Mooring Balls in Bimini

[scubamaverick]

I am headed to Bimini in my personal boat in May for a weekend of diving. Does anyone have gps coordinates for the best dive spots / mooring balls? My understanding is that there are about 20 mooring balls that were installed for dive boats.

 

[Wookie]

I spend a fair amount of time there. I've seen lots of moorings, but never a ball. Freeport has balls, Nassau, Cat island, San Salvador, mayaguana, all have balls. No balls in Bimini.

 

[Texasguy]

Not true. I went to Bimini on a liveaboard, the captain had a list of them. I seen myself having them arrive, find it, dock. However, as I seen, some were found to be missing and they had to drop an anchor. They said, fishermen cut the buoys, for whatever reason. Also, a lot of moorings are done badly and they simply break, replacing one is costly and done usually by charters that need them. Once they replace it, they are very possessive about it. Most cost comes from buying an underwater drill that is $10K+.

As I seen at Turks and Caicos, also, some charters would replace or place a mooring, later if they will find someone docked at it, they ask them to leave asap. Thus, competing charters would have to install their own mooring near a popular spot so they could peacefully coexist.

Try calling juliet sailing in miami (julietsailinganddiving.com), they surely would know. If they will share, I don't know. Seems like this info is proprietary with scuba charters.

 

[Wookie]

I'm sure you know best, after all, you went once and I have a liveaboard that goes there. But anyway, I have lists of moorings, but the vast majority are subsurface without floats. Because as you said, the floats get cut off.

 

[Doug Cutler]

Does anyone have an update on mooring balls in Bimini? I am thinking of taking my boat there in August or September.

 

[VH2O]

Hey Doug, not sure if this too late for you. We just came back from Bimini last week and were looking for the same. Came across this list but the info is a bit dated so it may not be entirely accurate. At least you have the coordinates so you should be able to anchor at most.
We did tie up at a ball at Turtle rocks. Its nice spot close by the channel if you have never been, its worth checking out. Easy 10-30' ft depth range, lots of marine life. One time we had a squad of 16+ spotted eagle rays circling us.
I believe the balls may be owned by local ops. We had one roll up on us once and signal that they needed it. Was no big deal as we were finished diving and just hanging out. They were friendly about it and we were on our way. Enjoy.

 

[Doug Cutler]

Thanks for the info!
It is greatly appreciated.
Glad that you got in some good dives.
We are back in FL but will probably head back to Bimini again before long.
Attached are 2 old lists that I found I had on my computer from long ago.
They have some of the same sites as your list.
The first one is from a trip to Bimini in 1998 (before smartphones had cameras).
The second one is from when I was in Bimini in 2016.
I hope you and others find them helpful too.
Doug