Summer Breeze: MISC BIMINI PICS, Winter 2012-13

WE'RE SPENDING THE LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS OF DECEMBER 2012 AND THE FIRST COUPLE OF WEEKS OF JANUARY 2013 ON SOUTH BIMINI at Bimini Sands Marina. I've got too many photos with which I must deal, so here's a bunch of miscellaneous pics.

Bimini Sands Marina entrance on South Bimini

Channel into Alicetown, North Bimini

Dinking in Alicetown channel with friends from Anjo

Our Christmas 2012 Tree

Lionfish under the dock

This is the bow cabin which is normally packed solid since it is our "garage" for supplies. It's ready for guests.

I decided to make a new conch horn to go with my Key West conch horn. This one came from here in the marina under the boat . . . tasty, too.

Alicetown Conch salad, anyone?

Typical Alicetown road; there are only two; this is the main drag.

We celebrated New Years Eve at the Bimini Sands Restaurant & Square Grouper . . . big seafood buffet, Junkanoo entertainment, & a great fireworks display.

Nearly got ran over by a seaplane in the Alicetown Channel. My next pic was blurry because it was over my shoulder and just missing us.

Waiting for the propane guy at the old Chalks seaplane ramp.

Mailboat arrival in our marina.

On January 8, we rented a golf cart with friends and spent the morning exploring all of North Bimini . . . Alicetown, Bailey Town, Porgey Bay, & the new Bimini Bay development. Above are some of their new rentals. It was a ghost town this time of year.

"Done glass" hunting.

If you just MUST build an ugly cell tower, why not build them like this new one on Bimini Bay?

The 270-foot SAPONA was built by Henry Ford in 1911. She served as a troop transport for just one trip during World War I. After the war, the Sapona was used by rumrunners between the Bahamas and Florida during Prohibition. Some say she was anchored and turned in to a private drinking and gambling club or simply a storage warehouse for rum. A hurricane in the late 1920s drove the ship aground between South Bimini and Cat Cay, where she only partially submerged. During WWII it was used a bombing target for the Air Force & Navy pilots. In fact, Navy Flight 19 that disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle was on its way back to Florida from target practice on the Sapona. It was also used as a film sight in the James Bond movie "Thunderball" and many other movies.

My camera is seeing things that we couldn't . . . "ghost ship?" it looks like the Sapona before it went down.

I was already tasting the blackened yellowtail snapper that we were going to have for supper as I reeled this beauty in. However, Mr Toothy, obviously had sushi on his mind and wasn't going to share. Jerk.

No, you really shouldn't park here! Here's a new arrival to North Bimini . . . either flunked "Anchoring 101" or "Basic Navigation".

"Gallant Lady", small freighter that left Belize City and was deposited on North Bimini by Hurricane Mitch in 1997. It amazing how much of her has rusted away in the past 8 years that we've been coming here; I'll bet she's totally gone in another 8 years.