The first port of call for many boats heading out out from Florida to the Bahamas and beyond, Bimini is a small group of islands and a major tourist destination.

We spent our time on the island sorting out the boat so fewer things would fly about when the seas got a bit rough and also exploring our first island getaway.

Hilton resort – where are all the boats?

Bimini has a mixture of colourful cottages, derelict buildings and a big Hilton resort.  Interestingly, the marina attached to the Hilton was almost empty, despite this being a fairly busy time of year.

Bimini Island

We hired a golf cart, a popular way to get about the small island, checked out a ship wreck, some blow holes (video coming as soon as we work out how to edit videos!) and finished up with dinner of conch fritters at the marina restaurant.

Conch (pronounced ‘conk’ to those in the know) are a large single footed shellfish that lives on the flats of the Bahama Bank. You just scoop them up, smash a hole on the end, sever the muscle and cook them up. Easy to catch, but not easy to digest. You either have to grind them to mush and deep fry them with lots of batter (conch fritters) or bash them for hours till they are soft, then finely slice them into a ceviche vinaigrette (conch salad).  Due to the lack of any other food source in days gone by, there are huge piles of holed conch shells in the shallows near every town. If you find a whole conch shell, you can saw the last centimetre off and turn it into a conch-horn to blow at sunset.

The blow holes on the surf side of the island: I’m really not sure this was safe, although Pete was cheering them on!