THE ISLAND OF NORTH BIMINI

Tuesday morning brought a few more sailboats into the marina.  The 1^st was Mahi with crew of Carla, Joe and little 4-year old Ethan.  They had crossed the day before like us but did not reach the island until dusk and did not feel safe entering the harbor with dwindling light.  They threw the hook down overnight and came in to the marina about 10AM.  Within an hour another sailboat is headed for our dock.  We were on board Free Bird and I could hear them outside shouting about what slip to take when I saw their headsail RIGHT behind us.  We sprang in to action as we could clearly see that the captain was not in full control of his boat, they had a ton of freeboard and the wind was howling.  Had we not gone up and fended him off he would have hit us for sure.  Everyone helped him get safely into a slip only to find out that they too had crossed from Key Biscayne but they had been motoring for 40 hours.  Yes, FORTY hours.  They somehow got fowled up in the gulf stream, their engine was overheating and they could only go less than 2 knots.  That coupled with incorrect course corrections and they had a really bad time.  Poor people, they were exhausted. 

Look how clear the water is

Notice anything interesting here?

The winds were currently and forecasted to continue to blow hard so we knew we would not be leaving anytime in the next day or two.  Time to explore the island!  Bimini consists of 2 islands, one north and one south.  We are on the North island where most of the population resides.   It was time to get out and check things out so off we go encountering beautiful blue waters and beach.  

The people here are very friendly and most will address you as you walk down the road.  There is the main drag which is King’s Highway, a narrow 2-lane road and Queen’s Highway which is a more residential one lane road.  

King's Highway

There are many heritage kiosks documenting the history of the island along King’s highway.  Ernest Hemingway considered this place his retreat and spent a lot of time here drinking, fishing and he wrote Islands in the Stream here on Bimini. 

In addition, Bimini has a very storied past with everything from slave trading to drug and rum running.  Today it is home to less than 3,000 people and the bulk of the islands is still fairly undeveloped.  However, that being said, on the North end of the island they have put in a terminal landing for cruise ships and Hilton is in the process of developing a new property called Resort World.  There are mixed feelings here among the locals about whether it is a good thing or not.  While it is providing some economic stimulus, it is changing the character of their little island in the stream.

At least half of the traffic on the roads are golf carts here which you can rent from numerous places.  Along our walk we encounterd yet more of the local color.  It is fun to just walk around and get a feel for what this place once was, what it has become and the peoples who habit it.

Sad boat run aground just inside the harbor

Little did I know then I would be back there the next 2 days in a row for more of the same!  Then it was on to the BTC (Bahamas Telecommunication Corporation) office which to try to get a local phone that would work.  Our android pones from home are not GSM compatable and thus cannot be used here but we really felt it is important to have data access if nothing else for weather forecasts.  For $115 we bought a phone with an appropriate SIM card and for another $50 we got 5 gigs of data.  Mission accomplished!

Love the name of this bar!

Back at the marina, a man was walking by and asked if we were the people from the Fish Creek boat.  We said no but we were from the same area and lo and behold this man, also named John, is from Algoma!  Yes, Algoma, our home address as well.  Within a few minutes we determined we had mutual acquaintances and we were off and running.  Here we go with that small world thing again.  John’s wife was here for a conference and he flew over to join her for a few days.  We invited him to come back and bring his wife for docktails.  Had a big crew for docktails and John and Trisha fit right in even though they were boatless. 

Door County crew
John, Sara, Trisha, John, Deb and Steve

We met a couple of boater’s who have been here in Bimini for a month and Irene has been a fountain of information.  She is in the know about people, places and most things Bimini.  She suggested we go down to the Straw Market and look for Sister Jen.  Sister Jen cooks food up at home and goes to the market each day and sells it from the back of her car.  She has several items to choose from and she will put your entrée in a to-go box and then you step to “window #1” as she calls it where her helper will add your sides.  It is a big box of home cooked food for $10. 

Sister Jen

Window #1

There are more conch shacks here than there are restaurants I think.  There are consequently conch piles everywhere!  

We had seen several the day before but the conch salad where we had our rum punch the day looked the best so back to Stuart’s we go.  We walk in and who do we see but John from Algoma!  He had rented a golf cart for the day and was out touring around with another guest from his hotel, Patrick.  I think we spent 2 hours there just chillin’ and splitting a conch salad.  John and I are not much for sushi and if we do it, only do the cooked kind but conch salad consists of raw conch, tomatoes, onion, peppers, garlic salt and lime juice.  Pretty good eats I must say.  We hopped on the back of John’s golf cart and he gave us a ride towards the marina.  On the way we ran into another boater and John picked him up too.  We made a quick pit stop at the barn of the local boat builder, Ansil.  Ansil is somewhat of a legend around these parts. 

He told us the story of when Dr. Martin Luther King was here.  He took Dr. King out on his little boat on numerous occasions, but most memorably the day before he died.  

The next morning brought a girl’s outing.  5 of us went to a local Bahamian restaurant for lunch and then did a little shopping on the way back.  We stopped by Stuart’s conch shack again for a rum punch and Carla bought her husband a conch salad to go. 

Eden, Sara, Deb, Irene and Carla

Went to several little grocery stores and to give you an idea of what things cost here, a box of Triscuits was going for $6.45.  We use US currency here although they do have $ of their own.  Sometimes you will get Bahamian money as change.  We are told that it has a 1:1 value here but if you take it home the exchange you get will be less than favorable.    For that reason we brought a pile of $5’s and $1 so we can provide exact change when making purchases. 

When we returned from our little expedition, I couldn’t believe it but there was yet another Catalina 42 in the slip next to us. 

Catalina convention

Steve and Deb from Outlander spied another Catalina 42 the day before who was anchored in the harbor to our north, S/V White Wings.  Turns out they had met them over in No Name Harbor the week before.  Within a few minutes we ran into Laurie from that boatand introductions were made.  Later that afternoon Laurie and her husband Frank came down to our marina and all 4 Catalina crews were meeting and sharing stories.  What a fun coincendence!