Went to Bimini

[superstar]

I was in Bimini last month with my daughter and I have a few tidbiits of info I would like to share with you.
No issues with air travel. I flew Delta to Ft. lauderdale and Continental to Bimini south.
Customs in Bimini went like this, "do you have anyting to declare mon" I say "no", "Tank you mon, next". A taxi-van then takes you to a dock that is next door to Scuba Bimini where a taxi-boat takes you to north bimini. The ride was $5 each and I tipped $2 a bag.
My buddy picked us up from the North Bimini taxi dock and took us to his boat the RV Tiburon. It is a 63' Gulfstream rigged for diving research. He was between projects and invited a few of his friends and there kids to Bimini for a week of snorkeling, diving, and swimming with the dolphins. The RV Tiburon was docked at the Bimini Big Game Club. http://www.biminibiggame.com/
After the meet and greet I grabbed my camera and snorkel gear and went to the mangroves across the channel from the marina. It was slack low tide, a belly crawl in some spots. The juvy barracuda are so cute.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4KwV-rO2c8

Day 2, we spent the morning searching for dolphin, spotted two, no pods. After lunch some of us dove the Bimini Road and others went beach-combing. Later on we looked for dolphin again with no luck. Dinner at the marina and swimming in the pool took care of the evening activities.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjvBWKa73hk

 

[superstar]

Day 3 in Bimini we snorkeled around and through the Sapona ship wreck. It is shallow so no need for scuba. It has been there a long time so it is loaded with marine life. I could spend many days diving the Sapona.
We then went to the Bimini Biological Field Station to see and learn about sharks. There was a shark pen with cute little lemon sharks in it. I took a video of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGrMp-4faWs
After Shark Lab we went back to the north end of Bimini looking for dolphin and found a pod of 20 or so. It was way too cool swiming with these mammals in their natural environment on their terms. Dolphins are curious and come right up to you. Dolphins also mate for entertainment and a few of them were very entertained. I did the dolphin thing at AKR and this was way better. I will have video soon.

 

[scubamgb]

Superstar - great information so far on Bimini and your videos are great....loved the one taken at the Bimini Biological Field Station with the baby Lemon shark!!!
Look forward to the rest of your trip report and more videos

 

[superstar]

We spent 2 days and one night at a place called Gun Cay. It's about 8 or 10 miles south of Bimini. There where a bunch of rays in a sandy beach area on the north side of the island. A few people were feeding the rays squid and the rays would swim all around you. From the sandy beach around the tip of the north west side there is a rockey shoal that is by far the best snorkel dive I have ever done. By starting the dive near the sandy beach and continuing around the point and into the ocean you view five different eco systems that all feed off each other. I have never seen a healthier reef system.
After 3 days of doing mostly kid stuff, some of us big kids dove the "tuna alley". It is a reef that is 40' on the top and drops to 100' to a sandy bottom. corals and fish are abundant as you swim through crevices,

 

[superstar]

oops, I forgot to add these.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msnrzdpCiJQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuVWzSWK8Yk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhJko6qy0GQ
youtube.com/watch?v=Uu4vH1RP0a8

 

[superstar]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu4vH1RP0a8

 

[superstar]

On the 5th day, three of us took the nautica rib and found a bouy marking a dive site to tie up to. We had no idea what the dive site was called. It was a 45' deep reef off North Bimini with coral mounds rising from the sand in spur and groove formation.
I shot video of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3gtwnslBRw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOqKHmW0xVo

 

[daniel f aleman]

Thanks for the reports... mon.

 

[superstar]

I could not find much information on Bimini before my trip. As it turns out, there is not much there. It is like a big sandbar in the middle of the ocean. I was on a liveaboard and we docked most nights at the Big Game Club. It was the best looking place there. The marina was dead until the weekend when boats from Florida head over. By monday its dead again. All our meals were served on the boat. We ate lunch one time at the Big Game Club and the BLT with fries was $9, the food was good. Eating 3 meals a day would add up quick.
Shopping was limited to one trip to the straw market with 3 girls. It was fun for them.
The reefs were very healthy, the water was low to mid 80's. Visibility was 50-60' on the shallow dives near shore to over 100' on the deep reefs. I only saw two dive boats the week I was there, we had the place to ourselves.
Living up north I dive lake michigan a few times a year to get my fix. When I dive a place like Bimini I ask myself "why the @#$% do I live in Michigan". Is it high paying jobs, good housing, safe hospitals, good schools for the children, family, ice hockey?? So I will spend 51 weeks out of the year dreaming for that one week I get to go to a place like Bimini.
Thanks for tuning in.

 

[ChrisMIA]

Hello

We also went to Bimini a couple of weeks ago, we crossed from the Keys to Orange Cay on our 26 Glacier bay. We were looking for the Last Chance Reef, could not find it, does anyone have the coordinates ???

Pleas