Today we did one of the 20 hike/walks from the "Hiking Bermuda" book. We went down to nearby Spittal Pond, on South Shore....
Spittal Pond is owned by the Bermuda National Trust and the Bermuda Government’s Department of Agriculture. This 64-acre reserve is part of wetlands along the South Shore. It is Bermuda’s largest nature reserve and largest bird sanctuary. It is home to an amazing variety of birds, especially during the migration seasons. While home to many native and endemic plants, Spittal Pond has unique features such as Spanish Rock, the oldest evidence of humans on the island.
Without the guide book it would have been very difficult to the find the Spanish Rock and once again we were glad to have the book. At the end of the winding trail to Spanish Rock there is a bronze plaque of the cryptic inscription: TF (or TP) 1543. Many believe that the original was carved in stone by an early Portuguese "discoverers". Early settlers found this rock crudely carved with the date 1543 and other markings that were unclear. It's now believed that a Portuguese ship was wrecked on the island in 1543 and that her sailors built a new ship on which they departed. The carved initials RP probably stood for "Rex Portugaline" (for Rex Portugaline, King of Portugal) and the cross to be a badge of the Portuguese Order of Christ. Later these initials were incorrectly attributed to the Spanish, leading to the misnaming of this rock. Unfortunately, the rock itself has been destroyed, and what you see there today is a bronze cast of the original.
There is also something called "checkerboard" - a geological formation of marine limestone with a distinct pattern of cracks. Although you do have to use your imagination to see a checkerboard....
We also saw a nearby Jeffrey's Hole, a cave named for an escaped slave who supposedly hid out here for several weeks with his girlfriend bringing him food.