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Biminis, Andros & TELEPHONE CODE: 242 / POPULATION: 10,200 / AREA: 2321 SQ MILES

Why Go? ...... 94 No casinos. No nightclubs. No fancy cocktails. These three relatively undeveloped island groups on the western side of Andros ...... 101 may not be glitzy, but they’re absolute heaven North & for anglers, divers and explorers...... 104 The Biminis, just 50 miles east of Miami along the edge of ...... 109 the Gulf Stream, are a world-famous big-game fi shing des- ...... 110 tination. Come to commune with the ghost of Hemingway, Berry Islands...... 111 who immortalized the Biminis in his novel Islands in the Great Harbour Cay ...... 112 Stream, or to explore the famed Road – is it really Chub Cay ...... 113 the lost city of Atlantis? Andros, the Bahamas’ largest but least densely populated island, has the world’s third-largest barrier reef, vast bonefi shing fl ats and miles of dense inte- Best Places to rior forest fi lled with mythical man-bird creatures. The tiny Stay Berry Islands, barely more than specks on the map, are a playground for yachties. Spend days sailing from cay to cay » Bimini Big Game Club without ever encountering a fellow human. (p99) » Pineville Motel (p105) » Kamalame Cay (p106) When to Go » Small Hope Bay Lodge AliceTown (p108) °C/°F Te m p Rainfall inches/mm 40/104 12/300 » Tiamo (p111)

30/86 8/200 Best Beaches » Bimini Bay Beach, Bimini 20/68 1/100 (p95) 10/50 0 » Tiki Hut Beach, Bimini J FDNOSAJJMAM (p97) » Morgan’s Bluff beach, March & April June–August December– Andros (p105) Prime bonefish- Gulf Stream February While » Congo Town Beach, ing season in waters are calm- the rest of the Andros (p110) Andros, so book est, making this Bahamas crawls your guides early. Bimini’s busiest with tourists, » Sugar Beach, Berry time of year. Bimini, Andros Islands (p112) and the Berries slumber. ve fi ats. fl sher- fi shing fi s. ff shermen and law- fi eets, while the fl nd any Nassau-style Nassau-style nd any fi ashy nightclubs. But if fl ve-minute water taxi ride away, less- ve-minute water taxi ride away, resorts or fi Although Bimini’s still mainly a Although Bimini’s Don’t come here expecting anything The islands are formally Biminis (as the A stories with the locals over a cold Kalik, sh shing spots, attracting heavyweights like heavyweights attracting spots, shing History man and yachtie spot, it’s also one of the man and yachtie spot, it’s best (and most economical places) to dive. years the island has attracted recent In scores of divers to explore its reefs, sunken wrecks and dizzying drop-o developed South Bimini is home to the air- port and a number of expat-owned homes. forest are fringed wide swaths of scrub Here, by glorious, nearly untouched beaches. South of South Bimini, a number of small accessibledot the continental shelf, cays only by private boat. fancy – you won’t mega less bootleggers gave Bimini a gritty, slightly a gritty, Bimini less bootleggersgave which it retains feel, to this Wild West That though, as the be changing may day. Resortnew to turn the Bimini Bay plans Bimini into luxurytop half of North resorts – stay in the coming years and golf courses tuned. main islands. two known) are composed of The stretches Bimini island of North skinny fanning out into afor almost 7 miles before and quilt of mangrove swamps The side is edged with silver-white western and lovelier thesand, which becomes whiter further north you go. The main settlement at the south end of the Alice Town, is ragtag real road, the only Hwy, island. The King’s runs straight north through the shabby all Bay, and Porgy hamlets of Bailey Town Resort. to the Bimini Bay the way your idea of a good time is swapping big fi place. your Bimini’s Ernest Hemingway and Howard Hughes and Howard Hemingway Ernest Prohi- During the early 20thsince century. rum-runners a base for Bimini was bition, east. The only 53 miles to Florida, heading of macho combination fi thought the Henry Morgan Pirates like Biminis a splendid lair from which to pounce on treasure founding families here in 1835 were – ‘rescuing’licensed wreckers ships and their cargoes. Later Biminites tried the more honest occupation of sponging, which thrived until a decimating blight in the 1930s. in the 1920s Prohibition boosted (if not reputation) the Biminis’ economy , an , (p98) (p98) Bill & (p111) Bimini Road Andros (p107) Andros Bimini ff

ff o , searching for for searching , Berry Islands Berry

Sailing from secluded cay to secluded secluded to cay secluded from Sailing Splashing and playing with wild with wild Splashing and playing Diving into the dizzying abyss of the of the dizzying abyss Diving into unspoiled the vast, Hiking through Snorkeling above the above Snorkeling Channeling the spirit of Hemingway Hemingway Channeling the spirit of

Nowdla Keefe’s Bimini Undersea Keefe’s Nowdla in the tiny cay dolphins in the Bimini seas at dolphins in the Bimini seas Tongue of the Ocean of Tongue forests Androsian the mythical avoiding while blue holes (p108) chickcharnies by angling for marlin o angling for by underwater limestone formation claimed formation limestone underwater (p99)Atlantis city of be the lost to 1 Biminis, Andros & Berry Islands Highlights 6 4 5 3 2

Itty-bitty Bimini has an outsized reputa- an outsized Bimini has Itty-bitty Stream makes to the Gulf proximity tion. Its premier big-game the world’s it one of BIMINIS POP 2000

94 BIMINIS, ANDROS & BERRY ISLANDS BIMINIS