Bimini - The Gateway to The Bahamas

We left No Name Harbor (Biscayne Bay) Saturday, April 12th, and had a rough first hour as we made our way to the Gulf Stream, primarily due to the tide, the current and a number of sport fishing boat wakes. The rest of the trip was bumpy and rough but much better than the first hour. The waves were probably two feet or less during most of the crossing but the confused nature of the water still made for an uncomfortable ride. Upon entering Bahamian waters, boaters are required to hang a yellow quarantine flag on their boats to signify that they have not yet cleared customs. Once that is done, it is customary to replace the quarantine flag with the Bahamian courtesy flag.



This is part of the Bimini Harbor waterfront featuring several small marinas. Ours is the one with the two-story yellow building in the background.


By 2:00 p.m. we were tied up at the Sea Crest Marina and glad to be there! After rinsing a heavy coating of saltwater off the boat, filling out the customs and immigration forms and clearing customs and immigration, we toured the nearby portion of Alice Town and then walked up the hill to The Anchorage for some late afternoon appetizers overlooking the ocean.

The Anchorage used to be a residence whose owner was good friends with Ernest Hemingway, a frequent visitor to Bimini. Hemingway writes about Bimini and the house that is now The Anchorage in his book, Islands in the Stream, which Todd just finished reading. We left The Anchorage and walked down to the beach where we met the local Methodist minister, Skip George III. Skip lives in Manhattan and travels to Bimini to fill in as a guest minister two months each year. Not a bad place to spend a working vacation!

The Admiral visiting with Skip on the beach.


Skip's church on the hill above the beach, overlooking the ocean.


A beautiful sunset over the Atlantic.


The water in Bimini is very clear and has that wonderful turquoise color that people generally associate with the Caribbean. And from the beach, less than a mile offshore, you can easily see the dramatic color change where the ocean floor drops off into the deep, dark blue that is the Gulf Stream.

The gorgeous water surrounding Bimini with the Gulf Stream visible in the background.


Laughing gulls perched on a post at the marina.


Sunday morning we deciced to tour the northern part of North Bimini. The Bimini Islands include North Bimini, South Bimini and East Bimini, with Alice Town on North Bimini being the main center of attraction. Just as we were leaving the marina the Bimini Tram came by so we hopped aboard for a guided tour.

A Bahamian man dressed to the hilt for Sunday church service.


We rode the tram to Bimini Bay, an upscale resort at the northern end of the occupied portion of North Bimini, and then got off part way back so we could check out some of the things our tour guide/driver told us about on the way up. As we walked back we came across two locals cleaning conch and stopped to watch. Conch is widely harvested in The Bahamas and there are huge mounds of discarded shells all over the place!




We also stopped in to visit Ansil "Bonefish Ansil" Saunders, a local boat builder who created "The Bimini Bonefisher," a custom, handcrafted work of art. Ansil builds two boats per year and uses native woods such as horse flesh and mahogany in their construction.

Ansil poses beside his latest creation.


Ansil has met many famous people over the years and one of his favorite stories is that he was with Martin Luther King, Jr. three days before he was assassinated. Dr. King needed some peace and quiet to do some writing, so Ansil took him out in a boat to a secluded area of the island where he wrote his sanitation workers speech. Because of all the death threats he had been receiving, Dr. King also wrote his eulogy that day. According to Ansil, Dr. King wanted to ensure, by writing his own eulogy, that he was not remembered for his many awards and scholastic achievements - those things were not important; he wanted to be remembered for making a difference in the lives of those he represented. It would seem Dr. King got his wish.

Other interesting attractions along Alice Town's main road, King's Highway.




This is called Dolphin House and was built by local author/historian Ashley Saunders, who also happens to be Ansil's brother. The house is built of mostly natural materials, including coral, stone and shells, all found in Bimini. Three mosaic dolphins mark the entrance and a hodgepodge of tiles covers the entire exterior of the building.


A view of King's Highway. Pretty narrow for a main street, isn't it?


This is the site of The Complete Angler, a popular local bar/restaurant that burned to the ground a couple of years ago. It was reportedly a favorite hang-out of Ernest Hemingway's.


It was about 3:00 p.m. when we got back to Alice Town so we went to the Bimini Big Game Club for a late lunch/early dinner where we ran in to Lanny, a sailboater we met in Demopolis, AL the summer of 2006. He and his friend, Jess, are making their way back to the states from Georgetown and stopped in at Bimini to take a break and to wait for the conditions in the Gulf Stream to improve. As it turned out, Lanny's boat is right next to ours in the marina and Jess's sailboat is across the dock from Lanny's.

It was an extremely hot day so we walked back to the marina and sat at a shaded picnic table visiting with Lanny and Jess where we learned that Jess is from northeast Tennessee and that he knew Jack, the owner of "Flagmaker" who died while we were together in Crystal River, FL this past December. Jess hadn't heard about Jack's passing so we filled him in. I know we've said this before, but it never ceases to amaze us how small a world it is among boaters!

About 9:00 p.m. the cold front that had been predicted to move in Sunday evening arrived and we all scurried back to our respective boats as the temperature dropped and the rain started to fall. Monday was considerably cooler and very breezy but there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Todd got out his surf fishing gear and walked over to the beach to try his luck, but it was too rough and he didn't stay long. In fact, as the forecast currently stands, it appears that we may be held up in Bimini most of the week. What can I say, there are worse places to be!

Early Monday afternoon Todd was invited to go fishing with David, another boater on the dock. David is part owner of a 30-foot Prowler catamaran with two 250 horsepower outboards. According to Todd, the boat is a fishing machine! They went down around Cat and Gun Cays and had a little action, but they weren't able to get anything in the boat and came back empty-handed.

That evening we sat out on the dock visiting with Lanny and Jess as Lanny tried, unsuccessfully, to catch fish off the dock. David had planned to go fishing again Tuesday morning but the water was far too rough. The wind had virtually howled all night and it was even cooler and breezier Tuesday than it had been on Monday. George & Janice, the sailboating couple we met at No Name Harbor who encouraged us to come to Bimini, dropped by the boat late Tuesday morning. After making the crossing on Saturday, they had gone down to South Bimini and anchored out for a few days before coming in to Bimini Harbor.

We made plans to meet them for lunch at 1:00 p.m. at Capt. Bob's, just across the street from Sea Crest Marina. During lunch we learned that Janice likes to play Cribbage, as does Todd, so she and Todd made plans to get together later that afternoon to test their skills. Todd and I then walked up the hill to look at the ocean and it was a mess! According to NOAA weather radio, waves in the Gulf Stream have been between eight and fourteen feet all week and the breakers were literally pounding the shoreline, sending saltwater spray several feet into the air!

With the exception of Todd and Janice's Cribbage game, most of the afternoon and evening was spent relaxing and reading on the boat. The wind continued to blow and it was quite cool so we didn't venture far. Wednesday was partly cloudy and still very breezy with a few showers, but David decided to go fishing anyway and, of course, Todd was eager to go along! Michael, the dockmaster here at Sea Crest, also joined them for their morning fishing adventure They left about 7:30 a.m. and came back around noon. The seas were running five to six feet, but Todd said the Prowler did amazingly well in the rough off-shore conditions.

The guys caught two barracuda, had one dolphin (Mahi-Mahi) get off before they got it to the boat, and had a thirty-pound wahoo (a type of mackerel) get cut in half by a shark just as they were getting ready to gaff the fish! They even brought back the wahoo head to prove they had caught one, or at least part of one!

This is David and Michael.


David with what's left of the wahoo they caught!


Michael poses with one of the barracuda.


Too bad barracuda aren't good eating, although the islanders seem to like them.


We thought the boys might enjoy a home-cooked meal, so we invited Lanny and Jess to join us for dinner Wednesday evening. They were very appreciative!

Jess and Lanny, the salty sailors!


Today is Thursday, April 17th. It is somewhat warmer and not as windy and it sounds like the weather is going to continue to improve over the next several days, so our plan is to leave Bimini, at least by tomorrow (if not later today), spend a few days getting to Nassau, and then arrive in the Exumas the first part of next week. Based on what we've been told, there are a few places along the way with wireless access so we will update the blog whenever we have the opportunity.