Bimini. Bahamas

[Breakaway]

I am a frequent visitor to Bimini. Its the westernmost island group in Bahamas, some 48 nm east of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. That means getting there takes between 90 minutes and forever, depending upon the the day, the boat and the Gulf Stream.

This weeks ride, two 38 foot Formulas, one outfitted for fishing and one for entertaining.

Fish/ triple Mercury Racing 450s





Entertain: Twin Mercury V12-600s









The main islands are North and South islands are the main ones, and most of the town and action is on North Bimini, where I usually go.

This is 26 feet of water and you can see the boats shadow on the bottom.

Yeah.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Paul Pless]

and you get paid to do this. . .

[Breakaway]

North Bimini entrance.

In Bahamas, the locals have a saying to help navigation. White you all right, blue come on troo, brown you aground.







Boat with real BIMINI Top.



Bimini Big Game Club. Hemingway drank and fished here and, supposedly, wrote To Have and Have Not here, as well.



Kevin


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Breakaway]

and you get paid to do this. . .

Just got a bonus check and a raise!




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Breakaway]

Had a break today and took a walkabout, hiking about 2 miles from the marina to Alicetown, get me some conch and lobster ceviche.

First, wait in line at one of only two ATMs on the island. No credit cards here, except for the Hilton casino. Cash is king. Bahamian and US dollars swap one for one and merchants take either.



Cracked and prepped in front of me.



The homade green chile sauce was freaking righteous!

View from lunch, with mound of conch shells.



More


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Wine47]

I Love conch fritters. We make hush puppies with either conch or langostino (can get them at Trader Joes). I don't know what you do, but that looks fantastic!

[lupussonic]

Nice man. I was in Freeport a few years ago. I remember the Stoned Crab restuarant, conch salads on the beach, gunshots, casinos, shebeens, drug planes in the forest, helo gunships in the skies blazing, corals, moray eels, groupers, rays and coke smugglers stuffing thier car roof liners full outside remote old shacks. I was 15 years old. Good times.

It struck me as a playground for Americans. As usual the poor folk never get a look in.

Nice water hey..

[Breakaway]

I Love conch fritters. We make hush puppies with either conch or langostino (can get them at Trader Joes). I don't know what you do, but that looks fantastic!

Thats fresh conch and lobster. Chopped up with onions, peppers, celery, a few seasonings, and then drenched in fresh squeezed lemon and lime juice.

Kevin


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Breakaway]

Nice man. I was in Freeport a few years ago. I remember the Stoned Crab restuarant, conch salads on the beach, gunshots, casinos, shebeens, drug planes in the forest, helo gunships in the skies blazing, corals, moray eels, groupers, rays and coke smugglers stuffing thier car roof liners full outside remote old shacks. I was 15 years old. Good times.

It struck me as a playground for Americans. As usual the poor folk never get a look in.

Nice water hey..

Bimini is a little different than Freeport or Nassau, which are not representative of Bahamas at all. Freeport is the Big City. A watery, semitropical Las Vegas. Lots of beachfront hi rises hotels. Etc

There are some 800 islands in Bahamas, spread over 300 miles.

As for poor people, definitions vary, but there are ferries that run weekends between Florida and various points in Bahamas with fares of about $60 or $80 usd roundtrip.

North Bimini is some 7 miles long and most of it is but 700 feet wide. There are two main roads. Kings Road and Queens Road.

Here are some Kings Road views, starting with the place where I ate lunch.











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[mizzenman]

Looks fantastic!

[Gerarddm]

I wish I didn't have the gene for motion sickness. <sigh>

[Alan71]

Hello B,

Very nice photos and interesting 'notes'.

Thanks! I enjoyed the little tour!

A

[John B]

Love that. We get some nice water here in places but nothing like that . You do up in Tonga or Fiji say.

[Rich Jones]

Very nice!
You deliver these boats to the islands for the owners and take a plane home?

[Ted Hoppe]

Dreamy. There are few places like that. Very fortunate man.

[Bobcat]

Very nice to see on a cold gray day with a storm front coming through in a few hours

[Breakaway]

Very nice!
You deliver these boats to the islands for the owners and take a plane home?

I do deliveries on occasion, Rich, working for myself.

Yes, there is daily seaplane service into North Bimini from Fort Lauderdale, weather, and enough passengers booked, depending.

These are boats we are photographing and videoing for magazines.

Kevin


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Breakaway]

I took some more shots of Kings Road, but my phone is not syncing them today.

So, on to some views from Queens Road, on the other coast ( 700 feet away from Kings Road)









My office this week.



I owned a 29 Angler for awhile, back in the days of answering machines. It was named, Assignment. My out going message declared, I am out on assignment. Please leave your message.

Tomorrow, some Gulf Stream pics, maybe.

Kevin



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[johnw]

Thanks! I'm feeling warmer!

[gypsie]

Jeeez Kevin, this is close to sadistic!

[WI-Tom]

Great thread. Looks a lot like the Marshall Islands in some ways (the island I lived on there was 2 miles long and 800' wide). Love the color of the water!

And this:

Nice man. I was in Freeport a few years ago. I remember the Stoned Crab restuarant, conch salads on the beach, gunshots, casinos, shebeens, drug planes in the forest, helo gunships in the skies blazing, corals, moray eels, groupers, rays and coke smugglers stuffing thier car roof liners full outside remote old shacks.

is a good argument for the utility of the Oxford comma--unless the rays have cars in Bimini.

Tom

[wizbang 13]

Kevin you are more a photographer than a bote captain , Cept’ for your own boat , is that right?
I’ve not been to the Bahamas, looks a bit like here, a thousand miles to the SE, but where is the litter ?

[Breakaway]

Kevin you are more a photographer than a bote captain , Cept&rsquo; for your own boat , is that right?
I&rsquo;ve not been to the Bahamas, looks a bit like here, a thousand miles to the SE, but where is the litter ?

Im a boat captain who became a magazine editor. Thats my primary occupation and that job requires me to run boats pretty much every week.

On my own time, I mostly run other peoples boats, sometimes a delivery, mostly just for the day, though, so they can relax and enjoy their day or because they want to learn to fish, or dock or whatever. Lotta new boaters wanting lessons in recent years.

Botes have sails and boats have motors, right?

Plenty of litter in Bahamas, if you look for it. My response to Lupo was not meant to imply that it is perfect. The hood can be found here, for sure.

Kevin


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Breakaway]

Here is some imperfection for you, Bruce. Boats just left to rot and spoil the view.







Kevin



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Garret]

Visiting Freeport & thinking that's the Bahamas is a bit like visiting Vegas & thinking that's the US. Not to say that there aren't problems in the Bahamas - there are - but when you travel to the out islands it's a different world.

Thanks for the pics Kevin!

[Rich Jones]

OK, I gotta ask, if it's not too personal, but what magazine are you the editor?

Those 600hp mercs are impressive. Upper section remains stationary while the lower unit
pivots to sheer.

Might be a bit much for my 16' Jericho Bay Lobster skiff, though....

[icyb]

Very nice 20210225_155713.jpg

[Joe (SoCal)]

"I'm having an old friend for dinner"

[Breakaway]

I wish I didn't have the gene for motion sickness.

These boats are fitted with Seakeeper gyro stabilizers, Gerard. No rock and roll.


Kevin


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Breakaway]

OK, I gotta ask, if it's not too personal, but what magazine are you the editor?

Those 600hp mercs are impressive. Upper section remains stationary while the lower unit
pivots to sheer.

Might be a bit much for my 16' Jericho Bay Lobster skiff, though....

Perfectly fine, Rich. But, for the sake of my employer, I wont name them. I will say that I am the Editorial Director for the Boating and Watersports Group of a major publisher and am responsible for three different media brands.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Breakaway]

Very nice 20210225_155713.jpg

Nice!!

My personal boat is named Breakaway, as well !




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Breakaway]

Departed Bimini 0800.
Some sights. The derelict boats and washed houses are remnants of various hurricanes.







Lottery House?



And, we are off!



More


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Breakaway]

Sea conditions today were 15 knots from the north with 3-4 foot seas. The Gulf Stream flows north at 3-4 knots, so these seas had a short period, and, running 270 magnetic, we had them on our beam for the entire trip.





Here is our companion boat, a 45 footer for some scale. Making 20-22 knots. You crowd probably know better than most that the camera never does the waves justice.



The only other vessel we saw.



The high-rises of the Miami skyline become visible at about 16 miles offshore.




More



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Breakaway]

We came in through Bakers Haulover, an inlet in North Miami. Theres a viral Instagram page that shows videos of boats trying to transit this notoriously rough pass. And often failing.



Today, despite some ebbing current, Haulover was pretty benign.







Time: 10:14.
48 nm in two hours fourteen minutes of easy running.





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Dave Hadfield]

https://youtu.be/NfUvInmr568

Bimini, Kingston Trio