Fish and sting rays and sharks, oh my

Our first full day in Bimini, we spotted large black rays and one large nurse shark (to be debated if it was actually a bull shark) simply motoring our dinghy down the channel in North Bimini near The Big Game Club. That was pretty exciting and got my hopes up for actually swimming with such creatures.

Snorkeling “The Victories”

Based on one lonely review on Active Captain, I convince Matt, his sister, Rachel, and her boyfriend, James that we should travel south to Cat Cay to try out this great snorkeling spot. Luckily for me, it didn’t disappoint! We dropped anchor in about 8 feet of clear water a couple hundred feet off of the rock formations apparently known as “The Victories.” Matt and I jumped in and swam over to our destination to check out the sea life below. At first there were lots of tiny jelly fish (yikes!), but they gave way to some really pretty (and healthy!) fan coral and schooling fish. After a few minutes kicking around, we were convinced that it was a worthwhile spot to check out.

We head back to the boat and all four of us load into the dinghy with our snorkel gear in tow. We motor around the rocks checking for when the coral and life seems to begin. Seemingly finding that spot we began our back rolls off the dinghy into the water. Matt immediately spots a large sleeping turtle nestled under a ledge (nice!). There’s a soft current, which we let just drift us along the reef at a leisurely pace. Matt holds onto the dinghy painter (read: line attached to the dingy) so that it floats behind us. Not too long after the turtle, I spot a shark! I’m extremely excited because this is the first shark I’ve spotted while snorkeling (not diving). Unfortunately, Rachel is a bit apprehensive about seeing sharks (she’s wearing a Shark Band as deterrent even), so I’m afraid to say anything but give Matt the dive signal for shark. That doesn’t seem to work, but I notice Rachel is actually in the dinghy at this point, so I calmly say “since Rachel’s in the dinghy, there’s a shark over there.”

Matt teased me afterwards because he said he couldn’t understand what I was saying since if I saw a shark he thought I’d be way more excited and shouting it. Luckily for us this shark stayed nearby for a while, and everyone was able to catch a glimpse of it.

We also spotted a couple sting rays, barracuda, large parrot fish, angel fish, and several larger schools of schooling fish. I mark this one down as a big success and definitely a snorkeling spot worth visiting!

Of course I didn’t take my GoPro nor did I take any pictures of this spot. I’m going to get better, I promise.

Honeymoon Harbor

After enjoying a quick lunch, we pulled up our anchor and set sail (or rather motored this time) towards a little spot known as Honeymoon Harbor on Gun Cay. Once again based on merely a couple reviews from Active Captain (from 2013-2015), I convince the group that we should be able to spot lots of sting rays at this location without even getting into the water.

We enjoy a nice, calm and quick 2-hour passage up to Honeymoon Harbor, enjoying the flying fish and passing land along the way. Gun Cay is marked by a quaint red lighthouse, not too far from where we were headed.

We pull into the harbor, which is already occupied by a few other boats and locate a sandy spot to drop our anchor. We’re having trouble getting it to set, so I dive in to take a look. Immediately, I spot a cute little 1-2 foot reef shark (amazing!). It takes forever, but we finally get the anchor set in a few inches of sand and then digging into a sand bar/shelf about a foot high. We’re debating whether we should just swim to the sandy beach nearby or take the dinghy or perhaps pull out our stand up paddle boards (“SUP”). Eventually we decide to do a combination, with Rachel and I each taking a SUP and Matt and James donning their snorkel gear. Not two minutes after I get onto the SUP, I see a large nurse shark passing underneath – calmly calling it out to the group trying to contain my excitement and prevent others’ fear. It really was turning out to be our lucky day with sharks (until the next day that is – stay tuned!).

I paddle over to the beach, mostly to let Monster go the bathroom (yes, she rides with me!), but also to try to spot those silly rays I promised.

Tangent: Monster is very, let’s call it brave” when it comes to walking around the boat. She’ll have her head over the edge and two front paws wavering with only those little back feet really keeping her aboard. She mostly does this when I’m in the water and she wants to be closer to me, but doesn’t want to actually be in the water. It scares all of us though, and she just doesn’t listen when you say no. With no engines running, we decide to teach her a lesson by giving her a gentle “shove” off the boat – not a small 4 foot drop down to me in the water. This apparently has no effect though, because 5 minutes into our SUP session, she leaned too far over the front of the board and fell in on her own. No worries – she was wearing a life jacket, so i just grab her by the life jacket handle back onto the board, and continue paddling. She’s not even fazed.

As I was wading through the shallow water to bring my SUP ashore, a couple rays start approaching me – yay! Everyone else is back at the boat still, and they can’t hear me yelling to them. So I give a giant “ray” dive signal to Matt by waving my arms  and then pointing to the water below me. Turns out he understood, and everyone else started heading over.

It was a surreal experience, watching all of these rays come up to you and swim around you in only a foot or two of crystal clear water. They were extremely friendly and obviously very use to being fed.

After a short period of time, we also spotted two nurse sharks in the same area – though they were definitely more shy, preferring to keep a distance. We splashed around, musing at the rays and sharks and a few fish for a couple hours. I know you can pay to experience these types of encounters at certain designated locations, but being able to swim right up to this completely open (and free!) location to enjoy the wild life was magical.

Guess what? I didn’t take my GoPro again. I’m about to learn my lesson though. The next morning Matt and I get up early to head back over to the beach to enjoy the fish and rays and sharks one more time and capture some photos and video. I was just as impressed the second time we experienced it!

Stay tuned to hear about our next adventure in Bimini with even more sharks! You won’t be disappointed since I remembered my GoPro!