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To better appreciate the enigma of aircraft and boat disappearances, it is necessary to understand the sea over which they so inexplicably vanished. This is the area of the Bahamas, itself one of the most exotic places on this globe. This tour is to give you some idea of what it is like to be flying in the most popular area of the Bermuda Triangle. 

  The choice of our departure is a common one– the vacation Mecca of Miami, Florida, itself one corner of the Triangle. Our destination is San Juan, Puerto Rico, another corner. Since we will be making several stops, some   between short distances, and many  island runways are small, we will be flying on a Piper Chieftain, a 10 seater, 6 window executive shuttle. They are noisy and not so glamorous, but one’s attention is directed to the breathtaking sights below anyway.
   Our first view is the antithesis of mystery: the condominiums, hotels and bustling sands of Miami Beach. Advancing lines of breaking surf soon fade to the deep blue Gulf Stream, dotted with any imaginable type of vessel in this veritable freeway.

   It isn’t long, just 20 minutes or so, and one is coming into Bimini, our first stop. Bimini is  actually 2 islands: North, and, naturally, South Bimini. It is only about 50 miles away from Miami. A small plane like ours is only briefly at its cruise altitude, which is often very low. This allows a breathtaking glimpse of what locals

dub  the “drop-off”– the dividing line between the very shallow Great Bahama Bank around Bimini, seen as light blue and jade waters, and the blue ocean over the deep Florida Straits. 

  Bimini is hardly a palm fringed paradise. Abundant casuarina trees and older homes give it a summer camp look. And the rustic bars and hotels that cater to the loads of game fishermen, divers & snorklers lend Bimini a slightly honky-tonk atmos- phere.
   But the exotic of the tropics is never far from her coasts. Divers are all over the shallow turquoise waters, and glass bottom boats load up passengers to view “Atlantis” off North Bimini’s Paradise Point.

Alice Town & Baily Town. Cruises leave past Pigeon Cay, (right of picture) to exit between South Bimini and North Bimini.

   The main settlements are Alice Town and Bailey Town, which are right next to each other. They are always busy with entering and exiting fishing excursions and diving tours. Overhead, the drone of airplanes passing over Bimini reminds one Bimini is only the  

gateway to the Bahamas 

   Mystery does not just haunt the deep water of nearby Moselle Reef, (seen right on the Nasa photo as the long wake of breakers south of Bimini), where greenish phosphorescent lights scurry about underneath and where compasses are said to spin more frequently. Planes vanish beyond this island, in the direction we are about to take off into: toward Andros Island and then New Providence Island, the administrative center of the Bahamas. 

  Heading southeast, the ocean barely covers the bank. For an hour or more one sees a  kaleidoscope of changing colors: blues, jades, and turquoise, as the currents scour the bottom like wind does the dunes of the desert. It is hard to imagine that scores of planes could have vanished over these same beautiful waters upon which  we are now looking down on both sides on this tour.  Yet a Lake Amphibian was in this exact region in 1973 and left no trace, carrying 3 people. It was an amphibious plane; it could land

and float on water. But what happened? In 1997 a plane temporarily vanished. It was later found only 5 miles southeast of Bimini in only 7 feet of water. Yet it took a week to find it. As it stands now, rumors have it the plane was found empty, even the key was removed.
  Everything seems normal. We seem secure. The engines roar on, and one anxiously awaits seeing yachts schooning with a brisk trade wind below. One can’t help but wonders what strikes along this routine sky highway so fast as to change such an exotic scene.
   A twin Beech passed over here in 1976 bound for Caicos; a Piper Cherokee in May 1978; another Cherokee in April 1979; yet again, in September 1979 an Aero Commander 500; A Cessna 402B charter 1984; a big B-25 in 1966 . . .Oh, well, many others. Casual conversations on such small planes are common. When the topic of the Triangle comes up . . .if it does . . . you must bite your tongue. We best not mention it to the others. To have figures and facts won’t get you any kudos. They’ll just dig their fingers into the upholstery and want a bathroom.
   Perhaps they didn’t all disappear along here anyway. Did they all go down, conveniently, in deep water? The only real deep water coming up on the horizon is an ominous sight and itself a mystery.

Let’s continue: skirting Andros Island; flying over the “Tongue” . . .Nassau!

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