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Pink beaches? You bet! The sands of Bermuda are mixed
with pink flecks. I originally thought that the pink came from ground up coral bits. According to my sister, here is where the pink comes from:
The pink in the pink sand beaches comes from foraminifera,
not corals. The white bits are ground up coral. Foraminifera are kind
of like amoebas with calcium carbonate shells. Kind of.
The pink tint really makes them beautiful against the incredibly
blue / green ocean waters...
You can see the pink tint in this picture. I don't remember which beach this is, but if you look carefully you can see the lifeguard float just like they use on Baywatch.
The southern coast is more exposed to the ocean. The beaches tend to be found in this same crescent moon shape all along the coast.
Some of the beaches are more protected than others. This particular beach is called Jobson's Cove. Although you can't see them in this picture, we saw lots of bright blue parrot fish swimming in the cove.
If you wade out in to the cove, there are steps like stairs carved in the lava rock that lead out to the point looking over the ocean.
Bermuda is a volcanic island. It's not active... hasn't been in a long time. But if you look at the island from the air you can see that the island is the remnants of the cone of a volcano. The southern edge of the rim became Bermuda, the rest became the northernmost coral reef anywhere in the world.
We did a little bit of snorkling while we were there... the water is cold! This particular picture, like the others above, was taken on the south beach. The rugged coast is made up of ancient lava.
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Nature has interesting whims. This stone formation is called Stone Hole Beach. It was located on the south coast of the island. If you have been paying attention, then you remember that the south coast is more exposed to the ocean. The northern side of the island is sheltered somewhat by the coral reefs.
 "Stone Hole Beach after the Hurricane" South coast, Bermuda Big Picture |
In 1999 Hurricane Gert came through. The storm surge brought powerful waves way up on to the beach. When the waves and the storm receeded, Stone Hole was left as "stone-pile-of-rubble", as shown here.
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Have you ever heard of the phenomonom known as the "green flash"? I have heard of it but never seen it. Apparently if weather conditions are right and you have a flat horizon, you can sometimes see a green flash in the sky just as the sun is going down. I was hoping to see the green flash during this evening stroll along the beach.
We didn't, but I did get this nice sunset shot.
Bermuda certainly has some wonderful beaches. I hope you have enjoyed your walk! Now, brush the sand off of your feet before you go back inside...
Or, if you like, check out the Bermuda Wildlife page.
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Beach Scenes
