The Andros Barrier Reef, the third largest in the world and the second largest and most unexplored in the western hemisphere, stretches 140 miles along the east coast of the island and rims the Tongue of the Ocean, with its 6,000-foot drop-off. Additionally Andros abounds in Blue Holes (underwater cave systems)--which have been the scene of some of the deepest underwater cave explorations in the world.

   There are more than 40 known species of wild orchids on Andros, as well as endemic and migrating bird and butterfly populations. Other wildlife includes iguanas, wild boars and land crabs. Andros has a population of approximately 10,000 people, most of them residing in small towns located on the eastern coast. The island itself is the great provider, with the main occupations being fishing and farming. In addition, the island has long traditions in boat building, straw work, and wood carving.

The Divers Who Came To Andros

   Small Hope Bay Lodge opened in Central Andros in 1960 as the first dive-dedicated resort in the Bahamas. The Lodge quickly became the backdrop for many of diving's most colorful and historical moments:

Early blue hole explorations during "the Benjy years" of the 1960s. Note the two-hose regulator.

   Small Hope Bay Lodge guest Canadian diver and photographer Dr. George Benjamin was the first to explore Andros' Blue Holes in the early 1960's.

   Small Hope Bay Lodge guest Canadian diver Betty Singer set the world record for women at 310 feet in 1961.

   Small Hope Bay Lodge owner/builder Dick Birch and Canadian physicist Roger Hutchins set the world record for deep diving on compressed air (462 feet) on Andros in 1963.

   Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau learned to dive at Small Hope Bay Lodge, as did Bahamian Prime Minister Lynden O. Pindling.

   Jacques Cousteau and his Calypso crew filmed the blue holes of Andros in 1970.

   In the 1987 Andros Project, British cavediver Rob Palmer and his team brought blue hole explorations and penetrations to new levels using the Carmellan Rebreather and heliox.

The Lucayans, The Seminoles, The Slaves:
The Story of the Androsian People

   The Spanish first recorded "discovery" of Andros around 1550. Following Columbus' landfall in 1492, they had come to the Bahamas in search of slave labor, preying on the Caribbean Indian populations. From a population of some 50,000 Lucayans (descendents and offshoots of Taino-Awawaks, who originally migrated from South America) in the Bahamas in 1492, there were virtually no Lucayans left in the Bahamas by 1550, due to disease, slavery, and suicide. Remains of Lucayan settlements can be found throughout the Bahamian archipelago.

Andros Island is known for its quality straw work and wood carvings.

   By the 18th century, pirates staked positions on Andros in an effort to prey on passing ships traveling between Cuba and Florida. Sir Henry Morgan headquartered at what is known today as Morgan's Bluff, in north Andros. By the 19th century freed slaves found their way to Andros. Seminole Indians from Florida also came--first as visitors, then as settlers. The two groups inter-married. A small community sprang up around Red Bays, where they farmed corn, harvested fish and plantains, yams, potatoes and peas. They also worked in lumbering, sponging, and pirating.

   Small communities established them selves up and down the east coast of the island, with the population peaking at about 10,000 where it remains today. With a formidable barrier reef on one side, and the shallow water flats of the Great Bahama Bank on the other--Andros remained overlooked (and perhaps saved) for many years from any potential development.

Andros is For The Birds

   There are over 200 species of birds that inhabit the Bahamas--and Andros, with its vast undeveloped land, is home to many of them. Among the most common are: The Bahama Woodstar, the West Indian Woodpecker, the Loggerhead kingbird, LaSagre's Flycatcher, the Great Antillean Pewee, the Bahama Swallow, the Bahama Mockingbird, The Red-legged Thrush, the Thick-billed Vireo, the Black-whiskered Vireo, the Olive-capped Warbler, Kirtland Warbler, the Bahama Yellowthroat, the Black-cowled Oriole, the Great Antillean Bullfinch, the Black-faced Grassquit, the Melodious Grassquit, the Least Grebe, Olivaceous Cormorant, the Flamingo, the Bahama Pintail, Osprey, Kestel, Sooty Tern, Roseate Tern, Noddy Tern, White Crowned Pigeon, Zenaida Dove, White-bellied Dove, the Key West Quail Dove, the Great Lizard Cuckoo, the Smooth-billed Ani and the Cuban Emerald Hummingbird.

Fly Fishermen's Paradise

   When the Spanish discovered Andros, they named it Isla del Esperita Santo, the Island of the Holy Spirit, a tribute to the abundance of water in Andros. And it's easy to see why: