# Bimini Trip Report Part 1



## spearfisher (Oct 3, 2007)

*Bimini Trip Report: Part 1*

*Disclaimer: I'm not sure what the statute of limitations is on certain offenses in the Bahamas so when necessary names, dates, and offenses have been changed or omitted to protect the innocent/guilty!*

The trip began with the drive down to Ft. Lauderdale on Tuesday. The caravan started with a meet up at 5:30am in Pensacola, and Sean, Doc, Briana, and myself all loaded up into a rented minivan. Next time I have to drive any long distance I'm renting a minivan: four captain's chairs, room for gear, and a slap shift on the column. Needless to say, we had fun with the minivan! 

The trip started at 5:30am, but I knew we were on vacation when the center console of the minivan, and the glove box got turned into a cooler. Yes...it will hold ice.










We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale at around 5:00pm and got checked into the hotel, and promptly made our way to the tiki bar. We had to be up really early the next morning to fly out to Bimini, so most of us went to bed after the long drive...some of us didn't...but that's another story for another time. We all got up the next morning and loaded up to head over to Ft. Lauderdale Executive Airport...that is after someone in our group had to slip Pepe the cleaning guy $10.00 to return ID/Credit Cards left at establishments the previous night. With all ID/Credit Cards in our possession we all headed on over to catch our flight on Bimini Island Air.










DJ proving that all you need is 15 minutes of sleep to catch a plane...










So we all loaded up on about a 30 seat plane, and headed for Bimini.










As you can see, Frtiz really loves to fly.










The flight was only about 20 mintues long. We landed in Bimini at around noon.










Bimini has two islands, the North Island and the South Island. We flew into the South Island where we went through customs, and then caught a taxi van that took us to a water taxi. We rode the water taxi about 50yrds to the North Island.



















Once we arrived on the North Island we got checked into our rooms at the Bimini Blue Water Resort. 










and these were rooms with a view










Once we got checked into the room we all went and found some lunch. Capt. Bob's and CJ's were the diners of choice on the island.










after a greasy hamburger we all loaded up for the first dive of the trip. We dove with the Keefe's operation, and as is typical on most charters of this type, we had to do a shallow check out dive of sorts first. Well, with this group, we definitely made the most of it. I don't have any underwater photo's yet (I'll get them later this week,) but I do have a lot of top side photos of the dives. I'll lump all the pictures together in no particular order.




























We dove Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. By the end of the week some of us were really tired after diving.










We did make the most of the top side activities as well. We all headed out one night to see the sights on Bimini. We stopped first to check out the "government" building, aka the jail, and the medical facitilities. 










Once we determined that the jail could only hold 6 of us we knew we were in for a fun night! We headed out to the Beach Bar for a fun night out. In order to get to the Bimini Beach bar we had to catch the water taxi again, and then load up on the Partridge Family bus for a ride down to the Beach Bar. 










Of course as you know, MBT has to leave its mark anywhere it has been










At the Beach Bar.




























Bimini's version of the moose










and a beautiful sunset to end the evening...










There is much, much more to be added to this report. I'll finish it tomorrow.


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## bluffman2 (Nov 22, 2007)

awesome report,cant wait to hear the rest and see all the pictures :letsdrink


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## FelixH (Sep 28, 2007)

Great pics Rich. Thanks for posting them.


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## Clay-Doh (Oct 2, 2007)

Sweeeeeeet!


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## spearfisher (Oct 3, 2007)

Part 2

I left off at the beach bar in the last report. The next day we decided that we wanted to see the rest of the 8 mile long island. There are almost no cars on the island. Almost everyone gets around on golfcarts, so we rented a golf cart to tour the island. Of course we had to make sure that we tricked out the golf cart with an MBT Liscense plate first.










We literally drove all over the entire island. We ran into some of the locals that were cleaning conch, and got a first hand lesson in how to handle conch. To clean a conch properly it takes a pick axe and a knife. You "crack" the conch right inbetween the tines, and then you slip a knife in and cut the foot loose.










After the foot is loose, then the conch will come out of the shell.










Once the conch is out of the shell you can make tons of things with the conch, but the islands freshest delicacy is conch salad. After helping Bill clean several conch, they made us fresh conch salad from the conch that we had just cleaned. It was absolutely amazing.










They clean a hell of a lot of chonch










We also went down and chatted with the locals while they were cleaning fish. Of course we couldn't resist hopping and cleaning some fish ourselves.










They had caught some huge trigger fish that day










After fish cleaning, we all headed back to the room to get some rest for the evenings activities. After a nap, we all loaded up on the islands tram and headed out for a night on the town.



















I think this was the night that we went to Edith's and got Shrimp, Lobster, and Conch Pizza. It was absolutely amazing. This was the night we got schooled by some 10 year olds on the ring game (the ring hanging from a string that you try and swing and catch on a hook.) They hustled us for cokes. After Edith's we decided to walk the island and see some of the sites.



















The day before our last day on the island, we headed out to an area called Victory Reef. It is about an hour boat ride (at 10 knots) from the dock. On the way out we passed what used to be the joint US/Bahama Drug Task force building and light house. This spot was chosen as a strategic location for drug interdiction. It got wiped out in a hurricane.










It was absolutely beautiful on this end of the island. There were literally thousands of flying fish taking off under our bow as we made our way to the reef.










Victory Reef was unbelievable. We did a drift dive on the reef for almost an hour at depths ranging from 40-80ft. The marine life was spectacular. I'll have to see if I can get some photo's of this dive because it was one of the best dives I've ever seen. Frtiz got some great underwater video that he is working on now. That was pretty much the last big event of the trip. The next day we had to pack up and get on the road.










We headed down to catch the water taxi one last time with all of our luggage.










and then we headed to the airport on the taxi.










Of course we couldn't leave without leaving a couple more MBT stickers in strategic locations like at the taxi pickup










Or on the A/C in the airport










Once we got everyone through customs in Bimini we all waited in a small room while we waited on our plane to arrive.



















Then we boarded the plane to come on home. 



















The flight home was gorgeous as we got an aerial view of the islands



















An of course we couldn't leave without leaving our mark one more time.










In closing...Bimini was amazing. The diving was great, the locals were as friendly as I have ever seen anywhere in the world, and most importantly we had tons of fun. We fully plan on making this trip an annual event. I for one look forward to next year!


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## bluffman2 (Nov 22, 2007)

man awesome report...great pictures too..i cant believe they let you guys put those stickers everywhere especially on that plane....COOL....new advertising plan:letsdrink


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## spearfisher (Oct 3, 2007)

"let" is such a strong word...It was more like they what they don't know, they don't know...


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## Clay-Doh (Oct 2, 2007)

Dang I hate I missed out on that!!! MAn that looks fun as heck...keep postin more pics as you get them in!


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