Outdoors: Breaking down best of Bimini

Source URL: http://jacksonville.com/sports/outdoors/2011-03-26/story/outdoors-breaking-down-best-bimini

By Jim Sutton

ALICE TOWN, BIMINI — The islands of the Bahamas are as varied as the cities of Florida.Nassau might as well be Miami Beach. Paradise Island could be Las Vegas. Larger Out Islandswould bring to mind Pensacola. The smaller ones might mimic Cedar Key in flavor.

But Bimini is different.

You'd need to mix the history of St. Augustine with the angling aura of Key West, then stir in abig pinch of Cassadaga for some spooky smokiness. Bake it all under a tropical sun and whatyou get is an original piece of geography, history and genealogy that runs much deeper thanpretty beaches, rum cocktails and "dem boneyfishes."

Though Eleuthera was settled earlier, Bimini is the island where history shows. Much of theinfrastructure from its rum-running heyday remains. The island's 1,600 inhabitants are largelythe progeny of African slaves, freed by Great Britain in the early 1800s. The people revel in theirroots and embrace island history. They speak the King's English, but you'd better listencarefully.

If you really want to sample the depth and color of the island dialect, shank a cast to a tailingpermit with charter captain Bonefish Ebbie staring over your shoulder.

The island is seven miles long and 700 feet wide. You rarely hear of the pretty beaches, butthey are a two-minute walk through town, crossing its only road, The King's Highway. The islandis steeped in strange occurrences and stories. There's a complex pattern of limestone rocks offthe coast that many believe to be the remnants of the road to the lost city of Atlantis. A HealingHole is a spring of fresh water percolating out of a salty mangrove swamp. It's said to havespecial minerals in it that heal body and mind. Then there are the ever-present ghosts ofrum-runners and other smugglers of more modern contraband.

History recaptured

We were there to see the resurgence of one of the islands' more historic fishing icons, the BiminiBig Game Club. Founded in 1936 as a supper club, it morphed into a marina/hotel and over theyears has hosted both the famous and infamous. Ernest Hemingway, Zane Grey, HowardHughes, Michael Lerner and Ted Williams are at the top of that iceberg.

But the storied club had fallen on hard times and disrepair. Enter renowned artist and patron ofall things marine, Guy Harvey, who gathered together the financing and vision to rescue theclub. It was an historic renovation more than reconstruction, with attention paid to thearchitectural integrity and ambiance of the original facility.

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It's resurgence is an economic boost to this tiny town.

We were there for another reason, too, celebrating the anniversary of the world record(12-pound test) bonefish catch 40 years earlier to the day. Angler Jerry Lavinstein has passedon. But his guide, Ansil Saunders, is still poling the flats at 79. A party and parade were thrownin his honor. He was given a plaque that included a photo of the angler, the fish and captainthat the grandfather of Bimini guides, himself, had never seen.

He told the story of that day on the water, how the fish spooled the spinning reel twice beforebeing turned the final time after an hour. It weighed, he said, 16 pounds, 3 ounces, though theIGFA recorded 16 pounds even. "I don't know where the other three ounces ever went," he said.

Saunders is just one of a set of remarkable brothers who have garnered world acclaim forguiding, boat-building and chronicling the history of the island. There's a long list of royalty,raconteurs, movie stars and angling legends who fished on the bow of Ansil's hand-laid boats.The first to come to mind most often for him seem to be Martin Luther King Jr. and some DallasCowboy cheerleaders.

The club

The Bimini Big Game Club has reopened for fishing, but it's more. Harvey and his partners wantan eco-destination. Education will be as much a part of the plan as recreation, and guests canset that ratio themselves. Phase II plans include guest lecture series, interactive sessions withHarvey or members of his research institute and field trips to the Bimini Biological Field station,one of the premier shark labs in the world. The Bimini Big Game Club has 51 rooms, 75 slips,retail shops, charter services, a restaurant and a dive program run from the 60-foot glass-bottomed dive boat, the Bimini Blue.

But if you really have to fish, the Gulf Stream is a rifle-shot away. Wahoo, dolphin and bluemarlin are the main targets. On the inside, bonefish feed in clear mangrove shallows. There arejust four local guides running charters, so the miles of flats are pretty much your own.

The connection

Northeast Florida has some Bimini connections now, including Vaughn Cochran of Black FlyOutfitters. Cochran has partnered with Harvey to outfit the fly shop at the Bimini Big Game Cluband a series of other Guy Harvey Outpost properties in the works. He has managed severalfishing lodges in the Caribbean. He's a popular artist and can shame mortal men with a10-weight fly rod. A younger Cochran toured with Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Bandplaying banjo, bass and washboard.

Bimini is the closest of the Bahamas Islands to Florida. At 50 miles off the coast, it's an hour runover with a calm day and hefty horsepower. Some anglers trailer boats to Fort Lauderdale orMiami and make the crossing.

There's a new way to fly as well. AirGate Aviation now has direct flights from St. Augustine toBimini. It's the only area charter to that island. There's one scheduled flight each Saturday.Groups of four or more can book flights on demand. St. Augustine has a customs office, sothere's no secondary stop along the route to clear entry or exit. From St. Augustine, it's a90-minute flight.

Bimini's gotten better and closer too.

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For information on the Bimini Big Game Club, go to www.biggameclubbimini.com. For fishinginformation, contact Vaughn Cochran at www.blackflyoutfitter.com. For AirGate Aviation, go towww.flyairgate.com.

Links:

[1] http://www.biggameclubbimini.com

[2] http://www.blackflyoutfitter.com

[3] http://www.flyairgate.com

[4] http://jacksonville.com/sites/default/files/editorial/images/images/mdControlled/cms/2011/03/27/805965693.jpg

[5] http://jacksonville.com/sites/default/files/editorial/images/images/mdControlled/cms/2011/03/27/805965642.jpg

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