Bimini is the westernmost district of the Bahamas, a chain of low-lying islands just 80 kilometres east of Miami. It is famous for big-game fishing — Ernest Hemingway spent long summers here in the 1930s, and the marlin and tuna fishing remains world-class — but the islands have a relaxed, end-of-the-road feel that goes beyond the sportfishing crowd.
North Bimini is where most visitors stay. The main settlement, Alice Town, is a single-street affair with a few bars, restaurants, and the kind of history that comes from being this close to Florida: rum-running during Prohibition, Hemingway brawling at the Compleat Angler, and Martin Luther King Jr. writing parts of his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize at the End of the World Bar. Don't miss the Dolphin House, a folk-art building covered in shell mosaic.
South Bimini is quieter and home to the Bimini Biological Field Station, where researchers study lemon sharks in the surrounding mangroves. The snorkelling — over the Bimini Road and the half-sunk SS Sapona — is good, the beaches are empty, and the water is that particular shade of turquoise the Bahamas does better than anywhere. Ferries run from Miami (about two hours) and there are daily flights from Fort Lauderdale.