Diving Vacation in
the
20
years ago almost to the day I became a PADI certified Open Water
diver in
Here is a short extract about Andros and the
diving it offers:
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
These attractive features
plus the fact that it is wthin such close range of
Wednesday, November 22,
2006
Jill
picks me up and we leave my office in
A
short, but nevertheless international flight in a small propeller plane
operated by “Grand Bahamas Airlines” brings us to the
The
entire international airport consists of a pair of tiny buildings, each the
size of a two-car garage. The immigration staff is very friendly, just as the
local taxi operator aptly named “Jonnie’s Reliable Taxi”. There are only about
8000-9000 people on
Cars
drive on the left side – apparently this country must have been under British
influence at some point in the past. The cars that still drive are typically
quite old and dated; the ones that don’t drive anymore are often abandoned –
either discarded on some public land or even just left on private properties,
overgrown by plants and showing years of rust and decay. Proper disposal of
waste seems to be a luxury most poor countries can’t afford…
After
no more than a 10 min drive the taxi pulls into the Small Hope Bay Lodge. We
are immediately surrounded by the charm of this small resort and its beach and
boat dock.
There
are a dozen or so private cabins with very nice views of the Ocean. We get to
our room and unpack our gear and clothing.
Thanks
to the all-inclusive pricing there is a minimum of fuzz and hassle: All meals
at breakfast, lunch and dinner are included in the package. Likewise, you just
go to the bar and help yourself to any drink you like.
Before
dinner we want to go for a little walk. We reserve the East-facing beach for
sunrise the next morning and venture instead towards the interior of the
Back
at the lodge, dinner is served inside today, as it has been unusually cold not
only in Florida (where we had reports of snowflakes in Orlando and wind-chill
advisory in effect for central Florida this morning), but also here in the
Bahamas. In addition to the warm food we also stay warm next to the open fire
place of the general dining area. Who would have thought that we would sit
around a fire place in the
Thursday, November 23,
2006
Thanksgiving
Day 2006. The morning dawns clear and cool. Facing East, we see the sun rise
over the Ocean behind the
Who
wouldn’t want to wake up to a view like this?
Today
will be our first day of diving. And it starts with a bang: Two dives in the
morning, one of them the famous Blue Hole down to 105 ft, the other one a
shallower reef dive to about 60 ft.
After
some initial gear rental and check we assemble on the boat and listen to the
dive master’s briefing. Additionally, as it is our first dive here at this
resort, both Jill an I are asked to demonstrate perform some basic skills like
taking your mask off under water and putting it back on again. All fairly
routine, except for the fact that the shallow water under the dock is cold (due
to the very cold air the last couple of days) and quite rough. It also means
that we are wet during the boat ride, making the cold even more uncomfortable.
Here Jill re-emerges after her skill demonstration onto the dive boat.
We
cruise out to the Blue Hole dive site, perhaps a 15 min boat ride. Once there
we suit up for the dive. Here Jill is getting some assistance from dive master
Moose – he reminds me of the slogan on my “Life is Good” T-Shirt I bought in
Once
we are all in the water we descend down the boat anchor line to about 70 ft.
Then we follow the reef to a drop-off which opens up down into the Blue Hole.
Here we all follow the lead dive master into an opening next to an overhanging
wall, almost like the entrance to a cave. This Blue Hole is one of the
signature dives here in
After
about 35-40 mins of dive time we come back up to the boat and take a brief
rest, during which the boat brings us to the next dive site called Libens Point. The surface interval
between these two dives in the morning is quite short, typically just 20-30
mins. So before we can really warm up comfortably it’s time again to suit up
the BCD, regulator, tank, mask and fins and get in the water again.
The
second dive is less spectacular, but still provides plenty of opportunity to
study the reef and fish down below. I also get more familiar with my rented
scuba equipment and learned how to deal with the new mask which always fogs up
after a few minutes. (The trick was to use some toothpaste to wipe off some
initial coating off the lens!)
Once
back to the lodge we get off the boat, rinse our equipment, hang up the wetsuit
to dry in the wind, and warm up a bit in dry cloths. We then refresh ourselves
with buffet lunch, topped off with coffee and icecream. Ahhh, the “Eat – Sleep
– Dive” rhythm J
My
National Geographic T-Shirt has a fitting theme: A Great White shark on the
front and back with the tag line: “Let’s do lunch!”
But
there is hardly enough time to rest prior to the next high-light: We did sign
up for the afternoon specialty dive at the Shark Emporium. There we will
witness the feeding of about a dozen reef sharks!
Again
we pull away from the dock and set out to the dive site about a 20 min boat
ride from the lodge. When we get there we are all somewhat excited. Sure enough
the first sharks are circling the boat in anticipation of the feast. Pawlov not
with dogs, but with sharks. My first thought is this: With these sharks in the
water, I’m not going to jump in there! But of course, the dive masters go in
first and assure us that everything is fine. After all, they want us paying
customers to come again (and pay again J) and they have a
flawless safety record. No risk, no fun! Hence we all take the plunge and glide
down to a sand bottom in about 60 ft with pretty clear visibility. We see a
total of 11 reef sharks – about 6-7 ft long – awaiting their lunch!
After
coming back up we’re really psyched, but also cold and exhausted. The boat ride
back with the low sun and cool wind is chilling. Everybody is wrapped in their
towel and anticipating the hot showers back at the lodge.
And
of course we’re treated to a spectacular dinner – it’s Thanksgiving after all!
They really put on a tremendous effort, with plenty of food and very friendly,
warm atmosphere. To top it off they serve no less than 23 different deserts
outside.
Well,
in this case they favored quantity over quality, but we won’t complain. We’re
all hungry after 3 dives today and simply enjoy the food. Of course, after all
this fresh air, salt water, sun and plenty of food, we are very tired and sleep
like babies…
Friday, November 24,
2006
Today
the morning dawns clear, the weather is still cool but supposedly warming up a
bit. We get up and check out life at the beach:
After
some relaxing in the hammock we get ready with many others to get on the boat
for our morning boat trip with two dives.
Today
the first dive site will be the socalled Whip Wire Wall. Named after coral
which grow on it like whip wires, this wall is a unique geological feature.
No
more than 1-2 miles off the beach the coral and sand bottom of about 90ft plunges
away in a near vertical wall down to depths up to 6000ft! Diving along this
wall gives a spooky feeling when looking down into the blue-black abyss. Lose
your dive light or a weight belt there and you can kiss it good-bye!
Here
is a satellite image courtesy of http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/search.php?q=Bahamas.
South-Florida is on the top-left. The yellow arrow in the middle points to the
location of the Small Hope Bay Lodge on Andros, the largest
This
dive is our deepest dive. We go down to about 130ft, which also marks the
limits of recreational diving. If you go any deeper, you almost certainly face
mandatory decompression time on the way up and your risk starts to increase considerably.
From 130ft, while I can still see the surface thanks to the excellent
visibility, I don’t think I could get to it in case my scuba would fail. That’s
where the buddy system comes in, i.e. the close proximity of a partner. This
effectively brings redundancy and reduces the likelihood of both scuba systems
failing to near zero. On even deeper specialty dives they have 1 dive master
for every two clients and may even bring fully redundant gear for everyone when
cave-diving.
I
can understand the phaszination of exploring the mysterious deep. There are
many excellent books / audiobooks in this regard, such as:
·
Shadow
Divers The True
Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last
Mysteries of World War II, by Robert Kurson
·
The
Last Dive A Father and
Son's Fatal Descent into the Ocean's Depths, by Bernie Chowdhury
We
have a nice dive without any incidents. In fact, the dive master continues to
film our dives so we can later view ourselves underwater and even buy a DVD
with all footage.
The
second dive is a shallow water reef dive at a place called Jeff’s Ladder.
Nothing too special, compared to the Whip Wire Wall anyway.
On
the way to the dive site we motor past the sight of a wreck: A tug-boat which
ran aground one night when mistaking shore-lights for a different location with
a channel and inlet. This boat has been sitting there on the reef since about 8
years or so…
After
the second dive we are all pretty cold and get back to the lodge for lunch and
some rest. We go out one more time in the afternoon for another dive. On the
way back we’re very tired, but also very happy.
In
the evening we have good dinner with a birthday celebration for one of the
guests. Life has it’s own rhythm here on Andros, one we can get used to
quickly.
Saturday, November 25,
2006
Today
will be the last day for us to dive, since you can’t dive more than 24 hrs
prior to boarding an airplane. We go out for another two dives in the morning,
by now almost routine.
There
is a specialty dive for another group – a family of four – which leave with the
other dive boat and dive master Moose just for their small group.
We
come back to the lodge, relax in the sun and have lunch. The weather is warming
up and it is more like the typcial weather in the
For
the afternoon, Jill decides to go Kayaking on the lake we saw on the first
evening. I am joining some other divers on the boat, but I plan to just go
snorcheling. We stop at a nearby key, where Sae will do an intorductory scuba
lesson in shallow water for two guests. I also go out there as I assume there
is a good spot for snorcheling. I plan to swim around the little key in search
of fish and coral. However, it turns out that the water there is quite shallow
and sandy, and the visibility isn’t all that great. So I see the boat leaving
to their dive spot and wish I had stayed on it.
But
wait, the boat isn’t going much further – the dive site is pretty close nearby.
Once I see them anchoring with the red-white-red dive flag flying, I decide to
swim over there to the boat. It is a bit spooky to wim all by yourself a few
hundred yard from land and the boat, with the knowledge that there are sharks
in the water etc. But after maybe 15 min of swimming with the fins I reach the
boat.
All
the divers are in the water. So I just stay in the water and look down about 50
ft to the scuba divers. At times I take a deep breadth and freedive down to the
scuba divers at 50 ft. Feels strange to mix in with the others, as I’m the only
one without a scuba.
I
also see dive master Sceebo blow a perfect ring-shaped bubble twice. I have
never seen this before. The ring comes up from the deep and expands – looks a
bit like a hula-hoop – until it finally falls apart.
After
75 minutes in the water I get out with the divers on the boat and need to warm
up. Dinner feels even better tonight after so much sun, salt and water during
the day. Eat, Sleep, Dive…
There
is also a celebration every night to award a diploma for those guests who will
leave the next day. Jill and I are up tonight for our diploma. We also play
Scrabble with a local girl, who plays surprisingly well.
Sunday, November 26,
2006
Today
we get up early and watch the sunrise again.
We
have breakfast early in the morning and then sit in a swing right next to the
beach.
There
is also a signature tree root stranded on the beach, simply called “Jeff’s
tree”:
We
reserve two bicycles for our last morning outing. These bikes are some beach
cruisers, sturdy with broad tires.
Our
goal on the bike, about 45 mins away: The Island Blue Hole in the
Finally
we reach the Blue Hole, a circular hole in the ground with deep, blue water.
There
is a platform about 15 ft above the water from which to jump into the water. To
climb back out, there is a wooden ladder leading up the near vertical rock.
Jumpin
gin is fun. I get an idea as I swim back to the ladder: How about climbing on the
roof and jumping from there! While I do that, Jill takes a picture of me
looking back while in free fall:
After
having some fun and splashing in the water I climb back out to warm up and dry
the swim suit in the hot sun.
On
the way back we encounter some wild orchids along the road. As well as multiple
car wrecks – a really sad sight.
Soon
we get back to the main road and ride back towards the lodge.
We
have a short stop at the
After
a short cab ride we’re back at the airport, and after waiting some more time
there we board the little propeller plane again.
The
flight back to
At
5:00pm we’re back on the ground in