I'm going on a week boating trip through the keys and was wondering if Bimini was worth going for a day and possibly spending one night there. Adults and kids looking for island and snorkling fun. Any suggestions would be great.

Thanks in advance.

It is about 45 miles off Ft Lauderdale. Entry fee is $150 for under 35 feet or $300 over 35 feet. The Sapona is cool (150 +/- ft boat made of concrete that sunk in 10 ft of water, 1/2 submerged can be seen for miles). It is about 4 miles south of Bimini. Bimini is a very slow paced island, no casinos/ very few shops and a bit sketchy at night off the hotel grounds.

Do a search on here and you will find more info.

I have spent about three weeks all around the Bahamas, it's a very laid back place in Bimini, the last time I was there they were building a Casino, that was in 02 so they still might not be done. If I was just going for the day I would save the money and go south of Bimini check out the sunk boat then go west into the flats till you can't see land, look at you charts there are places in here 10 feet deep that you dive/snorkling lobstering. You can also run aground in there.

Stay away from the islands and customs if you just want to spend a day there. They have been building alot there so if the weather is nice you may want to stay so then go check in with customs.

When are you going on you trip, the gulf stream can get bad this time of year. I have been out in 20 foot seas in a 42 Sonic and it was not fun.

This is not the time of year to try going over and back in the same day. You may have to wait several days to get back. just my .02.

Thanks, my trips not untill the end of March. I've also heard this time of the year's not so great, thanks again.

How can a concrete boat sink in 10 feet of water?

15 feet according to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapona

A little trouble in paradise this weekend:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/loc...,3312767.story

Bimini residents protest fatal shooting by police
Police station, patrol boats set on fire; demonstrators march through streets
By Akilah Johnson | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
December 23, 2007

Fifty miles from South Florida, enraged residents of Bimini in the Bahamas set fire to a police station and several police patrol boats on Saturday to protest a fatal shooting by a police officer, authorities said.

Demonstrators also marched through the streets to protest the slaying of the unidentified victim, Hulan Hanna, chief superintendent of the Royal Bahamas Police Force told The Associated Press.

Hanna declined to give details about the police shooting, which occurred about midnight Friday, or detail the damage caused by the melee. No one was injured, he told the news agency.

Reached by telephone Saturday night, Yama Butler, 74, said that the shooting happened inside his bar, Bimini Breeze, in Alice Town, the Bimini island chain's main settlement.

The officer was arresting the victim for reasons unknown to Butler when the shooting occurred, the bar owner said.

By about 7:30 a.m. Saturday, more than 300 protesters had gathered around the police station, Butler said.

At first, the crowd was orderly, but Butler said they got out of control, and people began burning patrol boats and cars. Also, "they started on the police compound, but they didn't complete it," he said.

The shooting enraged many residents of the island chain because the victim was well-liked and clashes between police officers and residents are rare, Butler said.

"It happens in the big city, but not in Bimini," Butler said.

Bimini, the closest point in the Bahamas to the mainland United States, lies about 50 miles east of Fort Lauderdale.

It has 1,800 residents and 14 police officers, according to the Royal Bahamas Police Web site.

Two years ago, a Chalk's International Airlines seaplane headed for Bimini burst into flames and crashed off Miami Beach. All 20 passengers and crew died in the Dec. 19, 2005, crash.

Bimini once served as a fishing retreat for writer Ernest Hemingway and was a major base of operations for rumrunners during Prohibition.

I have dined there a few times. They have some Nortech's as patrol boats(that the U.S. gave them) I wonder if any of them got torched.

If you'd been in an Active Thunder you could have been drinking martinis !!!