Traveling to a sunny island ”off-season” conjures up images of deserted beaches, dirt-cheap pina coladas and bookings in off-beat ”Key Largo”-style digs. This is not the off-season picture in semi-tropical Bermuda. For openers, Bermuda`s ”off-season” runs from Nov. 15 to April 1-winter rather than summer months, just the opposite of the Caribbean.
Then again, Bermuda isn`t in the Caribbean. It`s a 21-mile long island about 600 miles east and only slightly south of the North Carolina coast, and while the Gulf Stream keeps it on the mildish side, the hefty British shetlands and tweeds sold in the island`s stylish department stores can be very welcome on a winter night.
Off-season can be quite warm, but it`s wiser to dress for balmy, breezy springtime than for a torrid summer. Temperatures during the winter are between the low 60s and somewhere in the 70s.
Bermuda is British, but don`t expect to hear natives chatting like Rex Harrison or Vanessa Redgrave. Granted, the Union Jack flies high, photos of the Royal Family are part of the decor in office buildings and hotels tote out the silver for afternoon tea, but the spirit and the vernacular of the island is closer to its American neighbor.
Currency pegged to U.S.
The Bermuda dollar, which used to be pegged to the British pound, is now on a basis with the U.S. dollar and the dollar is accepted on a par with Bermuda currency. The main business is tourism and more the 90 percent of its tourists come from the U.S.
According to the World Bank, Bermuda (population 60,000) has the world`s highest standard of living. There is no pollution, no unemployment, no illiteracy, no income tax, neon signs or outdoor advertising.
Its neat pink and white architecture edged in perfectly manicured greenery surrounded by a Crayola blue sea may lack the frisson of more dramatically terrained islands, but Bermuda also lacks the nervous hustle and hassle that often accompany a holiday in the sun.
Bermuda calls its off-season Rendezvous Season and boasts that luminaries like Noel Coward, Mark Twain, Eugene O`Neill, Sinclair Lewis, Rudyard Kipling and James Thurber far preferred it to the summer.
Pricey places
Bermuda has some very toney hotels that have hosted crowned heads, foreign dignataries and international celebrities and whose prices dip 40 percent on package plans during Rendezvous. The Hamilton Princess, which is in the capital of Hamilton and close to a cluster of shops and restaurants, has a $179 a person three-night package with amenities that include afternoon tea, breakfast and sporting facilities.
The Sonesta Beach has a plan geared to good old relaxing-book three nights and get the fourth free.
Besides the grand hotels, Bermuda has a selection of cottages and guest houses that have cooking facilities for vacationers who want a more intimate and economical view of the island. Run by Bermuda Small Properties, a corporation of cottage owners, the houses are situated throughout the island, from Hamilton, to a cliff overlooking the Atlantic, to a tropical garden setting. Prices start at about $50 a person a day.
No rental cars
Tourists can`t rent cars in Bermuda and neither can Bermudians. Such a restriction on the limit of cars is what keeps the island pollution free. Cars weren`t even introduced to the island until World War II.
Renting mopeds and scooters is very popular way to get around with visitors, particularly the younger ones. No license is required, but the minimum age to rent one is 16 and wearing a helmet is mandatory. Driving is on the left hand side of the road.
Those who fear taking a spill might prefer riding the pink buses that zip around the island. There also are taxis. Another way of touring is taking a ferry ride. Some give up to an hour-long cruise for $2.
On the dining scene, visitors can take advantage of the Dine-Around program that allows them to try out 25 restaurants for a set price ranging from $18.50 to $29 a meal a person. Restaurants range from English-style pubs in Georgetown to the Italian Tavern on the Green in the Botanical Gardens.
A pricier and more memorable dining experience is the Newport Room in the Southampton Princess. Decked out as a luxury teak yacht and looking out on paintings of the Newport Race, tables are set with the finest china and Waterford crystal.
Cook-it-yourself
Vacationers with kitchen facilities will want to shop the markets and spice up homemade burgers or fresh-caught grouper with local sauces like Outerbridge`s Onion Sauce, and try a cocktail like the Dark and Stormy (a potent mix of dark Bermuda rum and fragrant Bermuda ginger beer) while they watch the sunset from their patios.
Golf is big in Bermuda, which has more golf courses per square mile than any other country in the world. Most golfers bring their equipment, although anything from clubs to spikes can be rented. During Rendezvous there are a series of tournaments and festivals to promote the Scottish sport and most hotels will offer golfers special hotel packages.
On other sporting fronts there is fishing, snorkeling, horseback riding and tennis.
Hiking is another sport, and it`s possible to hike the island`s historic railway trail. To keep out cars yet stay in the 20th Century, Bermudians built a railroad in 1920. But World War II made it impossible to get equipment for its maintenance, so the cars were sold. Less than a decade ago, 80 percent of the former tracks were converted to walking, jogging and cycling trails where mopeds and cars are not allowed. The 18-mile trail winds through fishing villages, parks, fields and beaches.
Regardless of where one stays on the island there is a section of the railway trail to follow.
Civil War hotbed
Bermuda`s strategic location for trading with England made it important to the North and South during the American Civil War, and the Civil War Museum in St. George`s gives a brief but vivid account of the turbulence over which side it would be aligned to during the war.
St. George`s, with its restored 18th Century homes and rectories gives a fairly clear illustration of what Bermuda looked like in its earliest settlement days.
A more recent development in charting Bermuda`s history is the Dockyard, an expansive area about a 40-minute ride from Hamilton with a maritime museum, art galleries, shops and pubs.
A very pleasant day in Bermuda might start with a nature walk, then a visit to the Dockyard for lunch and shopping, then taking an hour`s ferry ride from the Dockyard to Hamilton for an afternoon of more shopping and sightseeing.
And, speaking of shopping, here are some examples of what visitors can expect to find. Sales usually are going on at department stores like Trimingham`s and Brown`s, most of which have outlets in major hotels as well as larger stores in Hamilton and St. George`s.
Tartans to china
Besides wools, tartans, cashmeres, challis and other fine fabrics, shoppers can take advantage of duty-free prices on china and crystal like Lalique, Rosenthal, Belleek and other upscale names.
Basically, most china, crystal and woolens are about 15 to 20 percent less than they would be stateside.
But before you go during Rendezvous Season, know that certain weeks in March and April are designated as Bermuda College Weeks when college students are given discount incentives to visit the island. And in February those 50 and over also get discounts.
Right now there is no direct, nonstop Chicago-to-Bermuda flight. American Airlines has connecting service via Raleigh-Durham, N.C., and Delta has connecting flights via Atlanta. There also are direct flights with connections through New York and Philadelphia.
Cruise ships call at Bermuda, but only April-November.
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For more information about Bermuda, contact the Bermuda Department of Tourism, Suite 1070, Randolph-Wacker Bldg., 150 N. Wacker Dr., Chicago, Ill. 60606; 312-782-5486.
