My husband and I decided to try our hand at snow-birding, and when thinking about where we wanted to go we had a few factors at play. We are Canadians so we wanted to go somewhere that is warm and tropical, not too far from home, and a very safe and beautiful destination. Bimini, Bahamas was the island that met all of that criteria.
The beautiful Island of North Bimini, Bahamas
Once we had made the decision to travel to Bimini I started doing the research. Surprisingly there was not a great deal of information available for this beautiful destination online. We did find some information. It was enough to trust that we would be happy with our decision to spend a few weeks on this beautiful island, a truly hidden gem.
Airport in South Bimini, the Bahamas
SOUTH BIMINI ISLAND
When we arrived, the plane landed at the airport in South Bimini. Interesting information, you cannot fly directly into this small island, you must connect from Florida or the Bahamas. You can choose commercial flights. The one we used was Western Air https://www.westernair.bahamas.com out of Nassau. Alternatively, a ferry named the Balearia https://www.balearia.com that sails from Fort Lauderdale, or a Sea Plane such as Tropic Air https://flytropic.com.
Once we arrived in South Bimini we got on a transport van and they drove us to the Ferry dock that would take us over to the North Island. For your information that transport is $5.00 US per person and the Ferry will be $3.00 US per person.
The island of South Bimini is incredibly small, I will talk more about that later in the blog It only takes between 5 and 10 minutes to get to the Ferry Dock. Once we arrived at the Ferry we began to see just how beautiful this island really was! The water surrounding both sides is crystal clear and turquoise. We were in awe as we rode the extremely short ride from South Bimini to North Bimini.
NORTH BIMINI ISLAND
Taxis were waiting so we quickly got our luggage on board and gave the driver the address of the condo we had rented. We were headed to the gated community of Hilton at Resorts World Bimini, which we discovered was at the opposite end of the island from the Ferry Dock. This island is only about 11 km (7 miles) long and 200 m (700 ft) wide, so it was a very short ride.
As we rode through the island, it seemed a lot like a typical caribbean the island, run down homes and stray animals along with locals gathered together going about their day. But at the same time I admired the simplicity of this island and started to feel relaxed knowing that this island is also very safe to visit.
Driving down the main road of North Bimini Island
HILTON WORLD RESORT COMPLEX
As we approached the end of the island we could see the resort complex coming into view. It is a gated community with a beautiful Hilton Hotel, some resort shops, grocery store and a large number of condominiums lining the ocean. Staying in the complex gave us the best of both worlds. Not only did we get the island vibe of the locals downtown, we also got all the comforts of home when we returned to the condo we had rented.
The view of the ocean from our condo
PARADISE BEACH NORTH BIMINI
Once we got settled in we decided to start exploring. A very short walk from our condo, we came upon a sight that would take our breath away! The beautiful ocean, with a boardwalk leading all the way down to a magnificent beach!
Paradise Beach, North Bimini, Bahamas
Each morning after a leisurely coffee and breakfast we headed to this boardwalk for our walk. A few of these times we spotted some sea life, and when we got to the beach we took off our shoes and continued our walk in the sand. It felt like we were in paradise, having a mostly deserted beach each morning to walk on with the waves gently sweeping across our ankles.
Wouldn’t you love to walk this beach every morning?
Soon we had settled into a routine. Our morning walk would be followed by a trip into town that we took for grocery items, followed by a leisurely lunch. And then we would decide if it would be a beach day or pool day. Not too bad if that is your biggest decision of the day, wouldn’t you agree?
If our decision of the day was pool, we had a couple of amazing choices to choose and we alternated between them. In the condo owner complex there was an infinity pool that was exclusive to the condo guests and owners.
INFINITY POOLS
The Infinity Pool at the Condo
Our other pool option was to head over to the Hilton Hotel, we had privileges to use the 5th floor adult only Infinity pool there. And with a poolside bar and magnificent views it was an option we chose frequently!
Infinity pool at the Hilton Hotel, Bimini
BEACHES ON NORTH BIMINI
Now we come to the beach options. If we felt like enjoying beautiful calm waters on a deserted beach we would choose Paradise Beach. But if we were in the mood to have a bit of a fun vibe we chose Radio Beach.
Paradise Beach North Bimini Island
Radio Beach was the fun and lively beach, with beach shack restaurants and music playing. Be sure to say hi to Coconut Brian who runs his own beach bar and rents beach chairs and umbrellas.
Radio Beach North Bimini
SOUTH BIMINI BEACHES
We decided one day that we wanted to take the Ferry over and do a bit of exploring on the other island of Bimini. South Bimini Bahamas is much quieter and has a much smaller population. If you wanted to get away from everything and everybody this is the island for you. It has some beautiful homes and pristine beaches so it is definitely just as beautiful as North Bimini, but much quieter.
Beautiful beach on South Bimini Island
BIMINI SHARK LAB
South Bimini Bahamas is also home to The Shark Lab. We decided to take a tour of the Lab and we were so glad that we did. What we discovered is that Bimini has an extremely large population of various shark species. Also, this lab employs and has volunteers from all over the world. The girls that gave us the tour were volunteers that were working on their masters in marine biology. It was obvious that they loved what they do at the lab. We were taken to the nursery where we got up close to a couple of baby sharks. I recall that one of them was a lemon shark, and they gave us so much interesting information about sharks. It is definitely worth a visit here if you are in the area.
Bimini Shark Lab, South Bimini
RESTAURANTS IN BIMINI
For the most part we did do a lot of cooking in our condo. If you are planning a trip to Bimini Bahamas, keep in mind that it is a tiny island and that grocery items will be more expensive than at home. It is easy to find fresh fish and lobster, just ask the locals where to find it. However, it can be difficult to obtain other meat choices like beef or chicken. Occasionally we would take a night off from cooking and head to one of the restaurants in Bimini.
Our favourite choice was the Restaurant at Big Game Club Resort. They had a full menu and bar. As well, a beautiful outdoor patio right on the ocean where you could watch bull sharks swimming right in front of the patio.
The beautiful view from the outdoor dining patio at Big Game Club
DOLPHIN HOUSE
When in North Bimini Bahamas, you must take a day to check out the Dolphin House. Ashley Saunders is a native of Bimini and he has built a home from the ground up by hand by using materials from the island. He named it Dolphin House and Ashley himself will be there to take you on a guided tour of this magnificent structure. There is so much detail to every single crevice of this home that it would be impossible to describe it in just a few words.
Ashely Saunders heading up the stairs of Dolphin House
To me Bimini Bahamas is very special. I traveled to the island at a time of a crossroads in my life. It was during my time in Bimini that I decided to begin to blogging. I was inspired by the fact that I had found very little information when I was researching Bimini, Bahamas. My hope is that my writing will inspire others to visit this little gem of the Bahamas.
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