Diving with Great Hammerheads in Bimini, Bahamas

Bimini, along the western part of the Bahamas, is a cozy little island that's extremely easy to get around in just a golf cart.

After flying into Fort Lauderdale, there are a few options to get over to Bimini, Bahamas. You can take the ferry, Balearia Caribbean, or head to Tropic Ocean Airways for a quick, but scenic, 25-minute ride into the island via seaplane. The ride was incredibly smooth and absolutely stunning, with views of the coast and the water along the way. Not to mention, you're there much faster with the ferry taking about two hours.

Tropic Ocean Airways is an incredible option to get you there quickly and efficiently, just about a 10-minute Uber ride from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

Check into the Hilton at Resorts World Bimini

Once you arrive in Bimini, you'll realize quickly that the island is fairly small and most people get around by golf carts. You can rent a golf cart during your time there, with signage giving you directions to the Hilton at Resorts World Bimini. There's also a trolley that the resort has that brings you around certain areas of the island if you don't want to bother with a personal golf cart, and plan on just staying near the resort.

The hotel is absolutely stunning, with two beautiful pools overlooking the water. There's an infinity pool on the fifth floor of the hotel, in addition to a pool on the first floor with a swim-up bar that goes along the perimeter of the hotel, overlooking the lagoon. The King Lagoon Balcony Rooms are spacious and comfortable with a terrace overlooking the water and a rainfall shower.

Stuart Conch Salad Stand in Bailey Town

The Hilton at Resorts World Bimini has plenty of dining options, with a delicious Stir Fried Noodle dish with plump shrimp, assorted veggies, soy sauce, oyster sauce, peanuts, tamarind, lime, cilantro, and scallions and plenty of sushi rolls from The Sushi Bar. Save room for the Banana Tempura with Coconut Lychee Ice Cream.

If you're looking to venture out, take your golf cart to Stuart's Conch Stand for some delicious conch salad with garlic salt, tomato, onions, and green peppers and their famous Bimini Knockout Punch made from a blend of fruit juices and rum. You can eat there, while overlooking all of the conch shells and watching the pelicans eat their dinner, too.

Neal Watson's Bimini Scuba Center

At Neal Watson's Bimini Scuba Center, they offer a wide variety of opportunities to swim with ocean life in the wild through their range of activities like the Reef Shark Safari, the Wild Dolphin Safari, the Stingray Safari, the Tiger Beach Expedition, and snorkeling excursions, among others.

By far, the excursion they are known best for is their Great Hammerhead Shark Safari, where guests have an opportunity to not only get in the water with these incredible apex predators but watch them up close and personal. You meet at the Bimini Big Game Club Resort & Marina in North Bimini, The Bahamas. The excursion costs $339 + 10% Value Added Tax (VAT), but that includes all of your necessary tanks and weights. During hammerhead season, the weather is a little bit cooler than usual, so having a 5 mm wetsuit, a hood, and gloves is definitely recommended to keep you nice and warm while you're down there for up to two hours.

The Great Hammerhead Safaris run during a certain time of the year (November through April), so be sure to plan accordingly. Once guests are geared up and checked in a half an hour early, the group will head onto the boat and go over safety training on your short ride out, only about 10 minutes or so to the dive site.

The actual dive site is not too deep, so the second you get in the water on a clear day, you get a pretty good view of the hammerheads from above and plenty of nurse sharks before heading down to the sandy ocean floor. You'll kneel down with a pole used as a barrier if the sharks get too close and weights to keep you grounded during this stationary dive where you just observe for about two hours with in-and-out privileges available if you want to take a little break on the boat.

The sharks will swim around you and over your head with plenty of safety guides down there with you to manage the situation. In addition to all of the nurse sharks swimming around and great hammerheads, there's a possibility to see scalloped hammerheads, bull sharks, and tiger sharks. If a tiger shark appears, then it pretty much becomes a tiger shark dive because the other sharks generally disperse. Again, the dive lasts around two hours and is a truly incredible experience where you can get up-close views of these beautiful animals.

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