Log In

Reset Password
BERMUDA | RSS PODCAST

It’s been a good week for St George’s

First Prev 1 2 3 4 5 Next Last
Visitors gather along the waters edge to view a historical reenactment at the ducking stool in St George's yesterday. (Photo by Mark Tatem)

St George’s retailers have mixed views of the summer season so far, but visitors offered the town a glowing review.Mayor Garth Rothwell said yesterday that the town has been busier then it has been in a while, due in large part to a large group of visiting yachts.“We were lucky enough to have a lot of yachts in port, so we had a lot of skippers and crew out in the stores and restaurants and all around,” he said.“From what I have seen, the ferries have been bringing a lot of people here from the cruise ships. Overall, this week has been a good week in the town. There are a lot of things happening.”Yesterday morning, The Royal Gazette visited the town. While the town was not as busy as it has been in summers past, several businesses said the recent surge in cruise ship passengers, and visiting yachts, have given the area an economic boost.Geza Wolf, owner and operator of Wahoo’s Grill, said business has been booming.“I think things couldn’t have been much better, honestly,” he said. “Now, hopefully, we will be able to keep this going. It’s been fantastic. We’ve had a lot of good people off the yachts. Good, happy people.”He said we was eager for more boat rallies to visit the port, and said he was optimistic that an improved ferry and bus schedule would mean more cruise ship passengers in the town.Theresa Gibbons of the Island Shop said business has been somewhat slow so far this year.“We don’t have the same ferry service that we had last year, and that really makes a difference,” she said. “It’s going to get better. That’s what we all have to remember. It will get better.“This week it wasn’t too bad. I haven’t had too many customers from the new ship, but I had some from the Summit yesterday. Sunday was pretty good. I thought we would have a lot of locals down here for Mother’s Day, but instead we had a number of yachters in the store.”Along with providing extra business in the town, she said the large number of yachts provided beautiful views for visitors and residents of the town.“It’s been a long time since we have had so many yachts here,” she said. “It was beautiful.”Teri White of the Book Cellar said she was pleased by the number of people visiting the town.“Yesterday was quite good. We just opened today, but we’ve already had customers in which is a good sign,” she said. “People often prefer to buy books just before they leave so it might be too early to tell. They buy books when they are going. We hade one person from the yachts who said if they bought another book on board the captain would throw them off.”Visitors to the town meanwhile gave unanimously positive reviews. Dale and Pamela West from Sacramento, California, said they first visited the town during a bus tour on Wednesday, and came back yesterday to take a more in depth view of St George’s.Mrs West said that they have been on numerous cruises before, but this was their first trip to Bermuda.“We have never been to Bermuda before, and I think it’s fabulous,” she said. For us it’s a new boat and a new destination. I’m looking to do one of the water tours of the Island.“We really love history, and we’re going to try to look at all the forts.Asked if the couple might return to the Island in the future, she said: “We could very well come back. I guess it depends on if we find the forts.”

Visitors from the Breakaway, Dale and Pamela West (Photo by Mark Tatem)
Book Cellar attendant Teri White (Photo by Mark Tatem)
Wahoo's owner Geza Wolf (Photo by Mark Tatem)
Visitors gather along the waters edge to view a historical reenactment at the ducking stool in St George's yesterday. (Photo by Mark Tatem)