Our original plan was to start traveling in February, but with some additional projects, boat work, etc it didn’t work out that way and we didn’t want to rush the process. Instead our Gulf stream crossing just happen to align with Spring Break. Now I didn’t think of Bimini as a Spring Break destination but to my surprise college kids everywhere. Piled into golf carts drinking beer while riding down King’s Highway and holding cases of Kalik Gold in their laps…ahh, college days. Haha. Which btw, was $70 a pop for a 24 pack!!!  Not sure how their affording that. Luckily, we were staying at the marina opposite from the Hilton (Bailey Town). But we really enjoyed the people watching and EDM renditions of Bob Marley’s ‘Could You Be Loved’ blasting till 3am.

Alice town is a colorful little Bahamian town, where everybody knows your name. Seriously, population 300. Back in the 1980’s it was used as a base for one of the biggest drug smuggling operations in this part of the world. Brought in by sea and air, these smugglers were known as the “cocaine cowboys”. There are two main roads, King’s and Queen’s highway. A lot of people get around on foot or by golf cart. Though, there are a decent amount of cars on the island and you can easily hail a cab if needed. One cabby let us pay him whatever for a ride, others it was $5 per person. North Bimini is centered around the Big Game Club. A lot of locals work here, since its well known for its sports fishing. The resort itself is a cute place, first floor with patios and lots of hammocks with a nice pool. We however utilized their bar/liquor store (3 for $10 Kalik Gold) along with fast free wifi! Note: They charge an auto 18% “gratuity” another 7% tax and then have another line for “tip”.

Customs, Administrative, Police and Post offices are all located in one bright pink building. Our favorite food spot was Cj’s Deli, small place but the breakfast/menu was excellent!! Three tables out back on a little ocean view patio overlooking Radio Beach. Out onto the sand were two piña colada stands. A local guy named Raymond made ours – $7 each and one of THE BEST we’ve ever had! So we took ours to-go and walked along Queen’s Highway and enjoyed the view while regaining our land legs. We spent one of our afternoons day cruising, testing the waters and our anchor, then enjoyed a little happy hour on deck. We even got to see one of the sea planes take off going right past our boat, check it out on our Instagram.

There were three marina options, Bimini Blue Water was great during our 4 days as we waited for the next weather window to cross over to The Berry Islands (Chub/Birds Cay). $1 per foot, showers, new pool, vending machines, office attendant and super helpful dock master (J.R). No laundry, high cost for water re-fill and electric was pricey $10 30amps per day. Fortunately we didn’t need either. Good amount of boat neighbors, some from France, Canada, and Australia. Water was really clear you could see all kinds of fish, squid, and BULL SHARKS! Lot of those due to the nature of the area. Which made things really interesting when our Torqeedo dinghy motor fell into the water! We think a line on the dock must have caught it when we were out grabbing lunch. Water depth at the marina was 10 +/- feet but Brent had to dive in to get it! Eek! So I kept an eye out while he was able to go down then hand the motor up to me. Safe to say we’ll be mounting this thing on the inside of the boat instead of off the back. Next stop, the Berry Islands.