April is arguably one of the best months of the year to visit Bimini for all your underwater activities. With a serious warming trend of the water, it is likely the water temperature could rise 4-to-5 degrees, getting up to 79 or 80 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the month! These warming waters also bring along a huge increase in many of the “larger” fish around our islands. Migrations of mutton snapper start towards the end of the month, and seeing hundreds of these beautiful, and curious snappers patrolling some of our deeper wrecks is an awe inspiring sight. With the rising temperatures, some of the larger black, Nassau, goliath, and tiger groupers begin to frequent some shallower waters. We start seeing some monster and friendly groupers on sites like “The Bimini Trader”, “Tuna Alley”, and “the Kinks”.
The greater hammerheads that call Bimini home in the winter months begin to leave the Islands of Bimini with the warmer water, but it is still fairly common to see plenty of these sharks in April. If you’re into sharks however, have no fear. Black tips, reef sharks, lemons, bulls, and nurse sharks are all readily available for viewing pleasure all month long. We have resurrected the once famous Bull Run dive site off of South Cat Cay. Our “chumsicle” style shark feed (made popular by Walkers Cay and many great live-aboard operators in the Bahamas) is attracting up to 25 sharks so far, and growing! The majority are black tips and Caribbean reef sharks, but we have seen greater hammerheads, bulls, and even a few tiger sharks there! Being a decent ride south for any of Bimini’s outstanding dive operators, make sure to tell your dive masters upon arrival if you are interested in this dive. That way they can pick a great day to head south, and stop at some of the most amazing dive sites in all of the Bahamas along the way. April 1st also marks the closure of lobster season in the Bahamas, so remember to retire your lobster bags until August.
FORECAST BY: Neal Watson II
PADI Instructor #240841
Bahamian Master License #8662
Bimini SCUBA Center at Bimini Sands Resort and Marina
Phone: (242) 448-6606
Email: neal_wtsn@yahoo.com
www.BiminiScubaCenter.com