Free Republic

A man who may have been attempting to ride a Jet Ski from Pompano Beach to the Bahamas is missing, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said. Authorities are trying to find the 52-year-old man, Charles Walker, who was last seen about 5 p.m. Friday in Pompano Beach in the 3200 block of Northeast 16th Street, a community near the beach just north of the 14th Street bridge. Walker was attempting to ride a Jet Ski personal watercraft to Bimini in the Bahamas, his family told the sheriff’s detectives.

Even though Carnival has not detailed the reason for the cancellation, it comes as the island of Bimini is experiencing increased cases of COVID. As a result, authorities implemented a daily curfew between 7:00 PM and 5:00 AM from July 1 to help stop any further spread.

The real story goes something like this: In 1511, messy political squabbling forced Ponce to surrender the governorship of Puerto Rico, an appointment he had held since 1509. As a consolation prize, King Ferdinand offered him Bimini, assuming the stalwart conquistador could finance an expedition and actually find it. J. Michael Francis, a historian at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg who has spent decades studying the Spanish colonies in the Americas , says no mention of a Fountain of Youth occurs in any known documents from Ponce’s lifetime, including contracts and other official correspondence with the Crown. In...

Greg and I have just returned from our most recent expedition to Bimini in the Bahamas where we were filmed by the History Channel for a show about the search for Atlantis (tentatively scheduled to air in August 2009). They had filmed some footage for the Atlantis show during a trip with us back in January of 2009 while also filming with us for an upcoming Bermuda Triangle show.

In 1968 a 1600-foot long J-shaped formation of stone blocks was reportedly discovered about one mile off the west coast of North Bimini, Bahamas by a Miami-based biologist, Dr. J. Manson Valentine. The formation was initially thought to resemble a collapsed wall or a road and the unfortunate name “Bimini Road” was attached to it. Media coverage speculated that the site was associated with Atlantis and sensationalized reports about the formation were widely disseminated. Shortly thereafter, four geologists asserted that the formation was nothing but natural limestone. Most archaeologists and geologists have accepted the four geologists’ claims without question. However,...

A Chalk's seaplane burst into flames over South Beach on Monday, killing all 20 people on board -- including three infants -- and plummeting into the ocean so close to shore that lifeguards, surfers and Jet Skiers were the first on the scene. The cause of the crash remained unknown, but witnesses said the plane's rear half exploded, shearing off the left wing and sending the flight tumbling to the sea shortly after its 2:30 p.m. takeoff from Watson Island.