Visiting Bimini

We enjoyed visiting Bimini with its clear seagreen waters (depending on the tides it may not be very clear) and meeting the friendly locals. We have utilized our time in the clear waters by cleaning our hull from any growth and barnacles that have attached to our bottom during our stay in Miami after we got Dan to clean our boat a few weeks ago. I am sorry to say he didn't do a good job because he was not thorough by omitting the propeller and the back sides of the bilge keels. I didn't expect him to have done a good job since he was only cleaning our boat for 40
mins. We are anchored in North Bimini across from Bimini Big Game Resort due to the lack of slips available due to the long weekend crowds that came over from South Florida to party and fish on their power boats. Bimini is the Deep Sea Fishing capital of the world because you can get to deep water very close to the coast of Bimini. We believe that every weekend is pretty busy here but this being Memorial Day weekend we saw tons of tourists. Most of the time we spent in the clear cool waters swimming and snorkeling or relaxing at the beach. We enjoyed eating local foods including the lobster and conch omelet at Captain Bob's ($12), conch fritters (8 for $3) at CJ's Deli & Snack Bar, Bimini bread ($3), Parmesan & Garlic Rolls ($1), Guava Danish ($2) and Oatmeal Raisin cookies ($0.50) at The Taste of Heaven Bakery and Souse House. Souse is a water based soup with chicken ($6/$8), sheep tongue, mutton ($7), etc. While stew is a flour based soup that is thicker. Of course we sampled the local brew of Kalik at The End of the World Bar and found it to be very refreshing on a hot summer day so we picked up 3 for $5.60 at the Butler Sands Liquor store and headed to the beach to enjoy it all. The sights, sounds, and tastes of Bimini have made us very content and we couldn't ask for more. Well maybe cheaper rum as the prices here are not cheaper than the U.S. :) But we did see Johnny Walker Blue (1 L) for $200, which I believe is a good price not that I have had any before. On a different note, we tried to visit the Shark Lab (Bimini Biological Field Station) but unfortunately the entire staff at the lab was busy tagging sharks for the entire week and so no one would be able to give us a tour. If I ever come back to Bimini this will be on my list of things to do. The lab is located on the southern part of South Bimini, which you will take a water taxi to get to the island from Alice Town, North Bimini and then take a bus down to the lab. Radio Beach has been a favorite spot of ours and we enjoy it even more when the crowds are gone allowing us to have the beach to ourselves. We walked down the beach to see the Gallant Lady ship wreck and also saw the remains of the small aircraft crash, which occurred recently. The pilot was known for flying low to scare the tourists on the beach and give his passengers a thrill (they paid for it), but the last time he didn't make it and several people were killed including the pilot, the passengers and some people on the beach.We met a Hungarian family who just recently purchased a Golden Hind 31' from Marathon andanchored near us in North Bimini. Their boat was built in 1970 and was the first model of the boat, while ours is the second model and built in 1977. Dan got it as a fixer-upper and so he came over with his son to check out our boat to see the differences. They plan to head down to the Exumas as well so we may see them again.The wildlife we have encountered have included many lizards, birds, fish, butterflies, a yellow spotted purple eel, coral, and hermit crabs. We are surprised to have seen so many dead conch shells strewn all over the land and waters of Bimini. I haven't seen many conch living around here, but if I were a conch I wouldn't venture out to where so many others have been killed. I will update this posting when I have more to write about.

We attempted to look for conch around the flats across from Alice Town/Weech's, but we had no luck in finding any living conch. We did see a couple of sting rays gliding in the shallow waters which made the trip to the flats worth while. We also went to Radio Beach to watch the sun set, but that was a bad idea due to all the mosquitoes and no-see-ums that left us covered in bug bites. We have learned our lesson and will stay on the boat during twilight hours from here on out. To help alleviate our itching and prevent further bites from the bugs we retreated into the ocean, which had pool like clarity and cool temperatures. We visited Sherri's on the beach to try the fried chicken and fries ($8), which I wouldn't recommend. We attempted to taste the Goombay Smash at the End of the World bar, but there was only a substitute bartender who didn't know how to make the drink. We enjoyed our time there anyways.