Sometimes, the best way to experience a cruise stop is to keep it simple, slow down, and take in the sights from the breezy seat of an open-air golf cart. Keeping your entire adventure on North Bimini makes for an incredibly relaxed day.

Morning: Warm Bread & Architectural Art

Once you grab your 6-passenger golf cart at the marina or resort hub near the cruise pier, put it in gear (remember to drive on the left!) and head down Queen’s Highway.

1. Warm Treats at Nate’s Bimini Breads

Make your first official stop in Bailey Town to pick up a warm loaf of Bimini’s famous sweet bread. It is a local staple that makes for the perfect grab-and-go family breakfast.

• USA Connection: This sweet, yeasty bread shares culinary roots with the Gullah-Geechee culture of the coastal US South (Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas) brought to the islands by freed and escaped slaves who settled in the Bahamas.
• Pro-Tip: It is cash-only at this local residence. Ring the bell at the window and order the coconut or raisin loaf to pull apart and share.

2. Admiring the Dolphin House Museum from the Outside

Cruise further south into Alice Town to see one of the most famous structures on the island. While you do not need to do a full indoor tour, pull your golf cart over to admire the incredible exterior of this multi-story artistic home.

• The Architecture: Built by local historian Ashley Saunders, the entire outer facade is a breathtaking, hand-built mosaic made from recycled materials, sea glass, shells, and old license plates.
• USA Connection: The Saunders family history traces back to the island’s earliest settlers. During the American Civil War, Alice Town was a primary base for Confederate blockade-runners who smuggled Southern cotton over to Europe in exchange for weapons and food.

Did You Know? The Spanish Quest for Youth

Even though you are staying on North Bimini today, the historical shadow of the Spanish Empire looms just across the water. In 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon sailed to these very islands after hearing Indigenous Arawak tales of a healing spring. He landed on South Bimini and drank from a natural limestone well (the Fountain of Youth). While he did not find immortality, his journey pushed him further northwest where he stumbled upon the North American mainland and named it La Florida.

Afternoon: Legends of the Docks & Prohibition-Era Shorelines

3. Walking the Docks at Bimini Big Game Club Resort & Marina

Park the cart and stretch your legs along the historic docks of the Big Game Club in Alice Town. This marina has long been the beating heart of Bimini’s world-famous sportfishing community.

• Ernest Hemingway’s Haven: From 1935 to 1937, Ernest Hemingway lived and fished right in these waters. His epic battles with massive marlin and tuna off Bimini’s coast inspired his classic novels To Have and Have Not and The Old Man and the Sea.
• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Sanctuary: In 1964 and 1968, Dr. King came to Bimini to find peace and write. Floating through the nearby mangroves in a small bonefish boat, he composed his historic Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech.

4. The Rum-Running Coastline

As you drive back north along the harbor side, look out at the shallow, turquoise waters.

• USA Connection: During the US Prohibition Era (1920-1933), this harbor was a bustling, chaotic black-market hub. Speedboats and amphibious planes from Miami regularly lined up along the docks of Bailey and Alice Town, loading up on cases of alcohol to sneak past the US Coast Guard into Florida.

Late Afternoon: Sun, Sand, and Salvage History

5. Swimming at Radio Beach & the Shipwreck of the Gallant Lady

Finish your perfect day by parking your cart right on the edge of Radio Beach. This pristine stretch of white sand features calm, shallow waters that are perfect for a family swim.

• The Wreck of the Gallant Lady: Walk just a few yards down the beach to see the rusted, dramatic frame of this freighter, which ran aground during a 1997 hurricane.
• A Wrecker’s History: The ship is a modern monument to the treacherous, reef-lined waters of the Bahamas. In the 1800s, Bimini’s primary economy was “wrecking” where locals legally salvaged valuable cargo from the hundreds of American and Spanish merchant ships that crashed on these shallow reefs.

Tips for Your Day

• Keep Cash Handy: US dollars are accepted everywhere, but you will want cash for the Bimini bread and any small souvenir stands.
• Time the Return: Make sure to leave Alice Town at least 45 minutes before your cruise ship’s “all-aboard” time to return your cart and catch the resort tram back to the pier.

A History of Bimini: The Gateway to the Bahamas 🇧🇸

For a pair of islands that total barely nine square miles, Bimini has played a staggeringly large role in global history. Sitting just 50 miles off the coast of Miami, Florida, North Bimini and South Bimini have long served as a geographic hinge between the Caribbean and the United States.

From Indigenous legends and Spanish conquistadors to Civil War blockades, Prohibition-era smugglers, and iconic American leaders, here is how Bimini became the historic legendary outpost it is today.

• The Lucayan Era
  Pre-1500s
  Long before European contact, Bimini was inhabited by the Lucayans, a branch of the Taíno people. They lived off the bounty of the reefs and the shallow flats. The Lucayans held deep spiritual connections to the islands, speaking of sacred, healing freshwater springs hidden in the mangrove forests of South Bimini—legends that would soon draw foreign explorers.
• Ponce de León and the Quest for Youth
  1513
  Lured by Puerto Rican Indigenous tales of a restorative land called Beimeni, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León set sail. He landed on South Bimini and drank from the natural limestone well now known as the Fountain of Youth. Though he found no magical cure for aging, his journey pushed him further northwest, leading to his historic landing on the North American mainland, which he named La Florida.
• The Era of Wrecking and the Civil War
  1800–1865
   In the 19th century, permanent settlements began to form in Alice Town and Bailey Town. The local economy thrived on “wrecking”—legally salvaging cargo from ships that crashed onto Bimini’s treacherous shallow reefs. During the American Civil War, Bimini’s proximity to the US made it a crucial haven for Confederate blockade-runners, who smuggled southern cotton out to Europe and brought food and weapons back to the South.
• The Prohibition Rum-Running Boom
  1920–1933
  When the United States banned alcohol, Bimini’s quiet docks transformed overnight into a chaotic, wildly lucrative black-market metropolis. Armed rum-runners used the islands as a massive supply depot, loading up speedboats and seaplanes to sneak whiskey and rum past the US Coast Guard into Florida. It was during this era of lawless wealth that the island’s modern tourism infrastructure began to take shape.
• Hemingway’s Big Game Haven
  1935–1937
  Renowned American author Ernest Hemingway sailed his boat, the Pilar, to Bimini and fell in love with its giant marlin and tuna. Hemingway’s residency permanently put Bimini on the map as the “Sportfishing Capital of the World.” His experiences fighting massive fish off the island’s coast directly inspired some of his greatest literary works, including To Have and Have Not and The Old Man and the Sea.
• MLK and the Civil Rights Sanctuary
  1960s
  Seeking peace away from the intense pressures of the US Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. traveled to Bimini. Guided into the serene, quiet mangroves by local bonefish guide Ansil Saunders, Dr. King found the solitude he needed to write. It was here in Bimini that he composed his historic 1964 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, as well as his final speech to the US Senate in 1968.

The Modern Legacy

Today, Bimini balances its storied, sometimes chaotic past with a reputation as a world-class destination for diving, shark conservation, and marine biology.

Whether visitors are exploring the mysteries of Bimini Road (believed by some to be the road to the lost city of Atlantis) or tracing the footsteps of the giants who walked its shores, these tiny islands remain one of the most historically significant corners of the Atlantic.