Today Travalon and I were going to go to the beach on the free tram, but it was raining. We had the hotel's fancy buffet breakfast, which made me happy because there was a lot of fruit available, and it's been hard to get any plant matter into my diet on Bimini. Then we went to the Fisherman's Village, which is a weird, fake place created for tourists that is only a very short walk from the hotel. Here are a couple of photos from our walk.
I don't know what that yellow boat that says "Pilot" is, but it was at the South Bimini ferry port yesterday, and then today it was cruising through the canal behind our hotel.
Fisherman's Village had some souvenir shops, so we got a couple of things, but not much was open because the cruise ship wasn't in town yet. Then we returned to the hotel and explored the mysterious fifth floor, which basically consists of an infinity pool and a bar that wasn't open. We are clearly not here during the busy season, but when is that? You'd think mid-February would be exactly when people would want to go to Bimini.
The cruise ship landed, so then all the trams were packed and not stopping at our hotel. We walked back to Fisherman's Village and caught a taxi to the Big Game Resort, where we had heard there was shark feeding at one. We had half an hour to wait, so we walked along the docks, peering into the clear water and seeing all sorts of wondrous sea creatures, like tiny jellyfish doing somersaults.
And little striped fish.
And starfish.
Then we saw that they were feeding the sharks! This was because two women were in a shark cage, so they were trying to get the sharks close to them. Good thing we came early, because the show would have been over if we'd gotten there at one.
These are bull sharks and nurse sharks, and you can see the remoras on some of them - they look like little sharks stuck to them. There are images of hammerhead sharks plastered on everything here in Bimini, so I was hoping to see one, but our taxi driver told us they don't actually live around here. Bummer.
Here are some more photos from around the Big Game Resort. First, you can see the South Bimini ferry port from there.
The resort really plays up how Ernest Hemingway came to Bimini to fish. There's even a bar called Hemingway's at the resort. Of course, there's a restaurant called Hemingway's at our hotel.
This is the vehicle ferry that goes to South Bimini.
And here is the ferry that we took yesterday to South Bimini.
We had a late lunch at the resort - cracked conch! I couldn't finish my French fries, so I tossed one to a bird. I'm not sure what kind of bird this is. There were also lots of house sparrows around, just like back home.
After that we decided to go to the beach even if it was still drizzling a little, and then when we got there, the sun came out! We played in the waves for almost an hour. The beach is called Bimini Beach, and it has two pools, one where kids are allowed and one just for adults, but who needs a pool at the beach? Besides, the waters of the Atlantic Ocean were a lot warmer than those pools.
When we came back to the hotel, we sat out on our balcony for a while, then Travalon said something about the sunset, so I said, "We could see it from the roof." We went up there, and he took some photos of the infinity pool. We were too tired to swim in it after swimming in the ocean, and besides, I was leery of it because of my fear of heights.
The sunset was mostly over, and it was blocked by the cruise ship. This ship started in Baltimore, with stops in Charleston and Freeport, and its last port was Bimini. We talked to some people from the ship, which is how we know this.
Also, we were looking through two layers of glass because the bar was locked. Here are some other photos looking north and east from the roof, since those directions weren't blocked.
On North Bimini, the poor people live on the south end of the island, and the further north you go, the richer (and whiter) the people are. Here's a photo of the outside of the closed bar, called the Monkey Business. Not only was the bar closed, but the hot tubs up on the roof were empty.
We heard a sound like a foghorn, and I realized that was the cruise ship taking off. We watched it pulling out of the dock, and then all its lights turned on. Night falls very fast after sunset the closer you get to the tropics; they don't have that long twilight time we have up north that the Scots call "the gloaming." Here are some photos Travalon took from the roof within a few minutes of each other to show you.
When we could barely see the cruise ship anymore, we went to the casino, thinking we'd have to eat at the bar again, but not only was the restaurant open, the whole menu was available. I was able to try their conch chowder, which was very different than the conch chowder we had for lunch yesterday, more of a Manhattan style compared to a New England style. It was also slightly spicy, and it came with a thing called a Johnny cake that was like a very dense cake. It was delicious. I also got the grilled cheese sandwich with lobster and a side of vegetables, but Travalon (who had a whole fried red snapper) had to help me. Especially with the French fries - I couldn't eat many of those at lunch either. It was a wonderful Mardi Gras meal, except that it was all fish and seafood. Isn't Mardi Gras supposed to be meat? And we were way too full for dessert.
I forgot to mention the flame-colored butterflies dancing around us on the nature walk yesterday. They were too quick for Travalon to get a photo, but we did see on one of the signs on the nature walk that they are called Julia Dryas butterflies. I also forgot to mention that when we left Amelia Island, we drove across a chain of islands, just like when we drove through the Keys. And I forgot to mention that in St. Augustine as we ate lunch overlooking the harbor, a huge cruise ship went through the drawbridge, and the people at the next table were shocked to realize that they had ridden that very cruise ship. Isn't that crazy? They sure thought so!
Famous Hat
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