We walked over to the beach to swim and took our snorkel gear. Captain Randy did not get too far, but I put on my mask and snorkel and went under. I could see the sea floor very well, but unfortunately there was nothing there but a few leaves and shells.
We had noticed a new boat on the dock earlier that morning and saw it had a Looper flag. On the way back from the beach we went over and introduced ourselves as fellow Loopers. The boat was a small trawler from Canada named Bluenoser. The owner’s name is Jim McLarty from Ontario and he was happy to meet other Loopers too. He invited us on board but we were sandy so we stood on the dock and talked for a while. We planned to return later for drinks and more stories. I told Jim about the delicious cookies and asked if he wanted some as we were going back to the bakery for more. He lit up at and asked for a dozen chocolate chip.
After showering the salt and sand
away, we headed back to a Taste of Heaven and grew anxious when we did not see
any chocolate chip cookies in the case. They had sold all that they had
made, but to our relief offered to bake some fresh ones for us. We agreed
to come back later to pick up the cookies and begged them not to sell them to
anyone else.
We decided to return to the Dolphin House to see if Mr. Saunders was there to give us a tour. We found him in the back on the first floor where he lives. He took us up to the second floor which is set up as a small guest house with a corner kitchen, great room and 2 bedrooms. A small group was gathered there and they were renting the space for the night. Mr. Saunders told us he does rent the rooms for a night or 2, but does not want long term stays as he is constantly touring people through and working there.
The inside is even more spectacular than
the outside. Mr. Saunders said he
learned a lot from the dolphin and there are pictures of dolphin
everywhere. One bedroom is called the
Dolphin Room and the other is the Mermaid room, with lots of mermaid
pictures. Mr. Saunders prides himself on
the fact that all of the materials used in the house are recycled from the land
or found in the sea. Some things came
from the trash and he has a license plate from every state in the US except
Arkansas. He started building the house about
10 years ago and it is a work in progress.
Currently he is working on the roof, with immediate plans to put a
railing around it so people can safely be up there. The view from here is extraordinary as you
can see the water on both sides of the island as the width is only about 100
yards. From there he took us around the
perimeter of the building and into his rooms on the ground floor. The tour finished in the small museum in
front where we saw many pictures and documents as well as the remnants of a WW
II bomb recovered from the ocean. I
signed the guestbook and we thanked Mr. Saunders for all his time.
The bakery had our cookies ready and we
took some oatmeal raisin too. We got
back to the marina in time to see the “Bull Run” over at the Water Sports dock.
Bimini Big Game Club claims to have the only place in the world where you can “swim
with the bull sharks” from an underwater cage at the dock. A man and his daughter in wet suits were
given breathing mouthpieces as they entered the cage. The attendants attached fish to a line and
threw it out into the water to attract the sharks, like we saw the day
before. The sharks were there within
seconds. Captain Randy had grabbed the Go Pro
still attached to the boat hook and lowered it into the water to see if he
could film the sharks. He did manage to
do so, but they looked as if they were going to attack the camera when they
came close, so Captain Randy had to pull it up.
It was interesting to watch the sharks, however we had no desire to go
into the cage.
There was a small boat behind ours that
was selling fresh conch for $15 a bag.
The guys were friendly and posed for my pictures! We bought a bag to cook later. Time to make drinks and visit Jim. He had been a corporate pilot and flown to
many countries in his travels. His wife
was still working at a job she loves, so Jim had various friends and family
members meeting up with him to be his crew.
He had brought his boat down through the river system the same as we had
last fall. Jim had been in the Bahamas
since early December, taking in many of the out islands. He encouraged us to call him when we were
doing the Trent Sevren passage as it is close to his house. He offered to show us around the area and we
are looking forward to it.
Captain Randy pounded and pan fried our
conch that night for an authentic Bahamian meal. Perfect for our last night in the Bahamas.
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