Day 48:

Brown’s Marina, Bimini, Bahamas (docked)

March 3, 2022

It was partly cloudy but it was yet another beautiful morning in Bimini. A cool thing about the clarity of the water is how we can see so many fish – Lailia is floating on a giant aquarium.

Not sure what was happening out on the shallows east of us. There were four small boats in the water (and later on the sand). We never saw people on or around these boats.

There’s a lot of conch here – I am partial to conch fritters. The shells are ubiquitous in rubble piles. Sometimes they’re added to fences and fence posts. When we were kids conch shells were special things at beach souvenir shops and here they’re just no biggie. It’s the conch meat that’s valuable.

Ernest Hemingway was a frequent visitor to Bimini; he often stayed in the Compleat Angler Hotel right on Queen’s Highway (the “the low road” here since it’s on the low side of the island). That hotel burned in the early 2000s and has not been rebuilt. Bimini has a lot of “used to be” places -places that have been damaged by fire or hurricane. There’s not a lot of money in their economy. Cruise ships drop off passengers who take golf carts all over town, but they’re not rebuilding the infrastructure on this small island

The Bahamian government is serious about Covid prevention. Most Biminites wear masks all of the time and all stores require masks. We had to present negative Covid tests within 72 hours prior to entering the Bahamas and had to be tested on the fifth day of our stay. The second test was performed by a nurse at the local clinic today. She submitted our results and tonight we received our official notice from the government regarding our health visas. Their graphic designer did a great job with the logo.

The wind is rising and Lailia is moving a bit more. The water has definitely been more choppy. We’re seeing a forecast for a real blow, so we’ll be rocking a bit for a few days. Luckily it won’t be raining so we’ll be able to walk around town if we need to get off Lailia for a bit.