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Issue link: https://digital.miamilivingmagazine.com/i/941763
Bimini is literally an "island in the stream" only 50 miles east of South Florida. What is so astonishing, besides Hemingway's apt description of the Gulf Stream's color, is how close the 5 m.p.h. "river" of north-pushing current approaches the islands of Bimini. By boat or plane the shallow water around the narrow strip of North Bimini turns turquoise with a sandy bottom punctuated by turtle grass, sea fans, and patches of coral reef. No wonder the Biminis, stretching 28 miles north-south, have lured great anglers like Hemingway and even boasts "traces" of the fabled Lost Continent of Atlantis in a 300-foot rectangular rock in 40 feet of water just offshore. From Fisherman's Village and the adjacent 280-slip marina (boats up to 200-feet), it's a quick customs welcome and off you go by golf cart to the Hilton at Resorts World Bimini with 10 restaurants, cafés and bars; three swimming pools; a 10,000-sq. ft. casino; and Luna Beach, their new luxury lifestyle Beach Club and Restaurant. The narrow land for the 2016 hotel is partially reclaimed from an existing canal. According to their Coconut Grove-based architect, Zeb Jarosz, the four-floor, mainly concrete structure was built in staggered sections with different floor details to reduce the scale and prevent a monotonous straight sight line. Says Jarosz: "It was a contemporary interpretation of tropical architecture but in a veiled way relying primarily on certain details and colors and a human scale." Guests are greeted at the lobby check-in desk by a cluster of several dozen inverted, drop-down, vase- like ceiling fixtures in various bronze tones. Behind the reception, the Raw Bar offers seafood treats, handcrafted cocktails or wine by the glass with a happy hour daily from 4-6 pm. The beige-and-brown, columned, multi- functional space includes the adjacent 24-seat sushi bar with their Sun of a Beach roll, nigiri, sashimi, and noodle dishes; a few steps over, The Tides Restaurant overlooks the boat canal and provides basic fare from morning eggs benedict to citrus marinated mahi mahi for lunch to pastas, wood-fire pizza and grilled steaks at night.