Since relocating to the tiny island of Bermuda in 2011, I’ve felt pretty confident that I had heard and seen most of what this island has to offer. I’ve seen Gombeys dance, drank one too many dark and stormys, learned why the sand is pink, scuba dived, went to a private beach bonfire party on the full moon, and gotten a Bermuda tattoo. A “Bermuda tattoo” is when you crash your scooter and get road rash. Ouch! To prevent this read my article on scooter safety while visiting. So, when it came time to research my next article I started thinking, there must be something I don’t know. There have to be fun and hidden things. I couldn’t have seen it all! And I was right (funny how that happens)! While I do know some of the items listed below, I didn’t know them all.

Here are some interesting and fun facts about Bermuda to help you win your next trivia night:

o   It is illegal for a man (or woman) to walk the streets without a shirt on.

o   You can’t rent a car in Bermuda, only scooters.

o   Bermuda is actually a series of 133 islands, not a single island. Only six are inhabited.

o   The island inspired William Shakespeare’s famous play, The Tempest, written in 1610.

o   Moongates are prominent across the island. It is said to be good luck for a newlywed couple to walk through the moon gate.

o   Somerset Bridge is the smallest drawbridge in the world. The width of the opening is only 12 inches wide (enough for just the mast of a ship to pass through)!

o   Bermuda has more golf courses per square mile than anywhere else in the world.

o   Billboards and neon signs are illegal here.

o   Bermuda’s GDP per capita income is the highest in the world!

o   The ninth highest grossing movie of 1977, The Deep, was filmed in Bermuda. It starred Nick Nolte and Jacqueline Bisset as a couple vacationing in Bermuda who discover a shipwreck filled with vials of medical morphine. Dangerous locals hear word of their discovery of the vials, and a chase ensues.

o   Bermuda’s Believe it or not? In 1975, a man riding a scooter was accidentally hit and killed by taxi driver, Willard Manders. Almost exactly one year later, the victim’s brother was stuck and killed on the same scooter, by the same taxi driver. To make this coincidence even stranger, the taxi was carrying the same passenger as well! (Source: “Bermuda Shorts”. Royal Gazette, 11 May 2008. Web.)

(Not the actual taxi from the believe it or not story)

And of course…

o   Bermuda is the northern point of the three points of the Bermuda triangle. The other two are San Juan, Puerto Rico and Miami, Florida.

Lindsey Lehman is the Bermuda Editor for Wandering Educators

All photos courtesy and copyright Lindsey Lehman