Can you see South Bimini, Bahamas from Key Biscayne, Miami?

Not on a normal day

89 km line of sight toward the east (bearing 90°), computed on 30 m Copernicus terrain with Earth curvature and standard atmospheric refraction.

The answer

No, not on a normal day. Across 89 km, South Bimini, Bahamas sits about 382 m below the sea horizon seen from Key Biscayne, Miami.

Bimini is the closest Bahamian island to the United States, near enough that small boats cross in a morning. Both ends are barely above sea level, which is exactly the case where curvature decides everything.

Straight-line distance89 km

Direction90° east

Observer eye level12 m

Target elevation11 m

Curvature drop at the target540 m

Hidden below the sightline382 m

At standard atmospheric refraction, South Bimini, Bahamas sits about 382 m below the sea horizon seen from Key Biscayne, Miami. Over 89 km, Earth's curvature simply outruns the target's height. That is not always the end of the story: during strong thermal inversions the atmosphere bends light more than the standard model assumes, lifting objects from behind the horizon, which is exactly how the famous photographs of this view were taken.

The terrain profile

Elevation profile from Key Biscayne, Miami to South Bimini, Bahamas. Like every elevation profile, the vertical axis is stretched (≈15× here), but the geometry is real: mid-path, Earth's surface genuinely stands 155 m above the straight line between the two points (the dashed arc is sea level). Light bends only slightly around that bulge, so whatever it covers stays hidden. Each ray runs solid until terrain cuts it, then continues as the faint ghost of the sightline you would need. Even the stronger-bending ray of a thermal inversion (k = 0.17) stays cut off.

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Frequently asked questions

Can you see South Bimini, Bahamas from Key Biscayne, Miami?

No, not under standard atmospheric conditions. Across 89 km, the view is cut off before reaching the target (see the terrain profile above for exactly where).

How far is South Bimini, Bahamas from Key Biscayne, Miami in a straight line?

89 km great-circle distance, on a bearing of 90° (east).

What exactly blocks the view?

Earth's curvature. Over this distance the target drops about 540 m below a flat sightline and ends up roughly 382 m below the horizon. Only exceptional atmospheric refraction can (sometimes) lift it into view.

How was this calculated?

UpToWhere walks the full terrain profile between the two points on 30 m-resolution Copernicus GLO-30 elevation data, applying Earth curvature and standard atmospheric refraction (k = 0.13), the same physics surveyors use. You can run the same point-to-point check between any two places on Earth.

More famous sightlines

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