Miami to Bimini, Bahamas: 40 Minutes to Paradise (Photos)

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The photos in this article are a collaboration between @Sean_Ensch_Images and @StephBeTravel; we traveled from Miami to Bimini for a quick weekend.

I was on en route to Junkanoo Carnival in Nassau, The Bahamas when I realized I could easily add on a weekend from Miami to Bimini. One of the 700 islands in the Bahamas, Bimini is effortless access from Miami’s sea port — a quick ferry ride or forty minute flight, and I could experience Hemingway’s lyrical island.

Little did I know that I could do so much more than bring out my inner mermaid in the Caribbean’s clearest waters.

Make Miami to Bimini worth your trip.

Here are 5 amazing things to do in Bimini, Bahamas

1. If you love the beach: Take a Swim in the Caribbean’s Clearest Waters

Hey, I said there’s much more to do than mermaid around, but let’s be honest — you’re in Bimini to live out Will Smith’s “water so clear, you can see to the bottom.” Miami’s beaches don’t remotely compare to the Bahamas’ tropical seas.

Beach at Hilton Resorts World Bimini Bahamas

Because Bahamas. ? @sean_ensch_images
A photo posted by Stephanie Be | TravelBreak (@stephbetravel) on Jun 5, 2016 at 8:33pm PDT

Swimming with the local conch shell. Please note that this is souvenir and not from the ocean floor!

2. If you love art and literature: Explore the Dolphin House and Museum dedicated to Ernest Hemingway.

Remember the classics The Old Man and the Sea and A Farewell to Arms? Hemingway moved to Bimini to write.. to live. You can drive past his home, or read his work in real-life. A gentleman by the name of Ashley Saunders, has been working on a “Dolphin House” since 1993. The house can be rented for stay, or you can pop in to tour it for fun.

The Bimini Dolphin House

The Bimini Dolphin House interior.

Ashley Saunders, artist and founder of the Bimini Dolphin House

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” – Ernest Hemingway.

3. If you love adventure: Dive with Sharks

One of the only destinations that offers open-water hammerhead shark encounters, we took a tour with Bimini Under the Sea. Important, note — I learned that you should never touch the sharks, not just because of your own safety, but because it endangers their scales. There’s a lot of unethical tourism that revolves around animals, so we did a little research before diving with Bimini Under the Sea to make sure the sharks weren’t being fed to be dependent on tourists and that they are wild and uncaged.

Shark Diving with Under the Sea Bimini

4. If you love lifestyle: indulge in hospitality.

Staying at the new Hilton at Resorts World Bimini Bahamas

Brunch at Hilton at Resorts World Bimini Bahamas

Hilton at Resorts World Bimini Bahamas lounge

5. If you love culture: do like the Bahamians.

Explore the Bimini’s local lifestyle.

Bimini, pronounced like bim-in-ee, not like “bikini” is a small island in the Bahamas. You can eat Bimini bread and conch salad, meet locals and/or indulge in smart luxury. Miami to Bimini, your next vacation — unless of course, you pull a Hemingway and never leave.

Joe’s for conch salad. Try Edith’s for pizza.

Bahamians enjoying their afternoon on the beach.