Happy Thanksgiving

All of us at Small Hope Bay we giving thanks yesterday. Thanks for the beautiful weather, the great diving and the wonderful guests that chose to spend their Thanksgiving holiday with us!

The day began with a picture perfect sunrise. The divers all headed out the Ocean Blue Hole and Lieben's Point for a morning of great diving.

Since our divers had been here and diving for a couple of days, they were game for a game. Norm, Conor, Duane and Kim took part in the First Annual Small Hope Bay Lodge Underwater Turkey Bowl, along with Divemasters Amanda, Loren, Ashley and Dennis. It was a tight game of flag football using the Toypedo as a ball but the Hammerheads managed to pull a win out against the Fighting Devil Rays, thanks to a clutch "run" by Duane. Check out the entire video here!

After we had all worked up a healthy appetite, it was time to enjoy our Thanksgiving feast. Once again, our chefs outdid themselves with four main entrees, delicious sides and SIXTEEN desserts! The Lodge hosts dinners like this four times a year (the other three are at Christmas, New Years and Easter) and all the staff, guests and discerning members of the community were very enthusiastic about their meal (especially the chocolate mousse!)

Presentations were done after dinner as usual with the addition of presenting the trophy to the winners of the Turkey Bowl. Loren, the captain of the victorious Hammerheads, accepted the trophy on behalf of his team (Duane, Conor and Dennis). Duane "The Destroyer" Romanello was awarded the MVP award for scoring the only touchdown in the game.
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Small Hope Bay Internships

Small Hope Bay Lodge is now accepting applications for Summer 2009 interns. We run a true internship, which means that interns work in exchange for room, board, and training.

Intern requirements:

- 18 and over
- Great attitude
- Ability to adapt to different jobs
- Great interpersonal skills
- Good swimming abilities

Diving experience and certification are a bonus but not necessary. If you have the right attitude, we'll give you all the training you will need!

Small Hope internships give you experience in not only diving and watermanship but you will also leave with a great working knowledge of the hospitality industry as a whole.

Apply for internship at shbinterns@gmail.com. Write us a letter telling us about you and why you would make a great intern. Application deadline is April 1, 2009.

In 2008, we had three interns, Seicha, Tanya and Hayley.



Seicha is a sophomore at Brown University studying linguistics. She is a native Androsian who was raised in and around the water by her parents, Tim and Beth. Seicha has worked at SHBL since she was 13 and started summer interning after she moved to the States for high school. Seicha became a PADI Divemaster when she turned 18.

Tanya is a sophomore at Amherst University majoring in theater and dance. She has been coming to SHBL with her family for years and has been an intern since she was 16. Tanya has completed her training through Divemaster.

Hayley came in as our youngest intern this year. She is a sophomore in high school in Louisville, KY. She has been coming to SHBL with her family for years. Hayley worked her way through her Advanced Open Water certification this year and will hopefully move on to Rescue next summer.

The interns work hard helping out the regular staff but everyone gets to have fun. We take our jobs very seriously but as you can see from the video below (a clip of a video that Tanya made at the end of the summer this year), sometimes we just have to cut loose and dance!



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Check out Small Hope Bay Lodge on Jaunted.com

SHBL was recently visited by Lost Girl, Jen Baggett, as she and friend, Mark, took a "field trip" down to Andros for the pop culture travel site, Jaunted.com. Check out the first of the series of posts here and keep an eye on Jaunted for the next week for the rest of the series.

As for Jen, we hope to see her back here soon. Our jam sessions are missing her harmonic talents immensely (and Mark's input on our playlist is also sorely missed!)
Lost Girl Jen and Divemaster Amanda at Shark Emporium Pin It Now!

Meet The SHBL Pooches

This is Rex, aka Rexus Maximus or just plain Rexie. He is a three year old (we think) potcake

that is native to Andros. He's been at Small Hope since he was a puppy that followed one of our kitchen staff to work every day. Rex was adopted by Divemasters Loren and Amanda when they joined the staff in April of 2008.



Rex enjoys laying in the sand, crab hunting in the lagoon and along the beach, wading in Davis Creek, and belly rubs. He has also been known to follow bike riders to Captain Bill's Blue Hole.

Photo: Mike Jones

Meet Sarah, aka Sare Bear, Beara, or Sarah Bear-Bear, Small Hope's newest addition to the family. Sarah was living down by Davis Creek with her companion, a Great Dane names Andros, when Andros was adopted by SHBL guests and taken on an adventure to New York City. Sarah eventually started hanging out around the Lodge and once again, Divemasters Loren and Amanda adopted a dog (they're dog people!). Sarah is very sweet and a little timid and can usually be found waiting at the end of the dock for her people to come back from the dive. She enjoys crab hunting with Rex, soft ear scratches and laying on Amanda's yoga mat.

Photo: Jill Brickey

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Moving Into The Digital Age

For all of our guests, past, present and future, that have Facebook accounts -- come join our group! Post pictures and videos. Reconnect with guests that stayed here at the same time you did. Share stories and adventures!

Join here.

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Election Night

The elections in the USA have an effect on all of us globally and some of the guests and staff were anxious to watch the returns live so we decided to have an Election Night Party. The kids made election posters and a TV was brought in and tuned to CNN so we could watch the events unfold in our "Non Partisan Zone" aka The Games Room.

Only a couple of us made it to the concession and victory speeches but a fun time was had by all.

We at Small Hope Bay Lodge realize that it has been a tough election year. We are proud of our neighbors in the USA for their commitment, enthusiasm and enduring spirit of democratic progress.

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SHBL Music Project

Any of our guests who have been here since April probably have seen Ashley bring out his guitar to entertain after dinner on the patio or in the lounge. Those same guests may have noticed that sometimes there is a lull in the music or sometimes someone just singing along because no one knows all the words to the song we are playing.

We've also been noticing our CD collection at the Lodge. Some of the CD's we have are older than the newest generation of divers that we are taking Over The Wall!

So we at SHBL are challenging (and imploring!!) our guests to take part in the SHBL Music Project. We would love it if our guests would bring us mix CD's of their favorite music. Before your trip, burn a CD with all of your favorite songs, label it as "Your Name Here's SHBL Mix" and bring it with you on your vacation. We'll put it on a special shelf of guest mixes.

If you are REALLY ambitious, you can print the lyrics out for the songs for us to add to our song books for sing along nights. If Ash doesn't know how to play the songs, he'll learn!

So put your thinking caps on and put together your ultimate playlist. This should be an interesting and musical season!

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What's The Weather Like?

Cool and breezy with the sun shining and the seas flat, it is just another perfect day at Small Hope Bay! Divemaster Loren and Small Hope Bay Pooch, Rex were out enjoying the sunshine!

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Small Hope Bay Lodge's Inbox

Here are some emails and pictures that we have received recently from our wonderful guests!

Giorgio Brancaleoni, a divemaster from Italy who recently visited us sent us this phenomenal shot of a Caribbean Reef Shark.

Jim Cribb, a repeat guest sent some pictures from his visit in May with Sheila, Lynn and Ashley and his visit in October.

From left to right : Ashley, Divemaster Amanda, and Sheila showing off their Androsia pareos and a little leg!


Below : Jim snapped a picture of Divemaster Amanda doing her thing with video

Right : Divemaster Loren getting photographed photographing Atlantic
Spadefish at the Ocean Blue Hole Pin It Now!