HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Bimini is the westernmost
district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...
of the
Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the archi ...
and comprises a chain of islands located about due east of Miami. Bimini is the closest point in the Bahamas to the mainland United States and approximately west-northwest of Nassau. The population is 1,988 as of the 2010 census.


Geography

Bimini has three islands, North Bimini, South Bimini, and East Bimini. The largest
island An island or isle is a piece of subcontinental land completely surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island in a river or a lake island may be ...
s are North Bimini and South Bimini. The District of Bimini also includes Cay Sal Bank, more than further south, which is geographically not a part of the Bimini Islands but a separate unit. North Bimini is about long and wide. Its main settlement is Alice Town, a collection of shops, restaurants, and bars on a road known as "The King's Highway". The second major road is called Queens Highway and runs almost the length of the island parallel to Kings Highway. As a low-lying island, rising sea levels may cause the entire island to become submerged. South Bimini (pop. 182) houses an airstrip, South Bimini Airport, and offers a quiet alternative to the slow bustle of North Bimini. There is a small community of homes on South Bimini known as Port Royale. For many years, South Bimini tourists were limited to boaters because there were few accommodations other than private homes. Because Bimini is close to Miami, Florida, many American anglers go to the islands by boat to fish or to enjoy the local nightlife.
Scuba diving Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chri ...
and
snorkeling Snorkeling ( British and Commonwealth English spelling: snorkelling) is the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped breathing tube called a snorkel, and usually swimfins. In cooler waters ...
are also popular activities, as there are many
shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...
s in the area, such as the wreck of the , which ran aground in 1926 during a
hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depe ...
. The top of the ship is exposed to the air while the bottom half is submerged. Parts of the wreck were stripped over the years and some of the wood was used in the construction of the Compleat Angler Hotel and bar on North Bimini.


History

Bimini is home to several landmarks said to contain mystical properties of obscure origins. Much of the historical data about these places is speculative in nature, and experts in various fields have opined across the full spectrum of explanation. The most contentious of these sites is The Bimini Road. The first inhabitants on the island were the Lucayans, and the name "Bimini" means "two islands" in the Lucayan language. During the period of Prohibition in the United States, Bimini was a favorite haven and supply point for the
rum-running Rum-running or bootlegging is the illegal business of smuggling alcoholic beverages where such transportation is forbidden by law. Smuggling usually takes place to circumvent taxation or prohibition laws within a particular jurisdiction. The ...
trade. Some claim that the term " the real McCoy" was applied to the rum provided by
William S. McCoy William Frederick "Bill" McCoy (August 17, 1877 – December 30, 1948), was an American sea captain and rum-runner during the Prohibition in the United States. In pursuing the trade of smuggling alcohol from the Bahamas to the Eastern Seaboard, ...
, who used Bimini to transport whiskey to America during the Prohibition, although the phrase pre-dates the Prohibition Era – it is first recorded in the US in 1908 – and the phrase is the subject of numerous fanciful folk etymologies. Chalk's International Airlines operated seaplane flights between Miami Harbor and the Bahamas from 1917, so the company was an island institution for generations. As goods on the island were expensive because of shipping costs, many locals used Chalk's flights to buy cheaper goods in Florida and take the goods to Bimini. A seaplane operated by Miami Airways ditched into the sea off the coast of Bimini on March 22, 1922. All five passengers subsequently drowned. A Grumman Turbo Mallard of Flight 101 was en route to Bimini when it crashed on December 19, 2005, killing all 18 passengers and 2 crew; at least eleven of the passengers were Bimini residents. On January 13, 2006, one of the more famous establishments in Bimini, the Compleat Angler Hotel, was destroyed by fire. The bar is remembered for the photographs and memorabilia of
Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...
that lined its walls and were lost in the fire, which also took the life of owner Julian Brown.Frommers Guides: Bimini-Fire Guts Hemingway's Favorite Bar
/ref> The final scene of the 1991 film ''The Silence of the Lambs'' was shot in Alice Town. The movie's producers thanked the Bahamas Film Production Bureau as well as the district of Bimini in the end credits.


The Fountain of Youth

Juan Ponce de León Juan Ponce de León (, , , ; 1474 – July 1521) was a Spanish explorer and ''conquistador'' known for leading the first official European expedition to Florida and for serving as the first governor of Puerto Rico. He was born in Santerv ...
and his search for the Fountain of Youth included references to Bimini ("Beniny").
Arawak The Arawak are a group of indigenous peoples of northern South America and of the Caribbean. Specifically, the term "Arawak" has been applied at various times to the Lokono of South America and the Taíno, who historically lived in the Greater ...
and/or
Taíno The Taíno were a historic indigenous people of the Caribbean whose culture has been continued today by Taíno descendant communities and Taíno revivalist communities. At the time of European contact in the late 15th century, they were the pri ...
spoke of a land called Beimini where the fountain could be found. Although the location was erroneously associated with the Bahamas, the natives referred to a location in the Gulf of Honduras. Although de León's expedition brought him to Florida, the fountain was rumored to exist within the shallow pools of South Bimini. Today there is a small freshwater well with a plaque commemorating the Fountain of Youth, on the road leading to the South Bimini Airport. Found within the brackish mangrove swamp that covers of the shoreline of North Bimini is ''The Healing Hole'', a pool that lies at the end of a network of winding tunnels. During outgoing tides, these channels pump cool, mineral-laden fresh water into the pool. Because this well was carved out of the limestone rock by ground water thousands of years ago it is especially high in calcium and magnesium.


Endemic species

Bimini is home to several unique,
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...
and threatened species. The Bimini Boa (''
Epicrates Epicrates may refer to: * Epicrates of Ambracia, an ancient Greek and Middle Comedy playwright * Epicrates of Athens, an ancient Athenian involved in political affairs * Epicrates (snake) ''Epicrates'' is a genus of non-venomous snakes in the sub ...
striatus fosteri''), protected by Bahamian law, is the largest of the terrestrial reptiles on Bimini. The Bimini Ameiva (''Ameiva auberi richmondi'') is a very common, fast-moving lizard on the island. The smalltooth sawfish (''Pristis pectinata'') is one of the rarest fish in the world, sometimes listed as a critically endangered species by conservation groups. The Bimini Biological Field Station (BBFS) has captured and recorded 13 species of sharks in the shallow waters around Bimini. However, the number of sharks around the island is higher, considering the sharks of the deep waters off Bimini's western shores. Along with the species featured below, the BBFS has witnessed and recorded captures of shortfin mako (''Isurus oxyrinchus''),
bigeye thresher The bigeye thresher (''Alopias superciliosus'') is a species of thresher shark, family Alopiidae, found in temperate and tropical oceans worldwide. Like the other thresher sharks, nearly half its total length consists of the elongated upper lob ...
(''Alopias superciliosus''), spiny dogfish (''Squalus acanthias''), and
sixgill Sixgill is an Israeli B2B cyber intelligence company that analyses and monitors the deep web and dark web for threat intelligence. The company was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel. History Sixgill was founded in Tel A ...
(''Hexanchus'' sp.) sharks .


Bimini Biological Field Station (Shark Lab)

The Shark Lab is a world-famous facility owned and operated by shark biologist Dr. Samuel Gruber. The Shark Lab offers internships in marine biology to people interested in shark research and the conservation of the ocean's ecosystems. Located on South Bimini Island, it has done much research regarding the
lemon shark The lemon shark (''Negaprion brevirostris'') is a species of shark from the family Carcharhinidae and is classified as a Vulnerable species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Lemon sharks can grow to in length. They are ...
.


Notable residents

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...
lived on Bimini from 1935 to 1937, staying at the Compleat Angler Hotel. He worked on '' To Have and Have Not'' and wrote a few articles, but mostly he fished aboard his boat ''Pilar'', trolling the deep blue offshore waters for marlin, tuna and swordfish. Hemingway was attracted to Bimini by tales of the incredible fishing available in the
Gulf Stream The Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension the North Atlantic Drift, is a warm and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows through the Straits of Florida and up the eastern coastline of the Uni ...
, the legendary “river” of warm water that rushes north past the Bahamas. An Atlantic blue marlin with a mass of caught off Bimini allegedly inspired Hemingway to write ''
The Old Man and the Sea ''The Old Man and the Sea'' is a novella written by the American author Ernest Hemingway in 1951 in Cayo Blanco (Cuba), and published in 1952. It was the last major work of fiction written by Hemingway that was published during his lifetime. On ...
'' and '' Islands in The Stream''. While not a resident of the islands, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. visited in 1964 and worked on his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech while there. South Bimini was home to Colonel Joseph C. Mackey, the founder of Mackey Airlines, which was later bought by Eastern Airlines. He built a home on the southern tip of South Bimini. This structure would become the ''Sunshine Inn'' and is currently a bar and restaurant, though the hotel was damaged by a hurricane and was subsequently demolished. Among Port Royale's notable residents was Adam Clayton Powell Jr., who was excluded from the U.S. House of Representatives because of allegations that he misappropriated committee funds for personal use. He stayed in Bimini from January 1967 to April 1969 in self-imposed exile until the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the House had acted unconstitutionally when it excluded Powell, a duly elected member. In 1972, Powell died of cancer in Miami. Following his funeral in New York, his ashes were taken to Bimini and scattered in the waters surrounding the island

There is rumor of the famed Chicano civil rights lawyer, Oscar Zeta Acosta, of '' Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'' fame potentially meeting his end after returning from the island of Bimini to Key Biscayne in 1974 during a failed attempt to smuggle drugs. According to the story told to Hunter S. Thompson, upon their boat nearly reaching the shoreline of the southern tip Key Biscayne, Acosta and his companions were ambushed when they suddenly found themselves surrounded by bright lights from boats that "appeared out of nowhere". Gunfire erupted and one of Acosta's companions was immediately killed by being shot in the head. Acosta, acting quickly, floored the boat's throttle and plowed into and over one of the ambusher's boats and, upon making it to shore, he grabbed a small suitcase likely containing drugs and ran off inland into the island. It is worth noting that the veracity of this story was deemed questionable by Thompson, as he had heard it secondhand from the individual whose boat Acosta had borrowed for the smuggling attempt. This came to represent one of a number of possible Acosta sightings that Thompson had been told of, which he which would term "buffalo sightings", from all around the world following Acosta's official disappearance in 1974 under suspicious circumstances. In May 1987, Colorado Senator
Gary Hart Gary Warren Hart ('' né'' Hartpence; born November 28, 1936) is an American politician, diplomat, and lawyer. He was the front-runner for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination until he dropped out amid revelations of extramarital affairs ...
's presidential bid was derailed after media reports exposed a relationship with model Donna Rice. A well known photo of Rice sitting on Hart's lap on one of Bimini's docks was published by the ''National Enquirer'' after Hart suspended his presidential campaign. Jody Weech, Miss Commonwealth Bahamas 1992, was from Bimini. She made the Top 10 in the
Miss World Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Miss I ...
contest in Sun City, South Africa. She received the title Miss World Caribbean.


Bimini Bay Resort controversy

In May 2008 marine conservationist
Jean-Michel Cousteau Jean-Michel Cousteau (born 6 May 1938) is a French oceanographic explorer, environmentalist, educator and film producer. The first son of ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau, he is the father of Fabien Cousteau and Céline Cousteau. Life and care ...
criticized Bimini Bay Resort, now Resorts World Bimini by Hilton, calling it a "catastrophe" and announcing, "allowing Bimini Bay to continue with phase II would certainly strip this island paradise of its precious natural riches. Over time, visitors and residents alike will suffer the decline of economic, social and environmental prosperity."The Nassau Guardian - www.thenassauguardian.com


See also

*
Bimini Island Air Bimini Island Air, Inc./Ltd. was a part 135 shared charter operator with its headquarters in unincorporated Broward County, Florida, near Fort Lauderdale. Operating out of Fort Lauderdale, Bimini Island Air flew to various islands in the Bahamas i ...
* Bimini Road


References


Further reading

* * * * * * *


External links


Bimini Police Royal Bahamas Police

Bimini Biological Field Station



Nautical chart for Bimini and environs
* {{Authority control Districts of the Bahamas Islands of the Bahamas