shereads
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- Jun 6, 2003
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Chalks, operator of the seaplanes that link Miami and Bimini, is the world's oldest scheduled airline. Until today, Chalk's had operated without a single passenger fatality since they started flying in 1919. The crew of 3 and all 17 passengers died when Flight 101 went down just off Miami Beach, shortly after take-off.
Flying Chalks to Bimini for a weekend of beach-bumming and diving was one of the weird little joys of living in Miami, years ago when I had no mortgage and lots of time. From the moment the seaplane rolled backwards down its concrete driveway into Biscayne Bay, until it landed at a one-road, one-town version of the Bahamas that seemed frozen in Hemingway time, there was the sensation of having become nicely stoned, minus the drugs and free of paranoia.
People were friendly for no reason. It was disturbing at first. Then it was lovely.
I'm told the Compleat Angler is fun after sunset, and that The End of the World Bar is historically the best place to add one's underwear to the global collection that hangs from the ceiling. I did some diving and rode a rusty bike the length of the island and back, and enjoyed a non-drunken stupor on a pretty in-town beach. Mostly, I remember how good it felt to make eye contact with strangers and not regret it.
It's an intimate place. Whoever those 17 passengers were, everyone who lives on Bimini will know their names, as they knew the names of the pilots and crew who made the Bimini-Miami run.
Flying Chalks to Bimini for a weekend of beach-bumming and diving was one of the weird little joys of living in Miami, years ago when I had no mortgage and lots of time. From the moment the seaplane rolled backwards down its concrete driveway into Biscayne Bay, until it landed at a one-road, one-town version of the Bahamas that seemed frozen in Hemingway time, there was the sensation of having become nicely stoned, minus the drugs and free of paranoia.
People were friendly for no reason. It was disturbing at first. Then it was lovely.
I'm told the Compleat Angler is fun after sunset, and that The End of the World Bar is historically the best place to add one's underwear to the global collection that hangs from the ceiling. I did some diving and rode a rusty bike the length of the island and back, and enjoyed a non-drunken stupor on a pretty in-town beach. Mostly, I remember how good it felt to make eye contact with strangers and not regret it.
It's an intimate place. Whoever those 17 passengers were, everyone who lives on Bimini will know their names, as they knew the names of the pilots and crew who made the Bimini-Miami run.
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