on. Some chitons and gastropods were also around, as we’ve seen on most beaches in Bermuda. The ocean was absolutely fascinating: it had layered colors that varied from deep blue to transparent sky blue, brushing gently on the lightly pinkish beach. Despite the strong wind that blew sand onto our faces, I would love to go there again simply to look at the changing light and shades reflected on the surface of the ocean.

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