Bimini is the western most Bahamian Island only 50 miles
east of Miami. Bimini Islands include
North, East, and South Biminis, Gun Cay, Cat Cay, and a chain of rocks running
north to south bordering the Gulf Stream.
Bimini blue waters
North Bimini is 7 miles long and
about ½ mile wide. It has 2 main roads – Kings Highway (the low road) and
Queens Highway (the high road) – named from times of British rule. Small, but the island has just about
everything that a larger island might have. We see supply boats with fuel,
construction materials, and food all arrive when the weather clears. When
weather prevents delivery, the island goes without! 3 days without gas, no onions or eggs to be
had.
Conch shells
We stay in North Bimini because Jean and I have a flight out
in December to the US. She to visit her
mother who turned 98 November 30 and me to visit my cats in Maine. Gordon and D
will stay with the boats in Bimini.
December weather is typically northern front after northern
front from the US and this December seems to be typical, so it is prudent to
stay close because weather may prevent you from moving from harbor to harbor.
We get a slip at the Bimini Blue Water Marina with easy access to the airport
in South Bimini. Gordon and D will
continue to stay there until we return and continue our passages east and
south.
We start exploring Bimini by foot, then by bike, after
clearing into the Bahamas officially with Customs and immigration. We visit the Bimini General Hardware Store, a
chandlery, on the south end of the island, and up to CJ’s deli for lunch, where
the flies outside were awful, but none inside with the food. We walk to Barbara’s for bread and she has 2
loaves for us. Then onto Roberts’
grocery and up to Bimini World Resorts to check on the ferry schedule to US,
and back to the boat. We ride the ferry to South Bimini, catch a shuttle bus
driven by BIG to check out the airport transportation and schedules. It’s a day
of orientation and exploration.
Fold a bikes touring the island
We visit the Office of Tourism, the Craft Center and read
the historic posters to learn more about tour new home, but the real history
lesson is meeting Ashley Saunders at his Dolphin House. A native Biminite, his
family in Bimini for 5 generations, Ashley is a teacher, educated in the US at
University of Wisconsin, Madison and attended Harvard. He has written 2 volumes
of Bimini history complete with lots of pictures and local information. He gives us a tour of his home he built and
is expanding to a third floor. It’s got 41 dolphins of all kinds of creative
artistic displays. It is whimsical, colorful, unique, and it’s made of
materials from the sea and things found on the beach - tiles, glass, shells,
bottles and other sea trash. He spends
lots of time with us and answers all our question. A must do for any visitor. His
brother, Tom, a dapper dresser shows us his ‘life of conch’ display. He said he is at the third from the bottom
stage of life.
Ashley Saunders gives us a tour of the Dolphin House
Inside is more whimsical artwork
Tom Saunders displays his "Life of Conch"
We celebrate the full moon by walking to the beach for
sunset over the Atlantic. We have some rum, John Watling’s Buena Vista sipping
rum, and Georgette’s Amazing Biscotti.
Then we turn west to see the globe of the full rising over Bimini Bay.
Amazing. Life is good!
When the weather improves we explore by dinghy. We go north up Bimini Bay and around to East
Bimini where a deep creek cuts through the mangroves. Pristine and curvy it
offers surprises – a deck overlooking a bust of Martin Luther King, Jr.! Ansil Saunders, bonefish legend, boat builder
and Ashley’s brother preaches at this deck and had taken MLK to this spot when
he last visited before he was assassinated.
The Healing Hole is another creek leading to cold water, maybe spring,
swimming hole. We all swam and felt much
better!! Then to the beaches of East Bimini where Jean finds a perfect milk
conch and steps on the tail of a stingray! A very close encounter. Luckily, no
barb, she suffered scratches though – back to the healing hole. Seriously, our
greatest vulnerability to a happy cruise is our health. We must be careful, no injuries or accidents
especially when we are in remote places.
We return carefully over the shallow flats of Bimini Bay at low tide.
Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial in the mangroves
We spend Thanksgiving at Seaside Cafe where Gloria Rolle has
cooked her little heart out. Jean and I have stuffed lobster with all the
fixings while D and Gordon have turkey and ham.
The day after Thanksgiving we continue to give thanks with a shared
dinner on the boat of smoked turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, dressing, green beans,
and homemade toasted bread. We have much to be thankful for.
Thanksgiving feast - we are so thankful!
With continued calm weather we go fishing on Fair Wind.
Within 2 miles we are in 1000 feet of water! After 2 hours of trolling rods and
outriggers, four lines altogether, with double hooked pre-rigged ballyhoo, Jean
and I pull in 2 barracuda at the same time!
We release them. Daryl finds a sunken structure in 90 feet with lots of
fish activity on the fish finder, so we switch to bottom fishing. I catch a
trigger fish but little eating so we release it and it swims happily down into
the deep. I catch a small fish that
gives gentle resistance then wham! It dives and my reel spins, I reel in, and
it spins again. Finally we get it to the
surface all that is left is the head of a small snapper. Most likely a shark hit it and ate it. Next Jean catches a shark and fights it for
22 minutes then gives the rod to Gordon who fights it another 30 minutes until
the shark swims under the boat and the line breaks. It was exciting – a lemon
shark, 8 feet, 150 pounds! Still no dinner. We enjoy hot dogs on the grill with
baked beans on Fair Winds with friends.
A baby lemon shark at the Shark Lab
We snorkel the Sapona, a landmark for miles around. It is a concrete rebar ship built during WWI
when metal was scarce. After the war it
was not feasible for commercial use, so it was sold for the cost of shipping it
away. Rumrunners in Bimini towed it from the US to Gun Cay where it was a
warehouse for liquor during the Prohibition in the 1920s. They decided to tow
it closer to Bimini and on the way it went aground on top of a Spanish galleon
and has stayed since. Plans to make it a night club with a glass floor aquarium
to see sharks never happened. It has
suffered practice bombing by the US military, several hurricanes, and now,
graffiti. It’s in 15 feet of water and
rises about 20 above the water. It is
about 150 feet long. The concrete has
deteriorated and the rebar is exposed everywhere. There are several compartments to swim
through the holes in the side and we find lots of fishes. There are many colorful tropicals,
triggerfish, jelly fish, sting ray, barracuda.
D sees a grouper. The water is
beautiful as we fly back in our fast dinghies.
Ruins of the Sapona
Back to the US for a visit and then east and south to the out islands of The Bahamas!
