Devonshire Bay Park

Tucked away at the end of a narrow South Shore lane, Devonshire Bay Park is easy to miss. But don’t—because this scenic little corner of Bermuda [1] offers a perfect place to relax, swim, picnic, explore, and meet Bermudians who frequent a decidedly non-touristy venue. There’s a clean beach fringed by baygrapes and palmettos, and the quiet bay is good for swimming, except on very windy days when surf rolls through the channel into the natural harbor.

Nearby residents keep small boats here, as do fishermen, who return to clean and sell their catch on weekday afternoons. Friday is usually a sure bet to find them chopping up fillets for a loyal crowd of customers. A hand-drawn sign is usually posted at the main road to advertise the catch.

One of Bermuda’s many coastal fortifications, Devonshire Bay Battery, a rebuilt version of “Brackish Pond Fort,” as it was once known, is located here, on a promontory in the adjacent park. The original was built in the 1750s, a square-shaped redoubt with a parapet and a central magazine—what’s left are now archaeological remains.

Around the shoreline of the national park, bordered by boiler reefs, you can see the whole south coast and wade in pools where trapped crabs, shrimp, and tiny jewel-like fish dart until high tide returns them to the ocean.