Nevil Norton Stuart, a Bahamian, came to Bimini in the late 1920s and purchased the Fountain of Youth, a Prohibition-era bar, and renamed it the Bimini Big Game Resort & Marina.
In 1940, Stuart reclaimed land in Bimini Harbor, constructed a marina, and added several cottages along with a desalination plant. Thus began the legend of one of the world's most highly publicized sportfishing meccas.
Film stars, including Judy Garland and Sir Anthony Hopkins, have lodged at the club; Martin Luther King, Jr., visited twice. Of course, no one immortalized the island as much as Ernest Hemingway, who called it "my island in the stream."
Today, the complex boasts more than 50 rooms, including cottages and penthouses, and it's owned by the rum maker Bacardi International. In the 100-slip marina are enormous sportfishing boats, worth more than several million dollars each, proudly standing alongside simple outboard-powered runabouts.
