“SMASH,” as a huge wave hit the 30 foot Grady White center console boat that was carrying my family and I. The boat was packed with everything from junk food to fishing rods and the cabin was filled with the diving and snorkeling things.

“I can’t wait until we get there,” I exclaimed to the seven other people on the boat.

We were going on a trip to a small island in the Bahamas by the name of Bimini. Bimini has been known for its amazing fishing and sunsets that made the ocean shimmer. On the bat beside my mom and dad and sister were my two cousins that were both younger than me and my aunt and uncle. Bimini was one of the smaller of the islands of the Bahamas being seven miles long and one mile wide.

Behind us, in our wake, were my uncles friend that was in their 33 foot Boston Whaler with twin 300 Mercury engines. From where my uncle stored his boat to Bimini Sands, the resort we were staying at, it was a little less than two and a half hours. The ride over was pretty bumpy, the weather had predicted three to four foot seas and he had been right.

After two and a half hours had been up, we finally set foot on the dock of Bimini Sands and the water was so crystal blue that you could see the sandy bottom from 15 feet above the water. Before going into our rooms we had to clear Customs because we were outside the country so my mom took out the Ziploc bag that contained all of our Passports and paperwork. While my mom sorted through her packed purse, my 8 year old cousin and I walked around the dock and saw a shark swimming in between boats.

“SHARK,” I yelled so that my other cousins could run over and see the shark.

“How big do you think it is?” my sister asked

“It looks like five feet,” I replied.

After watching the shark swim all around the resort and all the Customs information was done, the parents took the bags when all six of my cousins and I ran over to see the infiniti pool.

Awesome.

I had never actually been in one but this one was so cool. In the center, the tiles made out a dolphin and above it read Bimini Sands. The pool lined up perfectly with the start of the amazing ocean making it look like one giant pool with a unforgettable sunset over head.

“I bet I’ll get in first,” my cousin Matthew exclaimed as he ran to his house.

“We’ll see about that,” I said following.

Everyone ran back to their little houses that the parents had got and dug through their suitcases.

“I got mine,” I yelled to my sister as I pulled it out of the super stuffed suitcase and ran out the door. I was the first one to get into the pool.

“What took you so long,” I said to my cousins with a smile on my face. Right as I said that they all cannon balled me and we swam around and threw each other into the amazing pool.

After swimming the dads asked who wanted to go fishing. So me and my nine year old cousin Daniel went out on a little fishing trip.

Just getting outside the no wake zone, my uncle spotted something.

“Look, a weedline,” he said pointing to a brown narrow strip of grass and weeds floating in the water.

“What’s so good about a weedline?,” I replied.

“It’s where the Mahi Mahi like to hang out,” he said with a sound of excitement in his voice. As we got closer and closer to the skinny line I could tell that the Mahi were definitely their. I saw at least seven of them swim by our boat.

I knew we would catch something.

But we didn’t

My uncle had brought with him, six deep drop polls, four spinning, and a heavy duty deep drop that could go down 1000 feet and had an automatic reel. We were all set with the perfect gear and the perfect place but we didn’t even get a nibble.

After coming back to the house with nothing to show but an empty cooler, all we wanted to do was eat and then go to bed. For dinner we had a simple burgers and dogs and then went to bed.

“James, get up, we’re going to go snorkeling at a wreck.”

I jumped out of bed and said, “Okay mom, I’ll be right out.”

I slipped on a light T-shirt and shorts and ran out to the boats.

“Is everyone in my uncle asked us.”

“Yep,” everyone yelled, as my dad and I undid the lines on the clets and threw them into the boat and jumped in. It was about 85 degrees out and the sun was shining, making it a perfect day to cool off in the water and snorkel.

As we pulled up to the boat and my dad had dropped the anchor, I could see the writing on the concrete ship and wondered how people go up there without getting hurt. It looked crazy. Jumping into the water felt so good, looking around the sandy bottom and making our way into the wreck I got a bit nervous about seeing a shark but I went in anyways. In the ship was so cool, there was a little reef inside that had little fish with all different patterns. In the back off the ship was not very good. There was fire coral. If you stepped on firecoral your foot would have a very bad burn that would leave you in severe pain.

So not finding anything interesting in the wreck, we headed back to the resort to get a good night’s sleep and head off in the morning.

I woke up to the sound of packing. “Wait, how did we get back here, we were still out on the water.”

“You fell asleep,” my mom replied.

“Really,” I asked like I had just slept for two years.

“Yea, now hurry up and pack we have to be out of here in 30 minutes,” she said rushing me to get back to my uncle’s house in Florida. I jumped out of bed and started packing.

We all boarded the boats and said goodbye to the resort and headed back to Florida.  The ride back was a piece of cake, the water was as flat as a lake and we could really open it up. It was hard to leave the wonderful resort but we had to go back home and go to school. Looking back on the trip I thought about all the awesome things we had done as a family and hoped to start a once a year tradition to the 7 Mile Paradise.