Bimini

We are stuck here in Bimini (western-most island in the Bahamas) because the winds are too strong to go anywhere. The next window of opportunity is on Sunday, which means we are here for over a week. Kathy & Joe have a flight from Nassau on Tuesday, so we're going to try to make it there for their flight.

We are at the Bimini Sands Marina, and it is very pretty here - the picture was taken just a short walk from our boat. There are some interesting things to see on this tiny island. There are actually 2 islands, North Bimini and South Bimini. On Sunday it rained all day, but we went out for breakfast at the little marina restaurant and had French toast made with Bimini Bread (delicious). We also went out to dinner at the South Bimini Beach Club Restaurant - we were the only patrons. (This is the slow time of the year). On Monday we took a bus and then a ferry to North Bimini and walked along through Alice Town, and had lunch at the Bimini Big Game Club - the best mahi mahi sandwiches ever. The ferry picked us up at the Club. My knee is not doing well and I am not able to walk very far.

On Tuesday John, Joe & Kathy walked to the Bimini Nature Trail featuring local flora and fauna, including poisonous trees, a Bimini Boa and an Iguana in cages. Later John and I walked over to the beach in the picture. If I didn't have a bum knee I would have gone in the water - just beautiful. Getting back out would have been tough. Later in the afternoon we attended a get-together for boaters in the Marina - a pot luck - and we enjoyed sharing stories. Most of the other boaters are also waiting for the "window of opportunity" to head on to the Exumas.

Today the four of us we went to the Bimini Biological Field Station Sharklab http://www6.miami.edu/sharklab/ , which is quite interesting. There are post grad-students studing lemon sharks in their natural habitat. We had a guided tour which included walking out in shallow water to view the fenced-in pens holding various sharks. I wasn't able to walk all the way out because the undersurface was very unstable and I would have fallen on my behind, so John helped me back to shore.

More pictures to come.