Shallow Snorkel Spot off of Bimini or Gun Cay
Anyone have a suggestion for a shallow water snorkel spot off of Bimini or Gun? I need a place I can take my 5 and 7 yr olds to that will hold enough life to keep their attention for an hour or two. Any thoughts?
We already have plans to hit the concrete ship and see the stingrays at honeymoon.....
Feel free to IM me if you prefer to keep any ideas private.
We already have plans to hit the concrete ship and see the stingrays at honeymoon.....
Feel free to IM me if you prefer to keep any ideas private.
Intrepid 370 - "My Favorite"
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Cool that you are taking your kids there. I have some happy memories of the Bahamas when I was young and wasn't able to do much Bahama travel with my 4 kids.
A cool wreck that is shallow is the old C-46 cargo airplane south of South Bimini up on the bank. Run south down the beach of South Bimini and make a nice left turn at the end of the island. Take up a heading of about 070 on the compass and run a few miles. You should see what looks like two channel markers but it's the landing gear of the upside wreck. This is a pretty big airplane...... about the same size as a B-17 bomber.
The story is that it was trying to sneak into Bimini at night around 1984, in the rain with who-knows-what 'cargo' aboard. They failed to see the runway and when they shoved the throttles forward to pull up, one engine failed and it did a big barrel roll into the water, landing on its back about 1/2 mile south of the runway on South Bimini.
Because it is shallow, I'd try to see it at/near high tide. 100 yards or so out, slow way down and crawl in near it as there is at least one big engine sitting on its back and very near the surface. You don't want to hit that!
Google Earth might show it.........
Some more info here as well..........
http://www.ruudleeuw.com/search103.htm
the kids will love it. see the picture for location.
when going around, stay a good distance off of the north point of bimini. it is very rocky. and depending on your draft, you can get a few hundred feet from the opening of the channel.
its an area that is not explored a lot but it is fun to do, in part because of all of the debris that washes up there.
yes, there is enough water, but you probably need to stay a good distance from the rocks at the north and from the land at the east. once near the channel, you probably are going to be 1/4 out or so from it. see the chart below and keep a good look out. the bottom there is sandy/rocky like at the sapona. i've seen sporties anchored nearby but they dont get as close as i get. it is one of the cooler things to do in bimini. the water is cool and clean and it's like a lazy river. the kids love it in part because of what we find around the area.