I sit out on the upper deck of the Bimini Seafood Company & Conch Bar. The sun has risen, and I am working my way through a Bahamian braised conch omelet, a heavenly slice of toasted Bimini sweet bread, and a Green Mountain coffee. Though it is early morning, from my lofty vantage I witness the marina springing to life. Fishing charters idle out of the sheltered harbour in orderly queues heading for the fishing grounds. At the quayside, scuba divers check their gear and pass tanks and wetsuits onto dive boats. They have travelled from around the world to join Shark Safaris, and the unique chance to dive with hammerheads and tiger sharks.
I had arrived on the island of Bimini the morning before, and couldn’t shake the magical feeling that I had travelled back in time, with the island’s little airport terminal acting as some sort of time portal. I had left bustling Nassau only 50 minutes earlier, on a twin prop 50-seater that skimmed above the Bahamian archipelago and its inviting blue-green waters, to land on tiny South Bimini. I disembarked and strolled across the hot tarmac to a depot that was about the size of a two-car garage, grabbed my bag from a cart wheeled onto the dusty parking lot, and then jumped into an equally dusty shuttle van for the short transfer to the wharf.
I waited at a ferry station shelter amongst smartly uniformed schoolchildren for the marine transport to North Bimini. When our pontoon boat arrived, we clamoured aboard – the students were joined by tourists dragging wheeled luggage, and workers in coveralls and hard hats, laughing and bumping fists with the boat operators. We settled onto bench seats for the short shuttle across the strait.
Upon arrival, I was shown to a golf cart. “You can’t get lost,” I was told. “Drive (on the left side) along the Queen’s Highway to Alice Town, go past the dolphin museum, and your accommodation is on the right.” The coastal road is beautiful, skirting past silky white sand beaches that sloped down to beautiful turquoise waters and whitewashed roadside bars and restaurants with names like Big John’s, Stuart’s Conch Stand and Sherry’s Café. Every vehicle, bicyclist and pedestrian I pass waves a greeting, as if they had been expecting me and were glad I had come. This is my kind of place.
