JetBoaters.net Bimini Fling July 9th to 14th 2018

[Bruce]

@Ramblin Wreck, I think that @Berrie was concerned that I would get frustrated by the issues. What is missing is an understanding that we are friends. Even though we may be sparring a little even @robert843 is a friend.

At this point the Bimini Sands issues have become tiresome and the HOA does need to step up significantly to retain our business. But I want to see those that were overcharged made whole, the best experience that we can have for JetBoaters in the future and after spending five summers at Bimini Sands it is like a second home to my family that we want to see thrive.

 

[Amar Nanduri]

This is real Photo taken at Kailas mountain in the Himalayas, Maan-Sarovar, Tibet-China boarder from 18,600 feet height at 3.30 am in the morning of the red moon eclipse !!!
This photo is not edited !!!
See the mesmerising beauty of nature ...
Never seen before !!!

 

[Amar Nanduri]

And this is from my place in Hyderabad India at 1:30 am. You can see the moon and mars visible to the naked eye.

 

[rsrlegends]

Below a fuel receipt from the July trip...
I can't tell you whether the tax was charged correctly or not. The dockmaster did take care of us as he was aware of the negotiated slip rate plus he gave us 10% off since we stayed 7 days.

 

[robert843]

@Ramblin Wreck, I think that @Berrie was concerned that I would get frustrated by the issues. What is missing is an understanding that we are friends. Even though we may be sparring a little even @robert843 is a friend.

At this point the Bimini Sands issues have become tiresome and the HOA does need to step up significantly to retain our business. But I want to see those that were overcharged made whole, the best experience that we can have for JetBoaters in the future and after spending five summers at Bimini Sands it is like a second home to my family that we want to see thrive.

Lol yes I hope all understand that what happens with @Bruce and I are actually just spirited friendly discussions. I have nothing but love for @Bruce and none of those discussions have him or I at least I hope actually sour with each other they are more just spirited disagreements but that’s the spice of life.

 

[Julian]

I found the gas dock guys to be very friendly and accomodating. They told me they were holding back gas for people staying at Bimini Sands. I know things were worse this year than last, but I'm not sure all of what we are brewing is fair. Our cleaners were very nice, our unit was spotless. My guess is they lost people when they put all their jobs out to bid, so some of the folks were recent hires and probably not as good, while some were hold overs.

The gas issue is interesting. I never paid attention in 2017 how tax was factored in. I don't know why they'd even bother with this....they could simply up the price if they wanted....so I'm not sure what the deal is.

 

[Berrie]

It is rumored that he wants to run Bimini Sands into the ground so that a friendly investor can buy it cheap.

Not following that logic. If they want to sell it cheap to a friendly investor, why run it into the ground first? Just sell it cheap to the guy and give him a great deal. What am I missing?

 

[Amar Nanduri]

Not following that logic. If they want to sell it cheap to a friendly investor, why run it into the ground first? Just sell it cheap to the guy and give him a great deal. What am I missing?

I see a Marriott in the future in that place

 

[bronze_10]

Hopefully iy will not be just another abandoned resort!

 

[Bruce]

Not following that logic. If they want to sell it cheap to a friendly investor, why run it into the ground first? Just sell it cheap to the guy and give him a great deal. What am I missing?

Rupert Roberts who is 81+ years old and suffering from cancer owns the minority of the condos, the common areas and the marina. Last year he was trying to sell that property for I believe it was $26M. Peter Maury, the current president of the Association of Bahamas Marinas was supposedly appointed by Mr. Roberts to manage his investment in Bimini Sands. It seems that Maury is sabotaging Mr. Roberts investment in Bimini Sands. Mr. Roberts also owns the largest grocery store chain in the Bahamas.

The rumored investor would be friendly to Peter Maury but not to the developer Roberts.

 

[Wisefam22]

Not following that logic. If they want to sell it cheap to a friendly investor, why run it into the ground first? Just sell it cheap to the guy and give him a great deal. What am I missing?

If they run down the marina, common areas ect the private owners wont have investment income via rentals booked and drop the value of units.

An investor who could be friends of Peter could swoop in buy those over time and then buy the resort at a lesser valuation because of lack of upkeep.

Once he owns the units privately held along with rest of property he can bulldoze it and build whatever he wants controlling all aspects of the resort.

If the rumor is true then Peter could take a kick back once investor takes ownership of the property.

 

[Julian]

If they run down the marina, common areas ect the private owners wont have investment income via rentals booked and drop the value of units.

An investor who could be friends of Peter could swoop in buy those over time and then buy the resort at a lesser valuation because of lack of upkeep.

Once he owns the units privately held along with rest of property he can bulldoze it and build whatever he wants controlling all aspects of the resort.

If the rumor is true then Peter could take a kick back once investor takes ownership of the property.

Yup...he's not "running it into the ground", he's doing things that don't impact the property itself, but devalue it none-the-less. If he can force employee turn over to increase, fail to clean to pool, close the bathrooms, charge too much for slips etc. The end result is lowering rental returns, and thus driving down the sale price of condos. Then he can come in with a big investor and buy up a majority of the units and take control of the board.

 

[Bruce]

The crazy part is that all of this is happening at a time when year to year rentals are said to be up 300%.

In past years when my family has stayed longer we have seen Bimini Sands empty except for the weekends. This year Bimini Sands was busy the entire ten days that we were there.

 

[robert843]

Funny was doing some cleaning and about to throw some papers away and this was in it. It would appear the June group was charged Vat on top of fuel prices as well.

 

[swatski]

What am I missing?

Valuation/appraisal would be lower. It's a common tactic.

The flip of it happens when they sell it to another "friend", say a Russian oligarch, for a lot more cash... (AKA money laundering, lol).

--

 

[Berrie]

Valuation/appraisal would be lower. It's a common tactic.

The flip of it happens when they sell it to another "friend", say a Russian oligarch, for a lot more cash... (AKA money laundering, lol).

--

I get the tactic, it was just a mystery to me why the property owner would do that. But it is the property manager who has no monetary investment. Makes sense.

 

[Rod5]

I have 4 or 5 fuel doc receipts at work from our July trip and will post them tomorrow when I get in the office.

 

[Ramblin Wreck]

@Ramblin Wreck, I am curious which condo you were in. Generally the homeowner condos are in better condition than the developer condos were.

15B and I wouldn't recommend it. Here's a few examples of what I would label "not well maintained". I can look past most all of this but when I walked in the unit and it smelled like 2 buttholes smeared together (cleaning staff said the previous renters cooked breakfast although the butthole breakfast lingered all week), the floors hadn't been swept or moped in weeks (don't know why I didn't grab a pic of this, I guess it's because we were too busy hand mopping the floor with Clorox wipes), the shower had mold and hair on the walls, the sheets were dirty and the cleaners couldn't find anymore, wet towels were in the washing machine, I became a little frustrated.

A few pics of again what I would label not well maintained:

1. Mold on shower and the curtain itself was disgusting
2. Bedroom curtains broken and fallen off
3. Fraternity house lamp
4. Tile Floor broken with sharp edges you wouldn't want your kids to catch with a barefoot.
5. Bathroom ceiling coming apart
6. Missing dryer door handle

If it were me running this development there would be some standards at which each unit must maintain and if they failed to do so their unit would come off the rental program until appropriate repairs were made. In addition, every rental unit should be required to have internet access in IMO. I understand we go there to get away from everyday life a bit, but again it's 2018 and there should be internet access available in each unit. That fact that the reservation staff couldn't tell me in advance what unit has or doesn't have internet access needs to be addressed.

The Sands has so much potential and I hope they turn it back around because we've always enjoyed our time there.

 

[Bruce]

@Ramblin Wreck, we’re you always assigned to 15B or were you switched into that condo?

Certainly that condo is below the rental pool standards.

The cleaning staff were quite rushed trying to get condos cleaned for everyone a day early. That does not explain the terrible condition of that condo only their inability to do more in the compacted time frame.

Internet access has been a long struggle at Bimini Sands. BTC is almost bankrupt and constantly misses deadlines to complete installations. Some condos that have long had BTC service continue to but getting new service is impossible. The new mobile provider ALIV is doing well and taking much business from BTC. I find it easiest to pay the $10 a day and just use my phone for mobile data.

The pavilion at the infinity pool had WiFi provided by ALIV until Peter Maury tore it down.

I will reach out to Rentals At Bimini Sands to ask about 15B.

 

[Ramblin Wreck]

@Ramblin Wreck, we’re you always assigned to 15B or were you switched into that condo?

Certainly that condo is below the rental pool standards.

The cleaning staff were quite rushed trying to get condos cleaned for everyone a day early. That does not explain the terrible condition of that condo only their inability to do more in the compacted time frame.

Internet access has been a long struggle at Bimini Sands. BTC is almost bankrupt and constantly misses deadlines to complete installations. Some condos that have long had BTC service continue to but getting new service is impossible. The new mobile provider ALIV is doing well and taking much business from BTC. I find it easiest to pay the $10 a day and just use my phone for mobile data.

The pavilion at the infinity pool had WiFi provided by ALIV until Peter Maury tore it down.

I will reach out to Rentals At Bimini Sands to ask about 15B.

There is no reason for you to reach out to them. They are well aware of my complaints regarding this particular unit but like the responsiveness of Peter have been silent. We didn't check in a day early nor did we check in early the day we were supposed too (although I tried by offering them a $ incentive . I want to say it was 4:30ish on the day we were set to arrive that we checked in so they had time to clean and yes we were always assigned 15b.