Day 26: Bimini
My lasting memory of Bimini will be of golf carts. More on that in a minute.
It was a wet morning as I stepped onto Bimini. Bimini is only 50 miles east of Miami, so the cruise had run into the Florida weather system we left on Friday.
The weather may have been wet, but it was also warm. So I climbed into one of their 'trams' and set out to see the island. On my way to breakfast this morning, a fellow ship passenger had told me, "If you're going to Bimini, you'll only need about 10 minutes". He wasn't far off!
The first point of interest seemed to be Fisherman's Village. But this was just a tourist shopping mall. I took shelter here from the rain for a while. Some tourists were wandering around in plastic ponchos. It would have been like a scene from the Edinburgh Festival, except they were wearing beach wear underneath.
I rode around the island some more on the tram (which was free), and by now had a sense of it. The closest point in the Bahamas to the mainland United States, Bimini is 9 Square miles and has a population of 2417. Its name means two islands. It has some claims to fame. One is 'The Bimini Road', a half-mile cobbled road beneath the water. Some believe this is part of the road system of the lost city of Atlantis (probably the tourist board)! Geologists and archaeologists believe it's a natural feature.
Another claim to fame, that actually can be substantiated, is that it is the Sport Fishing Capital of the World. The writer Ernest Hemmingway also lived here for two years (where he apparently did a lot of fishing), and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in Bimini.
However, what Hemmingway and King neglected to mention in their writing, was the most important aspect of Bimini. Golf carts.
Everyone on the island seemed to be trying to rent you a golf cart. Some were slick salesmen, explaining where you could go on the island with a golf cart. Others preferred a simpler selling approach, just shouting "golf cart" at the bemused tourists.
After wandering around Bimini, this made sense, as I noticed there were few cars, and most people rode around on golf carts. There were golf carts on the road, golf carts parked, a big depot for golf carts, and even no parking signs specifying golf carts! Like the UK they drive on the left, but their cars and golf cars are right-hand drive. However, when there are only a couple of main roads, and you are driving mainly golf carts, I guess this isn't too much of a problem.
As I was considering haggling with one of the salesmen for a golf cart, the weather improved. It was 27 degrees, and while a bit overcast, the rain had stopped. So I headed to the beach, which is part of a beach resort with a swimming pool and beach bar. I couldn't believe how blue the water was despite being overcast.
I sat on the beach for a while, then noticed some massive shells. They reminded me of when as a kid at the beach, I'd be given a shell and asked if I could hear the sea in it. So I listened to this shell. I couldn't hear the sea, but I could hear a voice repeating "Golf cart"!
On the way back to the Reflection, the tram stopped at the casino, which has a bar and restaurant dedicated to Hemingway. Perhaps a weird juxtaposition of food, drink and gambling with writing, but Hemingway enjoyed all these vices. Coincidentally the captain of the Sun Princess had read out a Hemmingway quote in one of his announcements. "It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end".
With Bimini marking the end of my Bahamas trip, I'll keep this advice in mind as I move onto the next stage of my adventure.
I still had one last night aboard the party boat though, and to show I’m not a complete misery, I joined in the fun!