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 ar ...

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 an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

s are North Bimini and South Bimini. The District of Bimini also includes

Cay Sal Bank Cay Sal Bank ( es, Placer de los Roques) is the third largest (after Great Bahama Bank and Little Bahama Bank) and the westernmost of the Bahama Banks. It is located between 23º27'N - 24º10'N and 079º25'W – 080º35'W. In a geographical se ...

, 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 Alice Town is a town in the Bahamas. It is located on North Bimini island and the population is 300 as of the 2010 census.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 South Bimini Airport is an airport in South Bimini on Bimini in the Bahamas. It was used as a staging point on the show ''Destination Truth ''Destination Truth'' is an American paranormal reality television series that premiered on June 6, 2 ...

, 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 Chr ...

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 shipwrecks 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. Depend ...

. 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 The Compleat Angler Hotel was a modest three-story hotel on the island of North Bimini in the Bahamas. The establishment, located in the center of Alice Town, contained 12 guestrooms in addition to its rowdy bar. It is notable for its association ...

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 The Lucayan people ( ) were the original residents of the Bahamas before the European conquest of the Americas. They were a branch of the Taínos who inhabited most of the Caribbean islands at the time. The Lucayans were the first indigenous Ame ...

, 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 trade. Some claim that the term "

the real McCoy "The real McCoy" is an idiom and metaphor used in much of the English-speaking world to mean "the real thing" or "the genuine article", e.g. "he's the real McCoy". The phrase has been the subject of numerous false etymologies. History The phr ...

" was applied to the

rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Rum is produced in nearly every sugar-producing region of the world, such as the Ph ...

provided by William S. McCoy, 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 Folk etymology (also known as popular etymology, analogical reformation, reanalysis, morphological reanalysis or etymological reinterpretation) is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more famili ...

Chalk's International Airlines Chalk's International Airlines, formerly Chalk's Ocean Airways, was an airline with its headquarters on the grounds of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in unincorporated Broward County, Florida near Fort Lauderdale. It operated sc ...

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

, 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 f ...

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 and his search for the

Fountain of Youth The Fountain of Youth is a mythical spring which allegedly restores the youth of anyone who drinks or bathes in its waters. Tales of such a fountain have been recounted around the world for thousands of years, appearing in the writings of Herod ...

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 Great ...

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 The Gulf or Bay of Honduras is a large inlet of the Caribbean Sea, indenting the coasts of Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. From north to south, it runs for approximately 200 km (125 miles) from Dangriga, Belize, to La Ceiba, 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

. 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 else ...

and threatened species. The Bimini Boa ('' Epicrates striatus fosteri''), protected by Bahamian law, is the largest of the terrestrial reptiles on Bimini. The Bimini

Ameiva ''Ameiva'', commonly called jungle-runners, is a genus of whiptail lizards that belongs to the family Teiidae. Geographic range Member species of the genus ''Ameiva'' are found in South America, Central America and the Caribbean (West Indie ...

(''Ameiva auberi richmondi'') is a very common, fast-moving lizard on the island. The

smalltooth sawfish The smalltooth sawfish (''Pristis pectinata'') is a species of sawfish in the family Pristidae. It is found in shallow tropical and subtropical waters in coastal and estuarine parts of the Atlantic. Reports from elsewhere are now believed to be m ...

(''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 The shortfin mako shark (; ; ''Isurus oxyrinchus''), also known as the blue pointer or bonito shark, is a large Lamniformes, mackerel shark. It is commonly referred to as the mako shark, as is the longfin mako shark (''Isurus paucus''). The shor ...

(''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 lobe ...

(''Alopias superciliosus''),

spiny dogfish The spiny dogfish (''Squalus acanthias''), spurdog, mud shark, or piked dogfish is one of the best known species of the Squalidae (dogfish) family of sharks, which is part of the Squaliformes order. While these common names may apply to several ...

(''Squalus acanthias''), and sixgill (''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

lived on Bimini from 1935 to 1937, staying at the

. He worked on '' To Have and Have Not'' and wrote a few articles, but mostly he fished aboard his boat ''Pilar'',

trolling In slang, a troll is a person who posts or makes inflammatory, insincere, digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages online (such as in social media, a newsgroup, a forum, a chat room, a online video game), or in real life, with the i ...

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 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. O ...

'' and '' Islands in The Stream''. While not a resident of the islands, Reverend Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

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 ''Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream'' is a 1971 novel in the gonzo journalism style by Hunter S. Thompson. The book is a ''roman à clef'', rooted in autobiographical incidents. The story follo ...

'' 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'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 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 criticized

Bimini Bay Resort Bimini is the westernmost district of the Bahamas 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 populat ...

, 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

References

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