Tips on How to Get to Bimini

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I returned recently  from a grueling trip to Bimini, Bahamas.  Bimini is the closest of the Bahamas Islands to the US.  It is only 60 miles from Miami.  Ironically, it's the most goddamn difficult island of the Bahamas that I've had to get to.  I've flown to Nassau in one day, filmed scenes for a commercial the next day, and flown all the way back home from Nassau on the third day, easily and without stress.  This trip was nowhere near as easy.  It was one of the most stressful trips I've had to take, because these days, if you miss your connection, you are sh** out of luck with the airlines and have to find a way home by relying on the largesse and professionalism of the airline that is supposed to fly you back. 

Here’s a summary in case you don’t want to read the excruciating details below:

How to get to Bimini: I suggest using Sky Bahamas from Fort Lauderdale to get to and from Bimini.  I suggest avoiding flying Silver Airways or taking the “Fast Ferry” to Bimini. 

My friends Deb and Vince, of Epic Diving, just wrote: 

"Bimini is worth not giving up on :)  Sky Bahamas definitely has a more reliable flight schedule.  I believe they have added flights from Florida to Bimini, but need to double check.  I know that they fly to Bimini from Nassau, as does Western Air."

Where to stay on Bimini: in most cases, your group will already be staying at the Bimini Big Game Lodge.  It’s the biggest hotel on North Bimini, which has more “other” restaurants and sights than South Bimini.  The Bimini Sands is on South Bimini and is the only hotel there.  If you are at the Bimini Big Game Lodge, try your utmost to get a ground floor room.  All the rooms are the same distance from the boat and diving area, save for the second floor rooms, which involve far more walking distance and stairs.  The Big Game Lodge has individual “cottages” which are within 20 feet of the other rooms.  Those cottages would be fine to stay in but cost a bit more.  

On South Bimini Island, where the airport is, there is one and only one hotel, which is the Bimini Sands hotel.  There is not much else on South Bimini.  Folks must take a very short ferry ride to North Bimini in order to eat anywhere other than the Bimini Sands.  

Deb of Epic Diving just told me that there is another hotel that divers can stay at on North Bimini Island.   Here's what Deb wrote: 

"We have been staying at either the Bimini Big Game Club or the Sea Crest Hotel, both on North Bimini.  The Big Game Club has more of a resort feel with marina, pool, bar, and restaurant on site.  The Sea Crest has more of a motel feel but offers and onsite marina and clean rooms with AC and mini-fridge.  There is no restaurant or bar which, honestly, the guests enjoyed because they were "forced" to explore a variety of restaurants on the island." 

Lastly, I'd should mention that when I got back home, I called Silver Airways and cancelled the flight back that I had with them later that week.  I told them the reasons why I did not wish to take that upcoming flight, and the agent immediately refunded my ticket cost.  I later wrote Silver Airways and asked that they refund my checked baggage fee, since the bags arrived late.  They never replied.  I disputed the charge with my credit card company, and after a few weeks, the credit card company refunded my account for this $25.  Small amount but a satisfying outcome. 

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In February, I traveled to Bimini Island, Bahamas, to join a group to photograph great hammerhead sharks.  I’ve posted a video clip from that one-day shoot (which was supposed to last a week).  We got weathered out, but I found out a lot about the logistics of getting to and from Bimini which I will share here.  If you wish to go on one of these great hammerhead shark trips, I give tips on what you might want to look for in such a trip. 

Getting to Bimini:

Bimini is only 60 miles from Miami, and it is the closest of all the Bahamas Islands to the mainland USA.  It’s therefore ironic that I have had the most trouble getting to Bimini and getting off – and the most trouble finding good intel on how to best get there – than any other trip to the Bahamas that I have ever done.  I’ve been to the Bahamas perhaps 20 times in my career: by boat several times for Tiger Beach and dolphins; quick one-day shoots to Stuart Cove’s on Nassau, and most recently, Cat Cay for oceanic whitetip sharks.  I’ve never had as much trouble or worry about reaching my destination as this trip. 

Bimini was a real hassle to get to because the airline that was recommended to me is so unreliable.  Several folks told me that Silver Airways from Fort Lauderdale was the best way to reach Bimini.  They stressed that Silver does charge for checked baggage, but I researched this, and while they do charge $25 for the first checked bag and a bit higher for the second, it was not a big deal. 

What WAS a big deal is that, for the five days prior to my flight, Silver Airways did not make any flights from FLL to Bimini.  Friends of mine on the same trip, who had flown in from Hong Kong, were scheduled to fly out to Bimini the day before me.  Instead, their plane never arrived, and all the hotels in the area were supposedly booked and unavailable.  My two friends, who are world travelers and divers, had to sleep in the Fort Lauderdale airport overnight!  My plane was full of tired folks who were relieved to finally catch a flight to Bimini.  There may have been folks there who had spent more than just one night at the airport! 

Because the plane was so full, Silver Airways decided, without telling anyone, to remove 75% of the luggage on the plane.  Therefore, once we all arrived in Bimini, most folks’ luggage was missing.  We were assured that our luggage would arrive the next day, but to tell the truth, the customer service agents were so unfriendly and uncommunicative, I had little faith that my bag of diving and camera gear would indeed arrive the next day. 

Some folks had mentioned “The Fast Ferry To Bimini from Miami.”  I had heard that it was unreliable.  They have a nice website but it does not give great times or dates.  The website is a bit vague. 

As it turns out, we had one great day of diving with the hammerhead sharks.  Since I did not have my luggage, I had to dive with borrowed gear, and I only had a GoPro camera to use.  It was a great dive and a great day.  My luggage did in fact arrive, but it was no use because the weather after the first day turned too windy, and we had to cut our trip short due to bad diving conditions. 

I had a flight reserved on Silver Airways reserved for Friday, and it was Tuesday.  I therefore cancelled my Friday Silver Airways flight and took the Fast Ferry to Miami ($90 for the trip).  We boarded around 9am and had to check our bags and pay a goddamn checked bag fee, if you can believe it ($25 for the first bag).  We boarded through a cavernous entry space (the ship used to be a ferry) and then a real third world dungeon kind of elevator.  The elevator then magically but slowly opened onto the LIDA deck, where the surroundings became that of a standard cruise ship rather than the gulag industrial scene from below.  The cruise ship is fine.  There’s a breakfast served (I highly recommend eating since you may be stuck on the boat for many more hours than expected).  The trip back to Miami was supposed to take 2.5 hours. 

This is a real cruise ship, albeit a small one.  There are many places to sit and relax, but if you are in the know, you should head straight to the bow of the boat, same floor as the breakfast restaurant floor, and find some seats at the bow.  There are a limited number of seats there and elsewhere where one can put his/her bags and stretch out.  It is better to be in a group to protect your space and seats.  There are plenty of seats but most of them are chairs, comfy enough – but I looked longingly at the flat couches that earlier folks had snapped up.  Once I left my seat to go to the bathroom, and it got snapped up before I returned, even though I had left a bag on it. 

The only problem with snagging seats in the bow of the boat (which has two floors) is that the cruise ship entertains passengers here with lame singing and magic performances.  I would have much preferred some peace and quiet. 

So – it was now around noon, and we reached the Port of Miami.  I had changed my airline tickets and had wrestled with the issue of whether I should stay overnight in the MIA/FLL area, or if I should book the 6pm flight out of Miami airport that was available.  I made the right decision for once!  For the next four hours, no sh*t, the ferry captain attempted in vain to dock the ship.  All of us stood in line in the bow waiting for four hours to get off.  Finally, the ship called a tugboat, and an hour later (five hours after boarding, three hours after reaching our destination), we were able to get off the boat. 

Oh, and by the way, while waiting three hours for the ship to dock, I learned from other passengers that the Fast Ferry was not able to make its scheduled departures to Bimini for five or so days before it finally arrived, due to bad weather.  So the Fast Ferry is not really that fast, and it seems to be very unreliable also.  It’s too bad. 

We were in the Port of Miami, which is close to downtown Miami.  I had reserved a couple of rental cars with Alamo, who had rental counters in the Intercontinental Hotel about 1.5 miles away.  We took both cabs and Uber (thumbs up to Uber, thumbs way down to the unfriendly and cheating cab driver) to the hotel.  I had to go to the hotel twice: once to be told that they had cancelled our car reservation after waiting for two hours (thanks, cruise ship captain for taking so long) and the second time to retrieve my bags from the ship area and return to the hotel Alamo counter to get my rental car.  It would have taken one trip if Alamo had simply had our cars there, but I can’t blame them.

So, after all this, I posted a trip report to my blog.  Someone associated with the biological station there took issue with my taking issue with all the tags on the sharks.  But he suggested a better way to get to Bimini.  Here’s what Sean Williams wrote:

I'd like to make a few comments. Bimini is like most of the other Bahamian Out Islands. It can be frustrating coming and going at times but those of us used to traveling here have very few issues. It isn't like traveling to Nassau (as you've mentioned) or Freeport. They don't land 747s here and I think that is a great thing. The real Bahamas are places like Bimini, Cat Island, Andros, etc. Not exactly remote, but not exactly urban centers either. Bimini is easy to travel to, situated just 48 miles from Miami and 52 miles from Fort Lauderdale, you can come over by boat in a few hrs with good weather. Something you can't easily do in Nassau. Besides Florida, you can also catch flights daily from Nassau on Western Air or Sky Bahamas. I highly recommend this option. With a 9am flight and a 4pm flight on Western you can often travel from home to Bimini in the same day. Flamingo Air makes daily trips from Freeport making it another travel option. In reality Bimini is one of the easier islands to come and go from, by boat or plane. You just have to know where to look or have guides that actually know the islands.

Another couple on my trip cancelled their Silver Airways flight out, and booked a flight with SkyBahamas instead.  Here’s what they wrote:

“We didn’t trust Silver Airways (despite we already bought the round trip tickets to fly on Feb 22nd Sun tomorrow), so we flew on SkyBahamas, to leave Bimini, as informed you already.

It is a much better airline, the plane itself is large (well, at least the one that we flew on, had 34-seater, but only 4 guests (incl. us two) and 3 other Sky Bahamas’s different flight’s crew riding) and flew nearly on time (just 5-min late).

There was NO bag charge, unless your bags are overweighted (we had nearly 120kgs fm the 4 check-in bags)) and we only paid USD20.

When we came (together with you) on Silver Air, they charged us USD25/person for 1st bag and USD40/person for 2nd bag, so my wife and I I totally paid USD130 for our 4 bags on Silver Airlines.

Even such a short (20-25min) flight, Sky Bahamas even gave us a drink.

Sky Bahamas check-in counter lady at Bimini told us they usually fly in from Nassau to Bimini and then continue to Fort Lauderdale, then after that the plane would go to something Marsh (Bahamas).

When you go [return} to G.Hammer in Bimini, we highly recommend you to take Sky Bahamas.

So, in summary, I am going to take Sky Bahamas if I ever return to Bimini.  I will try to avoid flying Silver Airways or taking the “Fast Ferry” to Bimini. 

One thing that folks who live near Miami and Fort Lauderdale do not have to contend with is the problem of finding a hotel room in case you are stuck at the airport or your flight/trip is cancelled.  For instance, my friends Stephen and Takako from Hong Kong had to sleep in the f***ing airport when Silver Airways cancelled their flight the day before my flight.  That would be a nightmare. 

This was one of the most stressful trips I've had to take, because these days, if you miss your connection, you are sh** out of luck with the airlines and have to find a way home by relying on the largesse and professionalism of the airline that is supposed to fly you back. 

For some reason, in mid to late February when I traveled to FLL, there were almost NO hotels in the area that were available.  This is a problem if you wish to add days to your trip to allow for things like airline cancellations, or if you need a hotel room at the last minute. 

The hotels in the FLL and Miami area were all booked up and super-expensive -- I think because of the Miami Boat Show and because February is a high month for folks going out on cruise ships.  I am a fan of Hampton Inns and just need something like them – safe, clean, comfortable, free wifi, no frills, convenient, and under $150 almost everywhere – but all the Hampton Inns in the FLL area were over $300 per night.  I refuse to pay $300 per night for a stinking Hampton Inn.  I am also a fan of La Quinta hotels (they let my dogs stay at no extra charge) and found three of those in the FLL area that charged under $140 or so. 

In Bimini, I should add, the group stayed at the Bimini Big Game Lodge.  This hotel is fine.  The food in the main bar and restaurant is not bad at all.  It was confusing to figure out what rooms to reserve.  The Big Game Lodge has “king cottages” and rooms like Queen superior, double deluxe, like a hamburger menu.  Just know that you don’t need the cottages, really, if you are an average diver and photographer.  The cottages are basically in the exact same place as the main hotel rooms.  For convenience, definitely get a ground floor room, not a second floor room.  The ground floor rooms have back patio doors so getting your gear and cameras out of the room and to the diving area/boat area is far easier than having to navigate the extra 100 yards and stairs to a second floor room. 

I wish that there was an alternative to the Big Game Lodge for lodgings on Bimini.  When I arrived, I was the last person, since I had stayed back at the airport to make sure that our bags were reported missing.  (As a former trip leader, I do these things even when I am not leading a trip).  Once I got to the Lodge, everyone else had checked into their rooms, and I was told that there were no ground floor room and my second floor room would not be ready until 3pm.  This was noon.  I wandered around, checked my room, saw that it was still not ready at 3pm, and then went back and asked for a ground room again.  Voila!  Miraculously, now, they had plenty of ground floor rooms available.  I would have been most unhappy with a second floor room. 

I booked my room at the Big Game Lodge six months earlier.  When I checked out, I discovered that they are now imposing a $35 per night “resort fee” which is ridiculous.  Their room rates are increasing as well.  All this means is that you will be paying an exorbitant $200 or so per night for a very basic hotel room.  At least the internet worked pretty well. 

Maybe there is an alternative to Bimini to see great hammerhead sharks consistently, somewhere?  At this point, I'd rather not have to go back to Bimini for a number of reasons. It was a real hassle to get to because the airline is so unreliable.  Silver left most of group's luggage so I had only a GoPro for the one and only day of diving.  The Fast Ferry, from what I gathered, is not reliable also.  The hotels in the FLL and Miami area were all booked up and super-expensive -- I think because of the Miami Boat Show and because February is a high month for folks going out on cruise ships.  These days, if you can’t rely on your island airline to get you back in time for your flight home, you are in deep sh*t because you forfeit your space and dollars on  your flight home and rebooking will cost you all the more hassle, less choice on seats, and more dollars for the last-minute booking.  All bad. 

Lastly, I'd should mention that when I got back home, I called Silver Airways and cancelled the flight back that I had with them later that week.  I told them the reasons why I did not wish to take that upcoming flight, and the agent immediately refunded my ticket cost.  I later wrote Silver Airways and asked that they refund my checked baggage fee, since the bags arrived late.  They never replied.  I disputed the charge with my credit card company, and after a few weeks, the credit card company refunded my account for this $25.  Small amount but a satisfying outcome.