Bimini perches like a transiting gull upon the turquoise sea,
48 nautical miles from Miami. Blackbeard lurked here to
attack ships in the Gulfstream. Tiniest populated emerald in
Bahama’s necklace of 700 islands, it boasts a fascinating cast
of characters – freebooters, dignitaries, celebrities, 1,500
plain island people. Just 7.5 miles long by almost a city block
wide, this diminutive sprit of land is so narrow, as my
bonefishing guide “Eagle-Eyes” Rolle said, “Mon, you could
throw a rock across it.”

   Bimini, the Island Getaway in the Stream

  While memories linger of Hemingway’s Islands in the
Stream; with visits by a noted Congressman and his mistress;
where Martin Luther King wrote his Dream speech; Chalk’s
Airlines amphibious Grumman Mallards waddled up a
concrete ramp. In the 1920s rumrunners transshipped loads
of illegal hooch; 1970s saw the island’s Concrete Ship site as
the drop-off point for drug smugglers. For years anglers
wrestled in IGFA record 500 -700+lb. marlin and tuna. Back
country fishermen haul in 9-lb.+ bonefish on spinning tackle.

 Bimini carved its reputation in the last century as mostly a
fishing destination attracting top fishing tournaments for
sailfish, giant tuna, bonefish. That was temporarily on hold,
after a disastrous fire leveled its Compleat Angler hotel. The
Big Game Club still operates, but others waned, Alice Town
and Bayley Town tourism declined. Hurricanes Andrew and
Wilma took their toll.

 But today, fortunes have blossomed for this tiny island, yo-
yoing from glory to disastrous and back again over five
centuries since fabled Ponce de Leon came ashore, hoping to
discover the Fountain of Youth. Yet here, one Cuban-
American dreamer chose to build his elite, new, upscale
isthmus city. It is rumored that the movie Pirates of the
Caribbean visited several times for TV and mood shots.

 Geraldo Capo had a quaint idea to bring back the tiny island’
s magnetic attraction. He had 30 years of building credentials
in South Florida construction, with 7,000 homes.

 Today, happy colors dance across 170 townhouses and
individual homes, with a thriving, robust, new island face.
The people of Bimini, many involved from the beginning,
benefit from the company’s gifts of socio-economic
community projects. Bahama’s Prime Minister, Perry
Gladstone Christie, M.P, applauds its endowments.

 That included dredging a channel to accommodate large
mega-yachts. So three million yards of fill were moved from
the channel, now 135-feet wide, with a 15-foot depth. The
channel will accept large yachts – to berth in 136 new
concrete-piled floating docks. The fill was used, first: to raise
the ground level of the development – 16 feet above the basic
rocks and hurricane tide levels; then to build roads and a
private island to attract top-level tourism and buyers.

 Bimini’s drinking water supply always came by barge.
Now, a desalination plant provides the island with 300,000
gallons of drinking water. There’s also a waste-water
treatment plant.

 From my third floor condo-apartment at the sea, the endless
magnificence of cerulean/ultra-marine striped blue
Gulfstream, there is picture-pleasant pearlescent color. New
homes, azure, peach, green, yellow; white-trimmed condos.
Peaked roofs slant away in zigzag patterns, intersected by
cobblestone walking paths and streets. Modern colonial,
seaside gardens. Landscaping is lush manicured grass,
luminous red flowers and ornamental trees. It’s a scene that
could have been painted by Norman Rockwell. At one end is
a Disney-like playground to delight the grand-kids.

 Inside, island flair mixes onyx floors and walls, scatter
rugs, artistic island art – conch shells, carved fish,
beachcomber shell sculptures. Four poster queen-size beds,
plus singles and doubles. All ultra-modern double-door
refrigerators, cabinet space.

 Other islands attract visitors, but Bimini has one attribute no
others can claim. Closest by sea, or 25 minutes by air from
South Florida. The new shipping channel and marina
accommodate yachts to 150 feet.

 On the horizon; a Conrad Hotel and Casino, Robert Trent
Jones golf course, spa, restaurants, more entertainment.        
 Bimini rises again! #

For More, Link to:                                            
http://www.biminibayresort.com

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