Bimini is a small island in the Bahamas, located about 60 miles east of Miami Beach. We have been to Bimini on several day cruises, but this time Crystal entered our friend Carol’s name in a contest, and Carol won a three day trip to Bimini, on Chalk Airlines, and staying at the Bimini Big Game Fishing Club. Of course, I have to go, to carry their luggage. Chalk’s is the oldest operating airline in the US. It flies 17 seat Grumman Mallards, a seaplane. So we roar down Miami’s Government Cut, past the cruise ships, and lift off for Bimini. We fly at 1000 ft for 30 minutes and land in Bimini Harbor, North Island. The seaplane port is at one end of the main street and the hotel is about 1 mile away at the other end. So, we take the taxi, I think there were 2 on the island, to the hotel, since we have luggage. There are 3 hotels on the island. It is about ¼ mile wide and 2 ½ miles long. Its claim to fame is that it is right on the edge of the Gulf Stream and home to some of the best big game fishing in the world, mainly marlin, blue fin tuna, sailfish, and bone fish. Ernest Hemingway was a frequent visitor and angler here, and every little (and big) hole in the wall bar or pub has pictures of him and other famous folks on their walls.
This time of the year is the off season, so for the first day, we were the only non-native people on the island. A few boats pulled in for the weekend fishing tournament, so we had company. We feasted daily on the fresh local seafood and washed it down with the national brew, a beer called Kalik, named for the sound the cow bells make during the Goombay Festival. The local specialty is conch (konk), defined in the dictionary as a Gastropod Mollusk. It looks like a giant snail in its shell. It is prepared every way imaginable, from stewed to fried. We didn’t find a way it was prepared that we didn’t like.
Across the harbor on South Bimini is the Fountain of Youth that Ponce de Leon was looking for. While Kaliking the afternoon away, we ran into a gentleman who said, for $10 each, he would boat us across the channel, then drive us to it. Well, at my age, who could resist a visit to the Fountain of Youth? So away we went, first by boat, then by van to a dirt road in the middle of what passes for jungle on Bimini. Through the bushes and vines we pushed until our guide said,” Here it is.” At our feet was a hole in the ground, about 9” across, full of muddy water and dead leaves. By the size of the hole, it was obvious we couldn’t bathe in it, upon observing its color and content, none of us were to keen on drinking from it. And since it was not spewing forth as in the manner of a normal fountain, we couldn’t even let it flow through our fingers. In the end, all we could manage was a touch of the dampness on the end of a stick that our guide stuck down into the hole. I some how think more than that would have been needed to achieve any lasting results.
Also in the vicinity of Bimini are the alleged remains of the Lost Continent of Atlantis, (later discovered on Paradise Island in Nassau). For a fee, you can hire a boat, crew, and diving equipment, and be taken 40 miles out in the ocean, given instructions on what to look for, then, tossed overboard. I was familiar with this from my Bermuda Triangle research days in the 60’s. So, as we sat in the Red Lion Pub one evening, eating cracked conch and drinking Kalik, we met Bonnie, and, since I was never quite sure what he said his name was, I called him Clyde. They were from New Jersey. She did, umm, something and he was a metaphysical something. They were rather vague about some things. But not about going in search of Atlantis the following day. We made half hearted arrangements to meet them back here the following evening, to learn the outcome of their adventure.
Sure enough, we managed to cross paths the next evening, which is not to difficult in a town with only one street. They did see the underwater highway that all the books describe, and it did look just like all of the pictures. Did it seem to be Atlantis? Did feel strange? Did you feel lightheaded? “Yes, Yes to everything!” Clyde excitedly exclaimed! “I thought I was going to have a heart attack when I got back on the boat. All of my ESP levels were off of the meter. It was incredible! Much more than I imagined! There is truly a force out there!”
“Could it have been too much conch and Kalik last night?” I asked?
Clyde was not amused.
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