I finally had a chance to see the Bimini Road first hand. First off it looks absolutely nothing like what I would have expected. All of the footage taken from the site is VERY deceiving.

For those who do not know about Bimini Road, this particular site on the Bimini chain of the Bahamas is believed by some to be the road to Atlantis. The only way to see any actual pattern or organization is by air. In the water, unless you have seen the TV specials or have a good imagination, it is difficult to discern any pattern or organization to the stones. This is partly because the depth is a mere 15-20 feet throughout most of the site. The site starts near the beachfront and extends into the open ocean.

I can say that I would have expected something exciting to see at the site, but alas there was nothing. Well, not exactly. Even in just 15-20 feet of water a diver would most likely expect to see some sort of hard coral formation on at least one of the stones within this sandy patch. Unfortunately, not a single piece of hard coral can be found on this stone grouping. In fact, there is even a very miniscule amount of soft coral growth present. Unusual? To say the least!

To compound the controversy even more, I noted that the temperature at the Bimini Road site was approximately 7 degrees colder than the other three 15-20 foot snorkel locations in the Bimini chain that we explored. All 3 of those sites were within a degree or two of each other. Strange isn`t it?

Want another tid bit? The Bimini Road site stones are not covered by sand, but are located in a large sand bed. How is it that these stones have managed to never be covered by sand or that the sand has not been eroded by tides, currents, or storms? This is a phenomenon that is difficult to explain. Some might say that the site is simply where the sand settles, but that would mean that the stones should be covered by sand by now. Storms should cause serious erosion (sandblasting) of the stones in such a large sand bed, yet the stones seem to be in quite good condition for their suspected age.

So, if you want a controversy or phenomenon to research, then the Bimini Road is a subject that I can personally suggest. I have only had one recreational run on the site for a very limited time, but noticed a lot of unusual things about it in such a short amount of time.