Bimini | Part One

Let's just cut straight to the chase... I have fallen completely in love with an island.

AND... I firmly believe that, once I share all of these pictures, you will too.

First things first, you'll probably want to know where exactly this 

little slice of paradise is located. I won't lie, I had never even heard of Bimini until

Real Housewives of Miami (and Bryan says those shows have no intellectual content!) 

Mr Fishing-Obsessed, on the other hand, claims he has watched tons of fishing

shows on the island and was fascinated by all of the fish forums and stories.

I remember the plane ride home from our honeymoon; while starting to descend into Miami,

Bryan pointed out a little sliver of an island that had hundreds of boats around it and said

"We are GOING there!" 

Bimini is located in the westernmost district of the Bahamas. 

It's only around 50 miles or so east of Miami, Florida. 

The island is comprised of North and South Bimini and is only about

8 square miles in its entirety. 

Now, how do you get your Pina Colada sippin butt to Bimini you ask? 

You can definitely fly there from Miami- it's only about a 20 minute plane ride

but those private planes will cost you a pretty penny.

There's also the Bimini "Super Fast" which is owned by Resorts World

(one of the largest resorts on the island) that basically looks like a small

cruise ship that charters people from Miami to Bimini for around $100 bucks per person.

OR... you could be completely awesome and adventurous and take your

own boat. We opted for the latter :) 

Six of us loaded up on Tuesday evening to head

South on our friends' beautiful 30' Sail Fish to put in at Pompano Beach

and our first evening went a little something like this.. 

6:30 PM - Everyone loads up the luggage and we hit the road.

6:35 PM - The girls already have to pee. We stop at a gas station.

6:35 - 11:00 PM - The girls talked. And talked. And talked. The boys

eventually whipped out their ear plugs (which Landon so thoughtfully

purchased for all of them) and blocked us out.

11:00 PM - We all hear a loud noise pulling off the interstate and turn around to see one of

the trailer tires flying off and rolling down the road. Great.

11:05 PM - We pull over to find not one, but two trailer tires have been blown.

11:30 PM - The boys call a tow truck driver after relentlessly trying to find

a tire repair shop that is still open. 

11:30 - 1:00 AM - We sit. And wait.

1:30 AM - Someone suggests the brilliant idea that the girls go to Walmart

to grab our groceries for the trip while we wait for the tow truck driver, so we don't

have to go in the morning.

2:00 AM - We discover the Walmart in Palm Beach Gardens is actually

the worst place in the entire world at 2 o'clock in the morning.
But. We get the essentials.

2:30 - 4:00 AM - The tow truck driver tries to repair our tire. The girls sleep.

4:30 AM - Tire is finally fixed!
(All hopes of renting a hotel room where we can comfortably lay down
our heads for the night are out the window at this point)

5:00 AM - We arrive at the bait shop to grab all of the necessities for the trip.

Because waking up to the smell of fresh bait after only 1 1/2 hours of sleep

is something every girl wants to do.

6:00 AM - The boys purchase an obscene amount of Bud Light and all

this girl wants is an extra-frickin-large coffee.

7:00 - 8:00 AM - We gas up the boat. This literally takes an hour.

300-gallon tanks are super fun!

9:00 AM - Boat is FINALLY in the water and we are 

O F F I C I A L L Y 

on our way to Bimini. On 2 hours of sleep. In an Excursion. 

After what felt like the longest night of my entire life, I must say, 

once we hit that turquoise blue water of Bimini... it was all worth it.

After docking at customs and getting all of our passports stamped (by the way, you need a passport!)

we cruised around to South Bimini and docked at our new home for the week-

which was absolutely adorable and RIGHT on the water. 

We snorkled around for a little bit and then we jumped back

on the boat to cruise around and explore the beautiful blue waters.

Photo with Starfish: Checckkkk!

 The Sapona or "Concrete Ship"
Ignore the water spot in the photo- we're still working our way through
taking still pictures on the GoPro. This is an absolute must see when you visit Bimini.
The ship is located off of South Bimini and is prime time for snorkeling
(or jumping! - See Day 2)

We headed back to our little Bohemian villa and everyone showered

and jumped on the golf cart to head to dinner at the Big Game Club on North Bimini.

At this point, most of us had been up for almost 36 hours so pictures weren't happening
and honestly, we almost fell asleep, facedown, in our entrees.
We literally could NOT wait to get into our beds and go to sleep.
(You almost forgot that we were running on practically NO sleep didn't you?)

Next up: Days 2, 3 and 4!