The Sapona and Gun Cay

What would a vacation be without hitting some of the local tourist attractions?  I was never one to take a vacation and do nothing.  Sure, I can do that for a half a day or so, but the thrill of a new place for me is seeing the sights, walking the walk.

With Bimini, the attractions, like most things on the island, is a DIY affair.  There aren't many tour companies, booze cruises, or chartered boats.  The island still relies (for the near future anyhow) on private boat tourism as its main revenue stream.

The one exception, and one that is certainly a polarizing topic, is the Resorts World Bimini outfit, that is building a pier for their cruise ship to dock at, which may turn Bimini into the newest day tripper spot out of South Florida, changing the dynamic of the island drastically by most accounts.  For good or bad, however,  remains to be seen.

After a relaxing morning which saw a beautiful sunrise, we treated ourselves to a nice breakfast, and planned out our day.

When reading about a new boating area, I like to hit a few of my normal haunts for information, like thehulltruth.com, yachtforums.com,  as well as whatever google decides to toss my way.  Inevitably, you start to see a pattern of the same things come up, and you get a good idea where you stand.  Two places kept popping up, and so there you go.  Itinerary; done.  First on the list was the Sapona.  The Sapona is a concrete ship (as in, made of concrete, not carried it...) that sunk/beached in a hurricane back in 1926.   The history of the Sapona is pretty neat, and a decent read. But better than the read is the snorkeling!  Fish a plenty, eerie looking from inside, the Sapona makes for a great spot to hop in the water and see the sights.

Wild, right??  My brother snagged some terrific conch shells as souvenirs, and all in all, we had a blast.  

Next up on the list, after a nice lunch on the water, was Gun Cay, and its not so well known Honeymoon Harbor.  Gun Cay is a tiny spit of land about 5 miles south of Bimini.  It's uninhabited, and pretty devoid of structure outside of an automated light house.  On the North end, there is a natural sandbar that creates a wonderful anchorage, and with a small boat, you can nose right into it, and be treated to some of the clearest water in the Bahamas. 

Also hanging out at Gun Cay are a nice, very friendly population of stingrays.  They are trained to expect snacks from the visitors, so once you hop in the water, you can be sure that you will get a hello, and a nudge, to fork over the goodies.  Luckily, we had a few boxes of squid to keep them entertained.  In the photo below, my yellow mesh bag had the squid in it...  Can you guess who his new buddy was?

Once we got to shore, the fun continued!  Apparently, they really enjoyed the squid.  For the better part of half an hour, we were able to get to know our two hosts, and they allowed us to hand feed them, play with them a bit, and feel their undulating wings as they passed through water as shallow as 6 inches.  Astonishing to say the least.

It's not on any tour itineraries, no cruise ships stop here, and I think that makes this place just a little bit more special than many of the places that I have been.  You really get a great sense of the tropics in a place like this one.  Fantastic.  This was a day that I will remember for a very long time, and I'm very thankful that I had my family and friends there to enjoy it with.

Well, thats enough reminiscing for now.  Ill let you all digest this bit before we go on to our next installment.

For those of you who have been to the Bahamas by boat yourself, where is your favorite spot??  Let me know!