Ornithology at SHBL

Ocean, sand, mangroves and beautiful trees all surround Small Hope Bay Lodge. Living within this ecosystem are more than 300 species of birds! 109 species breed in the Bahamas, 169 species are migrants or winter here, and 45 species are endemic. Some, like the Greater Flamingo and the Bahama race of the Cuban Parrot, can only be found in the wild on one or two of the islands.
In the Mangroves between the beach and road of Small Hope Bay Lodge you can spot waders, rails, bitterns, ibis, and ducks. In the nature trails there are many chances to see some of the shy denizens of the coppice, like the Key West Quail Dove, the Great Lizard Cuckoo, the Bahamas Yellowthroat, the Greater Antillean Bullfinch.
Currently, a Yellow-Crowned Night Heron is bravely walking along the beach here at Small Hope. During cocktail hour at the bar many Red-Winged Blackbirds are flying about. Just a few days ago a baby Savannah Sparrow visited the bar and sang for all the guests before flying inland.
To find out more about bird watching at Small Hope Bay Lodge you can follow this link. Pin It Now!

Message in a Bottle

Last night while walking the beaches on Small Hope Bay Lodge, one of our guests noticed a bottle washing up on shore. Cody who is here with his girlfriend, Ashley and her family Ben, Caleb, Chris, Stacey, Randy and Charlene, ran into the water and snatched the bottle. The group quickly came back to the bar where they popped the cork and pulled out the message to read in front of everybody.
The message was from a couple living on a Catamaran on the Exuma Islands in the Bahamas. The letter was written three weeks ago and cast into the Ocean. It gave us an email address to contact, and we are still awaiting the reply!
Needless to say this was an eventful night and it was quite neat that the bottle washed up onto the shores of Small Hope rather than the many isolated uninhabited islands we have here in the Bahamas! Pin It Now!

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Life as a Conch at SHBL

Fifteen years ago we had our first Conch Fritter at Small Hope, and since then we have not been able to find a conch fritter as good as they are here. It was one of the first things to look forward to once we arrived! - Pat & Patty

Get em’ while they’re hot! Small Hope’s conch fritters are one of a kind. Every cocktail hour a platter of them is devoured along with our special conch sauce and spicy conch sauce. Follow this link to see the delicious treats being enjoyed by guests!
The conch fritters are made fresh daily, first the conch is fished from Small Hope’s personal conch farm located off the dock. The conch is added as the key ingredient to our secret recipe. The mixture is then fried and served!
Come and experience them for yourself!! Pin It Now!

SHBL welcomes the Wombles

This past week, Father and Son, James and Ben Womble visited Small Hope Bay for the first time. Looking for a bone-fishing trip, James and Ben spent several days out at Red Bay, our local bone fishing hot spot. Although their goal was to come and fish, both of them fell in love with our diving. James and Ben took our Discover Scuba diving course and dove one of our local site, Peter’s Mystery Special. Click here to see a video of the Father-Son duo talk about their time vacationing at SHBL.

“We the Wombles, Father and Son (17), spent our first 5 days at Small Hope Bay Lodge. Our activities included bone fishing and diving. We dove 2 days and fished 2 full and 2 half days. Those were wonderful days. Nothing else compares to floating the flats at Red Bay, except maybe the beauty of the coral. The evening fellowship and the meals served to top off this heavenly place. Thank you Small Hope Bay Lodge! We love you!” – James and Ben Womble Pin It Now!

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SHBL gets two thumbs up from travelling dive instructor

Heather Wisnieski traveled to Small Hope Bay Lodge to dive and relax. Heather is certified as a diving instructor and has spent many years traveling the world working as an instructor. Heather became apart of the Small Hope family dining and diving with us all week. She experienced some of our best dives such as: the Ocean Blue Hole, our night dive to Klein's Place and some of our wall dives!

“Small Hope is awesome. The staff contributes to the type of vacation one is seeking the diving is amazing! The food is great! The resort is the best of rustic chic one can imagine! I highly recommend Small Hope as a vacation and dive destination! One arrives a stranger and leaves in the feeling of family. Thank you!” - Heather Wisnieski Pin It Now!

Celebrating Birthdays at Small hope Bay Lodge

July 12 we celebrated 10 year old Florence’s birthday. The Small Hope staff brought out the drum, guitar and cake to serenade Florence after her dinner. The celebration was captured on video and can be seen here. Florence came down with her family of eight. Christain & Antoinette (Grandpa and Grandma), Isabelle and Julienne (Mom and Dad), older brother Thomas, and younger brother and sister, Gregoire and Matilda, all of whom spent a week at Small Hope enjoying time diving, relaxing, and dolphin watching together. Florence took the Discovery Scuba Diving course offered here at Small Hope and spent her birthday week diving!
“We’re a family of eight, ages sixty to three years old, and Small Hope Bay Lodge has something to offer for all of us. Scuba Diving! Snorkeling! Dolphin watching! Relaxing! Babysitting!” Pin It Now!

Music at Small Hope Bay

Small Hope Bay's resident musicians and Divemasters, Ashley Algreen, Dennis Burrows and Amanda Lee, frequently perform for and with our guests. The past couple nights guests, like 4 year old Lucy (in picture above), sang and preformed while the band played.
Father and son, Ben and Avery, borrowed guitars and played with the band until late into the night. A video capturing the night can be seen here.
The band plays frequently and we always encourage guests to debut their musical talents or they can just relax and enjoy the music. Pin It Now!

SHBL welcomes back the Kilgores

Small Hope Bay Lodge welcomed back Gina, Frank, Caitlin and Elena. This was their third visit overall, and second trip this year to the SHBL family. However this time they brought back the extended family. The group of fifteen: Mark, Lynn, Randy, Kathy, Lynn, Rachel, Kayla, Rebecca, Sarah, Faith and Buddy all enjoyed snorkeling, diving, swimming at the Blue Hole, eating conch fritters and shopping at Androsia.

The eldest of the girls, Caitlin, did her 3 day Open water course and was certified during her stay as a PADI Open Water Diver. The Other girls, Rachel, Kayla, Rebecca, Sarah, Faith (all ages ranging between 10-14) dove after certifying in the resort diving course we offer. The girls, including some of the parents, braved the Shark Emporium where they watched our local reef sharks enjoying a delicious meal of chum.
Their stay was not complete without trips to Androsia, where the entire family bought the signature Andros Island attire, and to the inland Blue Hole, to swim in nature’s unique freshwater sinkhole.

Their trip was highlighted when dolphins swam up to SHBL’s dock, and one of the girls, Rachel, jumped in the water to swim alongside them. To see a clip of the dolphin footage, visit click here.
Before leaving we presented the family with Certificates of Achievement, as appreciation for their stay with us. You can watch the certificate announcement here. Pin It Now!

Our Friendly Neighborhood Hammerhead

A Hammerhead shark usually cruises one of our Wall dives here at Small Hope Bay Lodge. Hammerheads are usually difficult to spot because they are scared away by loud diving boats in overpopulated diving areas. Yet the remote spots special only to Small Hope Bay Lodge allow some lucky divers to spot this beautiful shark swimming underneath them as they are descending down the wall. Helen Ambuge and Win Robinson took the above shot two years ago. Win has been diving at Small Hope since 1965, and his daughter Helen emailed us this picture after her fourth visit to Small Hope Bay. Pin It Now!

Small Hope's Aquatic Friends

Over the past two nights, dinner has been interrupted by a family of dolphins swimming and playing around the dock here at Small Hope Bay Lodge. Guests and dive staff ran out to the dock and enjoyed watching the dolphins jump in and out of the water. A few staff and guests grabbed their snorkel gear and jumped into the ocean where the dolphins came within a few feet, playing around our snorkelers and showing off with underwater acrobatics. Loren Kearney, who is apart of our dive staff and who was one of the lucky snorkelers to jump in the water, took the above picture as one of the dolphins swam by. You can also find a video of the dolphins and snorkelers on YouTube here.

We expect to see more of our new friends again, along with other wonderful aquatic life that lives so close to shore. Such as: star fish, spotted eagle rays, and butterfly fish, all whom you can easily spot any time while snorkeling around our beaches and dock. For more information on our aquatic life in SHBL, or snorkeling, please visit Small Hope’s website here. Pin It Now!