Horseshoe Bay is a well-known beach in

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

. As a tourist spot, it lies on the main island's south (

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

) coast, in the parish of

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

. It is one of two beaches of the same name in Bermuda, with the other located at Tucker's Island: since the 1940s part of a peninsula that housed the former US Naval Operating Base, and is now called ''Morgan's Point''. The

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from Rock (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

is famous for its pink-hued sands, which are created by the tiny red

foraminifera Foraminifera ( ; Latin for "hole bearers"; informally called "forams") are unicellular organism, single-celled organisms, members of a phylum or class (biology), class of Rhizarian protists characterized by streaming granular Ectoplasm (cell bio ...

organisms An organism is any living thing that functions as an individual. Such a definition raises more problems than it solves, not least because the concept of an individual is also difficult. Many criteria, few of them widely accepted, have been pr ...

mixed with sand of Horseshoe Bay's beach is very fine and displays a white sandcolour. The beach is equipped with one lifeguard station which is manned during the summer between 10 AM and 6 PM. There is also a café where lunch can be purchased during the summer months. The same building also provides toilet facilities, showers and a foot-washing area for removing sand before departing. A shuttle bus is available from 11 am to 6 pm to transport beach-goers between the beach and the nearest bus stop, carrying passengers down the hill for $10 each, and up for $20. The Government provides a special bus service for tourists at the top of the hill that leaves about every 15 minutes. This service is operates from about 12 to 6 pm. If you miss the last special bus the regular buses run about every 45 minutes until about 10 pm. A

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two to four players each on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side o ...

competition takes place once a week in the summer months, and is a regular activity for both tourists and locals alike. Horseshoe Bay is also the usual location for a New Years party organised by those members of the significant expat population who have opted not to go overseas for the season. The Bermuda Good Friday KiteFest is a great family event that takes place annually on Good Friday at Horseshoe Bay. The largest annual event in Bermuda also takes place at Horseshoe Bay on Emancipation Day (usually the last Wednesday night & Thursday in July or the first Wednesday night & Thursday in August) called The Bermuda Beachfest Emancipation Celebration. Beachfest (as it is known) is an action packed 2 day event full of live entertainment, beach sports, cultural traditions, activities and more, and attracts the largest cross-section of locals and visitors on the island. Part of an army base, Warwick Camp, the area is still used for training by the Bermuda Regiment, especially in the winter months. The headland separating the western end from East Whale Bay holds the remains of fortifications that housed a coastal artillery battery, with another on the high ground behind. Horseshoe Bay itself lies in the danger area behind the butts of the rifle range of , and the western end of the beach is littered with bullets fired from Enfield,

Snider–Enfield The British .577 Snider–Enfield was a breechloader, breech-loading rifle. The American inventor, Jacob Snider created this action (firearms), firearm action, and the Snider–Enfield was one of the most widely used of the Snider varieties. The ...

Martini–Henry The Martini–Henry is a breech-loading single-shot rifle with a lever action that was used by the British Army. It first entered service in 1871, eventually replacing the Snider–Enfield, a muzzle-loader converted to the cartridge system. Mar ...

Lee–Metford The Lee–Metford (also known as the Magazine Lee–Metford) is a British bolt action rifle which combined James Paris Lee's rear-locking bolt system and detachable magazine with an innovative seven-groove rifled barrel designed by William Ell ...

, and

Lee–Enfield The Lee–Enfield is a bolt-action, magazine-fed repeating rifle that served as the main firearm of the military forces of the British Empire and Commonwealth during the first half of the 20th century, and was the standard service rifle of th ...

rifles and other weapons of similar calibres. However, this range is no longer used due to the limited range of the 5.56mm NATO rifle cartridge, which has been used for the last three decades.

References

External links

TripAdvisor
{{commons category, Horseshoe Bay beach Bays of Bermuda Beaches of Bermuda Southampton Parish, Bermuda