The Baleària Caribbean ferry departs Terminal 21 at Port Everglades seven times weekly, covering the forty-eight nautical miles to Bimini in two hours and forty minutes.
The service launched in 2022 when the Spanish operator repositioned a high-speed catamaran from Mediterranean routes, targeting South Florida's weekend leisure market. Unlike overnight cruise ships that anchor offshore, the Bimini ferry lands passengers at the Resorts World dock on North Bimini, granting immediate island access without tender transfers.
Bimini holds dual appeal: Ernest Hemingway fished its waters between 1935 and 1937, drafting portions of To Have and Have Not at the Compleat Angler Hotel, and marine biologists prize its three-mile barrier reef, the westernmost outcrop of the Bahamas' limestone shelf. The crossing itself traverses the Gulf Stream's warmest current, visible as a cobalt band where Atlantic water meets Florida Straits outflow. Passengers frequently sight pod migrations of Atlantic spotted dolphins between April and August.
A day cruise to Bahamas from Fort Lauderdale operates under strict customs protocols. U.S. citizens require valid passports; enhanced driver's licenses are insufficient. Bahamas immigration pre-clearance occurs at Terminal 21 before boarding, and U.S. Customs re-entry processing happens upon return to Port Everglades. The vessel carries three hundred sixty passengers across two climate-controlled decks, with onboard concessions limited to packaged snacks and soft drinks. No alcohol is sold during the outbound journey under Bahamian entry regulations.
Island time spans six hours. Most visitors walk the quarter-mile stretch from the dock to Radio Beach, where tidal flats expose conch beds at low water. The shipwreck of the SS Sapona, a concrete-hulled freighter run aground in the 1926 hurricane, sits three hundred yards offshore and appears in aerial sequences from several James Bond films. Shore excursions include guided snorkeling at the Bimini Road formation, a submerged limestone pavement some fringe researchers link to Atlantis folklore, though geologists classify it as naturally fractured beachrock dating to the Pleistocene.
15 hr
