Peg and I are winding down our stay in Bimini and I thought I’d compile some of the highs and lows of our visit here. We arrived on Thursday, March 9th after an uneventful crossing from Biscayne Bay just south of Miami. Our friend Wendell was with us and despite the fact that the wind was on our nose, again, we made it in less than 9 hours. My first impression was how blue and clear the water was. We could clearly see the bottom in 25 feet of water. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

We landed at Bimini Blue Water Marina in Alice Town and got down to the business of clearing Customs and Immigration, always a daunting process. I was the only one who could leave the boat (because I am Captain Dick) so I got to fill out all the forms in duplicate, present all our passports and Immigration Cards and pay the $300 cruising tax. My second impression of Bimini was that apparently there are no trash cans here. I never saw so many paper wrappers, beer bottles and cans, Styrofoam containers and other assorted debris lining the street. Also, it was hard to find a building that was not falling down, under perpetual construction, abandoned or looking like a slum. Despite all of that, the people were very friendly and the beaches were amazing.

About the people: the most prominent of the four founding families in Bimini are the Saunders. Three brothers, Ashley, Ansil, and Tommy are the elders in their 70's and 80's, followed by a bunch of children, cousins, etc. Bimini was settled by refugees of the slave trade. Oddly, the Saunders were from Scotland. We spend days with them listening to the oral history they provided of the island, the culture and the famous people with whom they were friends like Ernest Hemingway, Adam Clayton Powell and Dr. Martin Luther King.

Ashley Saunders, the middle brother, is the artist. Years ago he was swimming with a pod of dolphins and was so moved by their grace and beauty that he dedicated himself to building a monument to them known as the Dolphin House. This place is truly amazing. I’ve posted a few pictures in the photo gallery. Check them out. Everything that Ashley uses for the house is stuff he found on the beach or scrap construction materials he found on the island, or items people sent to him that were appropriate for his art. He lives on the first floor in the back. His gift shop and mini museum is also on the first floor, and the heart of his creation is the second. He began his work in 1993 and after he completed the second floor, he began the third floor. The place is simply amazing.

Tommy Saunders is the youngest brother and lives just next door to Ashley. His art is sculpture using items indigenous to the island like shells, conch, palm and coconut. We bought a few of his pieces that we could afford. Some were unbelievable in their detail. For example, using nothing but some shells and coconut, he recreated the scene from Hemingway’s, Old Man and the Sea, depicting the struggle between the fisherman and the shark trying to devour his catch.

Ansil Saunders was the boat-builder of the family. The tradition dated back to their family business in Scotland and Ansil was the only member of the family to continue the trade in Bimini. He built skiffs designed to fish for Bonefish. They had broad fore-decks, flat bottoms, were very stable and very strong. He builds his boats from wood that is found in Bimini and his workmanship is incredible. He doesn’t rely on plans – everything is in his head. He built boats for Ernest Hemingway when Hemingway was living in the Compleat Angler Hotel and writing The Sun Also Rises. He would also take Dr. King in one of his boats to fish in the mangroves or to just contemplate. It was on one of those journeys into the mangroves that Dr. King worked on his “I have a dream” speech. Dr. King’s last visit to Bimini and his last trip to the mangroves with Ansil came just four days before his assassination. As a tribute to Dr. King, Ansil built a memorial in the very spot where he and Dr. King were. Getting there was a real challenge because there are no directions. You just gotta know. After following some folks we met here, were learned the route. Check the photo gallery. It was very moving.

We were blessed to have great company with us for two of the weeks we have been here. Wendell made the crossing with us and stayed a week. Jenny and Mark joined us a few days after Wendell left and we continued our journey of discovery with them. One of the most interesting discoveries was the Shark Lab on South Bimini. This is a working research center doing some very serious work regarding the migration patterns of Lemon, Nurse and Bull Sharks among others. There are some pics in the gallery of that visit.

You cannot go anywhere without sampling the local cuisine. In this case, it revolved around Bimini Bread, Cinnamon – Raison Swirl Bread, lobster tails and Conch Salad. Stuart’s, in the case of the latter, is the island’s best. Of course, if you were walking by, you wouldn’t consider eating there. It’s just too big of a dump. But the Conch Salad is amazing and the guys are catching and cleaning the conch right there. It doesn’t get any fresher. After a while we got sick of eating lobster. The lobster man would show up every day with his fresh catch. A dozen tails for $50. I’m sure my cholesterol count has gone through the roof.

All in all, this has been a very good trip. We were surprised at the hidden beauty of Bimini – the people, their history and culture. We loved the beaches the blue waters and soft sand. The ship wrecks that were part of the rum running era during prohibition, were easy to visit and told silent tales. I look forward to coming back to Bimini and seeing how Ashley is doing with the Dolphin House and how Ansil is doing with the boat his was building. He said it would be his last and should be done in between five months and five years. I really like life on Bimini.