Bimini, The Bahamas \u2013 Marina tourism with deep sea fishing activities are some of the main attractions that are drawing thousands of tourists every summer to the Bimini Big Game Fishing Club in Alice Town.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are all about tourism and we believe we\u2019re going to have a very good year.\u00a0 I believe we are going to be extremely busy for this upcoming summer.\u00a0 March was an indicator of it,\u201d said Hank Baer, director of resort operations at the Big Game Fishing Club.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be really exciting.\u00a0 We just recently brought in a dive boat so we do scuba, snorkelling, and sunset cruises. We have two charter boats here for deep-sea fishing and have actively participated with at least four charter boat captains for bone fishing.\u00a0 So, we\u2019re more of an angler resort with more deep-sea and fly-fishing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like in Exuma, the Bimini resort is catering to a growing industry of yachtsmen and sailboating aficionados that are frequenting the marina villages, expanding throughout the 700 islands of The Bahamas.\u00a0 Boaters are drawn to the island for their reasonable bone fishing packages and the universally accepted standards of their dive operation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s somewhat of a [marina] village, primarily because of the attachment of Guy Harvey, who is a marine biologist, affiliated with the \u2018Shark Lab\u2019 at Nova University, so he is very partial to marine life,\u201d said Mr. Baer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the Gulfstream restaurant, we have created a new theme there and it will be called the Hemingway Lounge.\u00a0 During our first high end Bill Fishing tournament on May 17 to 21, we have 25 boats coming and 150 people.\u00a0 The average buy-in is about $10,000 a vessel, but a trophy is being made that is staying in the resort with curios we just purchased, which will be part of our on-going theme.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last year on May 27, Mr. Baer and his management crew re-opened the resort for business. They met and conquered the challenges they faced with transforming the resort into a Bahamian global fishing attraction with Florida Key-style amenities.<\/p>\n
By the end of December 2010, the resort reportedly served a little over 3,200 guests, bearing in mind they opened in mid-July and went out of season five weeks later, due to the September tourist visitation fall off.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t have any rooms available until mid-July.\u00a0 We were under renovations of the main hotel and then we opened up 19 rooms about mid-July.\u00a0 The last section which gave us 51 rooms was done by the end of July,\u201d said Mr. Baer.
\n\u201cSo, we have 51 rooms, 35 guest rooms, four penthouse rooms, 12 cottages, and 75 slips.\u00a0 I can tell you that from May 27 to December 31, we put out 27,000 covers related to the restaurant and our occupancy rate was about 12 percent.\u00a0 To give you a comparison, during the month of March, we were at 26 percent room occupancy and 32 percent marina [occupancy].\u00a0 This March was our third best month, since we\u2019ve been opened.\u201d<\/p>\n
With an initial investment of $3 million to $12 million, the Guy Harvey outpost leads expeditions of discovery as part of its DNA to exceed its guest\u2019s expectations.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWhen you enter into an arrangement like this, you enter it for the long term.\u00a0 We certainly have a five-year plan, but we anticipate either meeting or exceeding the expectation that we have in 2011,\u201d said Mr. Baer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe went into a downward trend with the economy, and now things are on an upward swing particularly with the attachment of Guy Harvey\u2019s name to the resort because he\u2019s world-renown.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Since Bimini Bay has recently changed hands to the new management of Rock International, the Bimini Big Game Fishing Club is seeing a slow, but steady return on its investment.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryday up until May 27 is a new day for us.\u00a0 We can go back and look at statistic from the former owner, but its skewed in the context of when Bimini Bay was in development,\u201d said Mr. Baer.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cA lot of guests were coming in here that were either buying a home up there or looking at it, and they didn\u2019t have their marina open, so people were staying here and eating here and using the facility.\u00a0 So, the numbers are somewhat inflated in that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dedicated professionals working 24 hours and seven days a week offer a world-class service to boaters, who come to rest in Bahamian marina villages for the \u201cman versus nature\u201d fishing experience.\u00a0 The resort sees itself hiring more Bahamians as it expands its operations due to increased customer demand.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we did the start up project, we had 82 Bahamians employed here and at this present stage, I believe our capacity employee-wise I believe is 56, but that will be raised to 70 in the season,\u201d said Mr. Baer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just hired an additional eight for the Food and Beverage restaurant, which we also expanded the deck by 72 feet in length and 16 feet in width, carrying us to the seawall and giving us 76 seats out there.\u00a0 The original restaurant only had 89 seats with the outside before, so by doing that we added an additional 60 seats.\u00a0 Our capacity would be about 150 people for the upcoming season.\u00a0 So there\u2019s more to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hank Baer is a Navy veteran and yacht captain from New York and is comfortable managing tropical logistics for Bimini\u2019s most consistent and biggest money-maker since the early 1960\u2019s.\u00a0 His passion for scuba diving and fishing brought him to our shores from the Pacific Ocean to create the Bimini Big Game Fishing Club into a \u201cship-shape\u201d resort for the island destination.<\/p>\n
Mr. Baer\u2019s top of the line experience defines the mission and vision statement of the Guy Harvey world-class brand.\u00a0 It is what drives sport fishermen from all over the globe to reside in Bimini\u2019s marinas for competition, relaxation, and rejuvenation.<\/p>\n
By Gena Gibbs
\nBAHAMAS INFORMATION SERVICES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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