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Bimini, Bahamas 

I almost hesitate to tell of this hidden gem of an island that is so easily accessible while virtually unknown.  The water is beautiful and the glass is abundant.  For our trip in September 2019, we flew Silver Airlines into South Bimini and took a shuttle and a ferry to North Bimini.  We had called ahead to arrange for golf cart rental from Renee and Sluggo's, and Renee met us at the ferry.  We rented a two bedroom seaside house on Radio Beach and had the entire beach to ourselves on every day but the last.

North Bimini is a small island, only about 7 miles long and 200 yards wide.  There is a Hilton Resort Casino occupying the north end of the island, with ferry service to and from Miami.  A stay in the south part of the island is not for everyone; it is a crazy quilt of older buildings, with some neat and well-maintained like our seaside cottage, and others tending toward ramshackle.  When you enter the gates of the resort, the contrast is stark - neat, well manicured landscaping, with modern buildings and an atmosphere resembling any other resort.

We did most of our sea glass hunting right in front of our cottage on Radio Beach.  Sea glass was plentiful on any of the beaches on the south end of the island.  We had six-foot rollers crashing in, courtesy of offshore storms, powerful enough so that you could see large conch shells being tossed through the surf.  Each tide brought in a new crop of glass.  The sand here is very coarse, and the glass is frosted quickly.  This is new glass; most of the pieces where relatively flat with irregular shapes but well frosted, making it ideal for artwork.  Greens and whites were plentiful with "sea foam" and occasional blue pieces as well.  Some visitors will be dismayed at the other trash and debris that is washed up; each day a few more discarded shoes, bottles, and other discarded items would wind up at the tide line.  This same surf that produced the large quantities of glass meant that the weather was too rough for the diving charters, but that is the chance you take when visiting Bimini during the storm season.

On our last day the water was much more calm, and we resorted to snorkeling for glass.  We probably could have gone to one of the other beaches and just picked it up, but this was something I wanted to try.  By this time, we had a large enough haul so that I had sorted the glass and discarded the less desirable pieces.  Diving for glass was definintely fun but less efficient.

The beaches on the resort had a different quality of sand and I suspect it was brought in.  We did not find much glass on this beach.  If you stay at the resort, you can expect a resort experience: the food is decidedly American, as is the atmosphere.  You could stay there and rent a golf cart to take you to the other beaches.  However, if you stay outside the resort, do not expect the type of amenities you will find stateside.  You will need cash, because many of the local establishments do not accept credit cards, and on our trip, none of the three ATMs on the island were operational.  US dollars and Bahamian dollars are used interchangeably.  Edith's Pizza and Nate's Bimini Bread are justifiably famous, and we had an excellent "high end" meal at Bimini Big Game Club.  For the less adventurous, the resort had resort-quality food, aimed at the palates of American tourists.  The island is one of the Bahama's top dive destinations and is famous for its bonefishing.  There is a market near the South Bimini ferry landing for the obligatory tee shirts for the grandchildren and other tourist stuff.  You must also always remember that you are on "Island Time," meaning: no one else is in a hurry and you shouldn't be either!

Please come to one of the venues and we can trade information on our glass hunting trips!

Other beaches I have visited:
1. Seaham Beach, Seaham, England, U.K
2. Vieques Island, Vieques, Puerto Rico, USA
3. North Bimini, Bahamas
4. Inverness, Nova Scotia, Canada
5. McCurdy Point, Port Townsend, Washington, USA
6. Texas Gulf Coast
7. Maine Coast (USA)
8. Souris, Prince Edward Island, Canada
 
nancyb@sanddollarseaglass.com

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