Bimini, The Bahamas
Bimini Islands in The Bahamas is a very small place only around 40 miles East of Florida. Its the closest point from the US to The Bahamas. The island only has around 9 square miles of land. The island is a great representation of Bahamian culture away from the main city of Nassau. Its a quiet Island with great fishing, snorkeling, diving, food and people. There is a great Hilton Resort on the Island that we stayed at. The Island is also home to legends such as the Fountain of Youth and The Bimini Road (said to be the remains of Atlantis). We went to Bimini in May of 2019 for a quick weekend trip. It was a wonderful and relaxing trip that I would recommend to anyone!
Getting to Bimini and getting around the Island
There are only a few ways to get to Bimini Island. There is a fast ferry that takes about two hours that leaves from Miami that docks near the Hilton Resort. If you have a private boat you could dock at the Hilton Resort and enter the country through the immigration checkpoint at the resort. You could also fly Tropic Air (a sea plane) that docks at the resort. The route we took was we flew from Fort Lauderdale to South Bimini Airport on Silver Airways. There are only a couple of airlines that fly into South Bimini Airport. Silver Airlines is a codeshare for multiple other airlines such as United and JetBlue. You will fly on a around 25 person turbo prop plane into the small airport. When we landed passport control was two people and the airport is about the size of a small house. The resort and cities of Alice Town and Bailey Town are on North Bimini Island and the airport is on the lightly populated South Island. We took a taxi for $5 a person to the ferry port and then took a small ship for $9 a person directly to Resorts World. The Island is very small so you have a couple of options for getting around the Island. Many people rent golf carts from locals but we found them kind of expensive at around $75 a day. You could try negotiating to lower the price. There are no cars to rent on the Island. We took a taxi at $5 a person when we wanted to visit Alice Town and then took a long but casual walk back to the Resort. At the resort you have a shuttle bus that will take you to the private beach and the other areas of the resort.
Country information
The Bahamas do not require US citizens to get a visa before visiting. The visa is on arrival and granted for 90 days. The Bahamas are in the Atlantic Ocean but are closely associated with Caribbean Nations. As one would expect the climate is one similar to other Caribbean Nations. It is warm pretty much all year round so you can swim in the winter just as you would in the summer. The national language is English as The Bahamas were part of the British empire up until 1973. The national currency is the Bahamian Dollar and it is always equal to the US Dollar in value. So any price you see in The Bahamas is basically in US Dollars. Because of this the the US Dollar is accepted pretty much everywhere we have been in The Bahamas. Bimini Island is quite far from the capital city of Nassau and is actually closer to the US in distance.
Resorts World Bimini and The Hilton hotel at Resorts World
The largest hotel and only resort on the Island (other than some small resorts on the South Island) it is the best place to stay on the Island. The resort is very nice and includes a private resort beach that has a bar and restaurant called the Beach Club. The beach is very nice and has cabanas, beach chairs for use and has quite a few things to rent such as a water tricycle. There is an area you can walk to called Fisherman’s Village that has some shops and restaurants and also the Seaplane base for Tropic Air. It is also where Undersea Bimini is located where you can take ocean tours. At the Hilton there is a small Casino, multiple pools including the very long Lagoon Pool at the ground level (there are some rooms that have doors that open directly to the pool), and a wonderful infinity pool on the roof that over looks the beautiful island, several restaurants that include fine dining and sports bar food, a small arcade, bars and a few small shops. The hotel rooms are very nice as well. A buffet breakfast is offered in the morning at a cost if you are not an elite Hilton Member. The employees are very friendly as we had one person pick us up at a local grocery store in her personal car and drive us to our next destination voluntarily (we were shocked she remembered our names as we happened to run into her at the grocery store). The room we were in had a balcony overlooking the bay and a very nice shower area. Its a great place to relax and we spent time enjoying the resorts pool, restaurant and the private beach.
Bimini Undersea Snorkel Tour
After spending time relaxing at the hotel on the first day of the trip (included travel time) the next morning we took a Bimini Undersea guided Snorkel tour. We walked over to the Fisherman’s Village and checked in for the tour. The two site snorkel tour cost around $90 each but its a great tour. A boat took us out into the ocean South of the South Island (45 minute ride) where we got into the water and snorkeled at the wreck on the SS Sapona. The ship is a WWI era concrete cargo ship that ran around at the wreck spot after it was running rum during the US prohibition. The ship was used for a cargo hold for rum until the US Navy started using it for bombing practice. We were able to swim through the ship and visit whats left of the cargo hold and the engine room. We were able to see a Sting Ray and quite a few tropical fish. After we got back on the ship we went to our next stop. Normally the second stop is a reef know for sea turtles called Turtle Rocks but our tour went to go swim with the sharks. We went to another area of reef and stopped. We could see the large sharks swimming from the boat. We got in and it was amazing watching the sharks swim passively by us. They would get close to where we could touch them but we did not touch them of course. It was our first time to swim with wild sharks and an experience I would like to have again someday. After we got back in the boat took us the 45 minutes back to the Fisherman’s Village at the resort. You get a good view of both islands and the city as you pass by on the way back. It was a great tour and highly recommended if you make it to Bimini.
Alice Town
Located on the Southern tip of the North Island is the capital city of the Bimini region of The Bahamas. Its a small city of around 300 people (the entire island is only has around a population of 1,200 people). In Alice Town there is the small Museum of Bimini. The museum is unmanned and only requests a $2 donation. The museum speaks about the Islands history, Ernest Hemingway’s time on the Island, the speech Martin Luther King wrote on Bimini Island and about the people of Bimini. The museum is on the second floor of a small building. There is a historic cannon on the outside of it. Across the street you can visit the local crafts market and see the Martin Luther King Jr. statue in the gazebo at the center of the crafts market. We bought some shirts, hand wood carved items carved by locals and some other various souvenirs. We waled to the tip of the Island and enjoyed the view and crystal clear blue water there. There were some small bars and food stalls nearby along Radio Beach so we stopped and got The Bahamian Goombay Punch Soda (its good but extremely sweet) and some local ice cream with flavors such as rum raisin. We stopped by the Bimini War Memorial and Heroes Park. The park honors those from Bimini who fought in WWI and WWII for the British (The Bahamas were a British territory at the time). We walked the city after the taxi dropped us off on the afternoon after our snorkel excursion. It took a couple hours to visit the sites in the city. We spent a little time talking with the locals at the craft market as well. Its always great to talk to locals and learn about their culture.
The Dolphin House
Located in Alice Town you can visit Ashley Saunders Dolphin House. He is a native of Bimini and is building the beautiful home on his own using materials he finds on the beach, the dump or materials people donate. Ashley Saunders is not only an artist but also a poet and historian. Prince Charles of England recently published one of Ashley’s poems representing The Bahamas in a book with Poems from all the Commonwealth countries of the United Kingdom. For $5 a person Ashley himself guided us on a tour of his home. He stated that swimming with the Dolphins inspired him to honor them with a home dedicated to them. There is a historic cannon at the entrance. The home uses crushed conch shells as mortar, beer bottles, shells and glass as decorations outside. Ashley has had tile and glass donations so he uses those as well. Inside you can see licence plates from all 50 states and some Canadian provinces. There are shells, mosaics of Dolphins and other sea creatures. There are fishing buoys hanging from the ceiling and many other nick knacks in the walls. I even found a small plate from Texas in the wall. He shows you all that he has put into the rooms and will take you to the construction area up stairs. He has an observation point that allows you to see much of the beautiful island. Touring the home is a great cultural experience and a chance to talk with a native Biminite!
Bahamian Food
While you are in any country you should try the local delicacies. In the Bahamas Conch is the national dish. Its a type of muscle that lives in the beautiful pink shells like Ashley is holding in the picture above. There are many different ways the Conch is served. You can get Conch Fritters that taste kind of like hush puppies and are served with a local sauce. There is a conch salad that is tenderized conch served with peppers, onions and tomatoes. The conch salad reminds me of a seafood pico de gallo. The conch salad can be spiced up further with a local spicy sauce You can also get cracked conch (we have not yet tried that). There are two beers brewed in The Bahamas. Kalik and Sands are the beers of The Bahamas. Both are good beer but I especially enjoyed the Mango Kalik Radler we had. The best and cheapest places to get Conch are at Conch Shacks like Stuart’s where you can enjoy beautiful views and get some Conch with the locals. We also tried buffalo wings with a local sauce called Tamarind. It was a great sweet taste on the wings.
Tips for Bimini
Bimini is a very small island but its full of interesting people and a lot of beautiful beaches to be enjoyed. The Hilton Resort is great and many people never leave the resort area. While you can have a great weekend just enjoying the private beach, wonderful pools and great food. You will be missing great sites such as The Dolphin House and the craft market and will miss the chance to learn more about the people of Bimini and the culture of the small Island. I suggest taking a taxi or just taking a long walk to visit some of the local restaurants for a day. You can see the main sites during an afternoon and then go back to relaxing. The Hilton resort can be expensive so a short stay is good. Getting there by air can save you quite a bit of time but its a little cheaper to go by ferry.
If you are Interested in this trip:
Contact Donna Miller and she can help you book your dream trip today including cruises and resort vacations like Resorts World Bimini. Her travel planning services are completely free if you book with her. Contact her at donnamiller.etfamilytravel@gmail.com to book today!
