Bimini Trip - It's Better in the Bahamas

Nice bright sunny morning. Sitting atop the stair landing of the stilt home watching motionless palm trees. No wind to sway the healthy looking palm trees. A thought enters my mind. Perfect day for boating! A friend has a better idea yet, perfect day to cross the ocean and venture into Bimini.

Its better in the Bahamas , true to it's tv advertisements. Beautiful beaches, simple happy people, magnificent crystal clear waters, hospitable locals, cracked conch, cracked lobster and the nice cold beer of the islands, Kalik!

My first trip via boat to the Bahamas landed us in Bimini. A beautiful day to be on the water and within hours decision made, passports gathered, supplies loaded, boat fueled and we are off. A couple of Forty something year old crazy kids.

At the mercy of the captains expertise about weather conditions, fishing, and boating in general we board his 30 foot Contender, complete with rods, bait, snacks, water, sunscreen, beer and ice. From our address with favorable weather its only about a two hour ride in glass calm waters.

Apart from monitoring NOAA the "real" Captains here in the Keys look out at the ocean for the textbook “no ripple condition” and also for statue like palm trees to signify no wind. A true life Gilligan our Captain!

Happy as a clam seated on a blue weathered foam cushion that has probably had more voyages than Christopher Columbus himself, at the stern of the boat us girls chat away, occasionally bobbing up and down with the rhythm of the waves and boat. Captain and his mate looking relaxed at the wheel, focused on the horizon and every now and then out of the corner of my eye I could see the crest of a wave and white cap slightly higher than us rocking the boat causing near nausea. Good call on taking the dramamine before heading out. Come to find out those waves were actually 4 to 6 footers, information I didn't want or really need to know! However, I did manage to keep my cool as did my husband who normally gets sick just smelling salt water.

Traveling North from the Florida Keys towards Miami then east you come across a chain of Caribbean Islands in the North Atlantic Ocean. Only 86 miles across from the Florida Keys or 45 from Miami and you feel like you are in a different world. Time stands still approaching the spec of island.

Mesmerized by blue waters all around you can see clear down to the bottom of the ocean. We had the good luck of coming across a school of dolphin fish and immediately our Captain put us to work casting out rods to hook a few. I had never seen anything like it. Dozens of furiously fast fish whizzing by allowing you to barely glance at their blue and yellow bright colors. Before then we were also privileged to come across three flipper type dolphin swimming alongside our boat.

After an amazing sea trip we checked in with customs, got our room, unloaded our weekend bags, showered and hit South Bimini via golf cart. Cold Kaliks accompanied by cracked fried shrimp and lobster and we are in heaven.

The rest of our trip consisted of hopping from South to North Bimini visiting different beaches, restaurants and bars. We did some snorkeling and fed squid to huge stingrays at Honeymoon Harbor. A rainstorm helped move us out and we ended up docked at Cat Cay where we indulged in some delicious and expensive burgers waterfront at the marina.

Bimini, the closest Bahamian inhabited island to the mainland USA is compromised of 300 plus small islands of which only about 30 are inhabited. Having visited by cruise ship and turbo prop plane some of the other larger islands I don't think you can compare them lifestyle wise with layed back Bimini. I thought the Keys were laid back but compared to Bimini we are a metropolis. Although not cheap to vacation the Islands I can see buying a little shack across from the beach if not directly on it and settling there to bask in the beauty of the sun, ocean, wind and sunsets. I would of course have to become a better fisherman or learn how to shell some conch, open up a small beachside hut and dish out some conch and lobster salad as well as ice cold beer to live!

I bought this shack. It needs some repair but there’s nothing but time in Bimini.