Tobacco Bay beach is located in Bermuda’s St. George’s parish and is one of the most popular beaches in the island. Locals say that the beach was so named because tobacco was found growing here many years back. This beach is one of our all time favorites for snorkeling. The water here is quite shallow and you get a fascinating view of the colorful marine life along with corals. However, this is not a pink sandy beach like the ones in south shore. The sand here is normal pale yellow in color and in places very rocky.

We usually rent snorkeling gears from a beachfront kiosk. You can even purchase the snorkeling gears from here and avoid renting every time you go to another beach. If you can time it right when the wind is from the south, you’ll find some of the most sheltered spots in the beach with shallow waters, and ideal for snorkeling.

We often found huge blue parrotfish, groupers, angelfishes, blue walruses and variety of other colorful fish at the Tobacco bay. Under the water surface you will see many reef structures with plenty of hogfish and sergeant majors. One of the tourists from our cruise ship told us that he had once spotted lobsters and snapping turtles just a few feet down in the waters of Tobacco Bay Bermuda. Well, we weren’t all that lucky.

Columns of limestone rocks of 15 to 25 feet high separate the bay from the open ocean. Near the rocks the water depth averages about 10 feet. If you swim through the rocks out into the open ocean, the water depth increases very fast and the water becomes murky due to silt.

In my younger years I would often climb to the top of the limestone rocks (ones with shorter heights) that surround Tobacco bay. The view from there is wonderful. Some of the other tourists with us had fun by diving off the rocks into the sea. You may sometimes find the Tobacco bay beach getting quite crowded. This happens whenever there is a cruise ship in St. George. The beach gets full with the cruise ship passengers.

Here is a snorkeling option that we have tried and works out quite nicely if Tobacco bay beach gets crowded. Instead of going to Tobacco bay, take a plunge into the nearby Achilles Bay and snorkel along the rocky shoreline, not towards the Fort St. Catherine, but towards Tobacco bay. Once you reach Tobacco Bay beach, walk back to Achilles Bay.

 Tobacco Bay is well equipped with public facilities. There are bathrooms, changing facilities and a beach bar. The Buzz cafe offers nice food & drinks. Once out of the water, we would take showers at the beach house. This would generally be a perfect time to relish our favorite tuna grilled sandwiches. I would of course accompany that with some beer 🙂

As of June 2014, Tobacco Bay Beach is now managed by a private company called Beach Boys. They have introduced host of facilities here including many beach and water activities like Flyboarding, Paddleboarding, Jet ski tours and Snorkeling. Facilities include beach bar, lounge chairs & umbrellas, beach towels, water toys, food & drinks, bathrooms etc. Tourists can flyboard with an instructor. Flyboarding is a water sport where you stand on a platform (board) while jets of water through hose pipes would push you high above the water.

Tobacco Bay Beach is located at St. George’s. If you are coming from the Dockyard (Kings Wharf), take the orange route ferry for St. George. It takes only 35 minutes to reach the ferry point at St George. However the orange ferry route operates between April to mid November only, has limited runs and not available on week ends. So check out the schedule. From the Ferry first walk up to King Square (less than five minutes). Alternatively from dockyard take the Blue Route ferry for Hamilton … takes 20 minutes. Bus routes #1, 3, 10, 11 from Hamilton City will get you to King’s Square in about an hour.

Tobacco Bay beach is about 20 minutes walk from Kings Square. The walk is uphill. The return walk is much easier. From Kings Square, after about 40 yards or so take a right to Kings Street and then left to Bridge street. You will shortly come to York street crossing. Don’t bother and continue straight along Government Hill Road. As you walk along this road, you will soon see Somer’s Garden on right, and to your left you will see Historical Society Museum. Take a break and explore these two historical places. After all it’s an uphill walk. And then on top of the hill you will find the Unfinished Church. Go over the hill and keep following the road towards the ocean and you will find Tobacco Bay Beach.