Bimini from Miami: Ferry from Port Everglades, Flights to South Bimini and a Day on North Bimini

Before sunrise the road north from Miami is nearly empty, and by the time you reach the port the first gulls are working the docks while the air already smells of diesel and salt. Then the coastline falls behind and the water turns from gray-green to the glassy blue that gives the Bahamas its reputation. Bimini sits at the end of that crossing, a thin ribbon of sand, fishing boats and low pastel buildings, and this is how a traveler based in Miami gets there and what to do once the island appears.

How do you get to Bimini from Miami?

Bimini lies about 42 miles east of Miami across open water, and the simplest way over is the high-speed catamaran that sails from Port Everglades, with a flight into South Bimini Airport as the other route. Port Everglades is in Fort Lauderdale, so the crossing begins a little north of Miami rather than at a Miami dock, and that detail shapes the morning more than anything else.

The ferry is run by Baleària, which operates in the United States as Baleària Caribbean and uses a fast catamaran, the Jaume II, on its Bahamas routes. The same company links Fort Lauderdale with Freeport on Grand Bahama, so you will see both names on the departure boards. Going by sea means you step off in Bimini with your feet already on the island, in the middle of the small harbor scene, with no further transfer on the Bahamian side.

Flying works differently. Commercial and charter airlines land at South Bimini Airport, which sits on the smaller island, and from there you cross by boat to North Bimini, where nearly everything happens.

The airport has an asphalt runway and a modest setting, close to the water, so the first thing you notice on landing is how low and green the land is. International flights from the United States use the Bimini airports, and a Bahamas carrier, Flamingo Air, connects South Bimini with Freeport.

What decides between the two is mostly where you sleep the night before, how you feel about a boat, and whether you are coming for a stay or a quick look. Travelers who want to arrive in the heart of Alice Town tend to prefer the sea route.

Those who want the sky view of the pale flats, or who are traveling by charter with a fishing or diving group, fly. Either way, the last stretch of the trip is a short hop of water in a small boat, and it is part of the charm.

Ways to get to Bimini from Miami

The Baleària catamaran from Port Everglades

This is the crossing most people picture, a modern high-speed passenger ferry leaving Port Everglades and running straight out over the Gulf Stream to Bimini. The same vessel and company also serve Freeport, so the boat is a true international ferry, with terminal procedures on both ends. Nothing about it feels like a rustic island boat, and it suits travelers who like to settle into a seat, watch the horizon and arrive rested.

From Miami you first need to get yourself up to Fort Lauderdale, and it is worth planning that leg with a little slack, since the port is a large working harbor with cruise ships docked beside it. Cruise Terminal 2 is primarily allocated to Carnival and Cruise Terminal 18 to Royal Caribbean, so the port can look busy and crowded with ship traffic. Allow yourself time to find the right building and the ferry check-in rather than following the cruise crowds.

A tip: sit on the side that gives you the view of the island as it appears. Bimini rises slowly out of the haze, first as a line of masts and then as rooftops, and the arrival into the harbor at Alice Town is the best part of this option.

Flying into South Bimini Airport

Commercial and charter airlines fly into South Bimini Airport, and visitors then take a boat across to North Bimini. The airport sits at an elevation of only 10 feet above sea level, which tells you everything about the island: the runway is a strip beside the water, and the terrain around it is flat, sandy and open to the wind.

Flights suit travelers coming for fishing, diving or a resort stay who want to move their gear in one go, and groups on charter flights. South Bimini itself is home to only a small community of a couple of hundred people, so the arrival feels quiet and local. Then comes the water transfer, a brief boat ride with the main island spread out in front of you, and with it the sense that you really have crossed to somewhere different.

Bimini is also served by North Bimini Airport, and both airports receive domestic flights from other Bahamian islands. If you are combining Bimini with a larger trip, that means you can reach it from elsewhere in the country as well as from the U.S. mainland.

The history of the Miami crossing and Resorts World

The idea of going to Bimini from Miami by sea goes back a long way, and one of the more recent chapters began with Resorts World Bimini. When the resort opened on North Bimini in 2013, it introduced a German-built ship, the MS Bimini Superfast, to carry passengers from Miami to the island. That is why many people still associate the crossing with Miami itself.

Today, the route to plan around is the one from Port Everglades, but the resort remains a major reference point on the island. It is a beachfront property of 750 acres on North Bimini and holds the only casino on the island, which opened in June 2013. If your trip is built around the resort, you can think of the ferry and airport as the two approaches that bring you to its door.

Options compared

Option	Departs from	Best for	What to know
Baleària catamaran	Port Everglades, Fort Lauderdale	Arriving by sea in Alice Town	High-speed ferry, also serves Freeport
Commercial or charter flight	United States airports	Fishing and diving groups, charter travelers	Lands at South Bimini, then a boat to North Bimini
Flamingo Air	South Bimini Airport	Linking Bimini with Freeport	Scheduled service between the two islands
Boat hop from South to North Bimini	South Bimini	Finishing the trip after landing	Ends on North Bimini, where most of the island is

Put the options side by side and the choice comes down to temperament. The ferry is the slow-travel option: you watch the coast fade, you sit through the crossing and you step off right into the island’s main settlement. The flight is the efficient option, and the boat ride across from South Bimini adds a small adventure at the end.

If you are coming from Miami and want everything to run smoothly, think about which end of the trip matters more to you. A ferry puts you in a port north of the city and asks you to be there on its schedule.

A flight gives you more room to shape the day, but trades the scenery for speed. Neither is a wrong answer, and both finish with the same pleasure of walking onto a quiet island street.

One more thing to keep in mind is that North Bimini is long and narrow, so wherever you stay, the arrival point and your lodging are rarely far apart. That makes the transfer less of a puzzle once you are on the island, and it means you can decide your route on the Miami side without worrying about a complicated second leg.

Making a day of it

Bimini rewards a slow day, and the best way to spend it is to start in Alice Town, the main settlement on North Bimini, where shops, restaurants and bars line a road known as the King’s Highway. Walk it from one end to the other and you pass colorful wooden buildings, fishing boats tied up close to the street, and bars that have been serving the same sort of crowd for decades. This is the place to try conch salad and to taste Bimini bread, the sweet loaf sold in many corner kitchens.

The island itself is a strip about 7 miles long and only a couple of hundred yards across at its narrowest, so you are never far from water on either side. One edge looks out over the open Atlantic, the other over the calm flats of the bay. That geography makes the whole place feel like a single street with the sea at both ends, and a day here is more about drifting than ticking boxes.

Sea stories: the Bimini Road and the SS Sapona

Two famous sights are in the water. Off the bluff of North Bimini lie square blocks and straight alignments of stones known as the Bimini Road, laid out in an orderly row about fifteen hundred feet long. Some people believe it was once part of the road system of the legendary lost continent of Atlantis, which is why the island attracts curious travelers as well as anglers.

The wreck of the SS Sapona is the other. The ship ran aground in 1926 during a hurricane, and today the top of it is exposed to the air while the lower half sits underwater, which makes it a popular site for scuba diving and snorkeling. Even if you do not go in, the rusting hull near the shore is a striking sight from a boat, a reminder of how much weather these islands have seen.

A resort afternoon

If you want to add something different to the day, Resorts World Bimini occupies a large beachfront stretch of North Bimini, and its casino is the only one on the island. It is a contrast to the old fishing-town feel of Alice Town, with a polished resort setting just a short distance from a more weathered harbor. Seeing both in one visit gives a fuller picture of what Bimini is today.

How long you stay depends on the ferry or flight you hold on the way back, so the practical plan is to decide your return first and then fill the hours around it. Start with the street and the harbor in the morning, spend the middle of the day on the water or at the beach, and keep the last stretch for a slow meal. Bimini sits roughly 50 miles from Florida’s eastern coast, and it feels farther than that once you are walking its quiet roads.

Good to know before you go

The U.S. State Department rates the Bahamas Level 2, “Exercise increased caution”, and says most crime occurs in Nassau on New Providence and in Freeport on Grand Bahama.

Traffic in the Bahamas keeps to the left, which is worth remembering when you cross a street in Alice Town. The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30, and a trip in the fall falls inside it, so the weather can change the plans for a crossing by sea or by air. Keep your return leg flexible, bring a card and some cash for small island stops, and leave a little room in the schedule so the day on Bimini never feels rushed.

Sources

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Great-circle distance computed from the GPS coordinates of the two places, October 10, 2026
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