Jes and Jace get married in the Bahamas . . .

We were privileged to be able to host another wedding at Small Hope Bay Lodge recently. Jessica and Jace came to the resort one year ago and were engaged during their stay here. They thought it would make a beautiful wedding location as well and brought some of their immediate family down to celebrate with them. 

It was a lovely beach ceremony followed by a great party! Congratulations to the beautiful couple. We wish them many, many years of happiness!

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Pre-Thanksgiving at Small Hope Bay Lodge

Thanksgiving is almost here. And today I am looking out my window and giving thanks for the beautiful day we have today. The sun is shining, palms are swaying, waves gently lapping the shore. It's late November and many parts of Canada and the US are experiencing terrible cold weather already. But today, I am thankful to be in the Bahamas!

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Halloween in the Bahamas! (careful . . . it's spooky!)

We celebrated a great Halloween here in the Bahamas once again. We had our awesome guests, delicious treats, and a couple scary tricks. Check out all the fun! 

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Travel + Leisure: Small Hope Bay Lodge, Bahamas

We recently were mentioned in an article by Travel + Leisure, by Kira Turbull. Kira is a long-time friend of Small Hope Bay Lodge, having grown up on Andros alongside the Birch family children. Congratulations to her on her great article. Have a look for yourself . . .

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Summer Camp has Come to Small Hope!

It's a lot of fun for the Ancat summer students to spend the day at Small Hope Bay Lodge, going out to the coral reef and experiencing the smooth running of the best dock in the area is a big treat for the youths.  

Every summer Ancat works to expose the island children to the many wonders of Andros and while we're instilling within these children a love of the outdoors and a great appreciation of nature, we're teaching them as well: to swim, snorkel, hike, kayak, to identify birds and fishes, corals too. We're building the youth's self esteem and showing

them that they too can make a difference, as each year they participate in a community project to remove marine debris from the shoreline, beaches and waterways. 

Peter and Gabrielle Douglas, of Small Hope family fame, run the Andros Conservancy and Trust, (Ancat), a local environmental NGO and  have run this camp for six years now, understanding that its only through exposure to all that Andros has that they'll be able to build the baseline environmental knowledge of the Bahamian populace, who will be the future custodians of our island saving its resources for generations yet to come to enjoy. 

We firmly believe that ignorance is not the fault of the ignorant but the fault of those who know, but choose not to pass the knowledge on. It is in all of our hands to conserve the natural resources of Andros, to pass on the baton to the next generation. If you would like to assist in any way be it through a donation of funds, equipment, volunteer or just a prayer at the right time we would be grateful, there is a lot to be done.

Please contact Ancat at ancatoffice@gmail.com or visit their website at www.ancat.net to find out about more of the work of the Andros Conservancy and Trust.

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More Romance on the beaches of Small Hope

Yet another wedding here at Small Hope. Lauren, daughter of Alec and Margo, and niece of Jeff Birch, got married last week! She and Ray had a picturesque wedding day on our north beach. A ceremony much larger than we have ever done before, we constructed pergolas for shade, and brought in cooks, and extra help to make sure it went off without a hitch. 

It went perfectly and bride, groom, and all the guests, friends, and family had a blast! 

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Weddings Galore!

We've had three beautiful weddings in the last month! I can't think of a more beautiful location for a destination wedding - white sandy beach, the bluest turquoise waters, and sparkling Bahamas sunshine!

Ashley and Justin . . . 

Destiny and Dave . . . 

And Mike and Wendy . . .

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A Starry Night in the Bahamas . . .

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. This is one of my favorite pictures here at Small Hope, but it mostly leaves me speechless.

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Small Hope Says Goodbye to an Old Friend . . .

In the beginning there was Dick and Joan Hanna, all the way from Canada, with some ever-loving support. One of the main persons was this very quiet, strong, kind, unassuming lawyer by the name of William Chapin. He helped Dick Birch through the legal process all the way to helping setting up companies with another icon, Mr. LB Johnson. They helped give hope to Small Hope! 

So we share with all and raise our glasses to Mr. William Chapin - A warrior and great spirit in the world! The following is a video done, we believe in 2005, that was shared with us. This is something to help those of us who want to remember him forever. For us, he will always be here!

From Jeff Birch, and the Small Hope Bay Lodge staff . . . 

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Amazing Loggerhead while Diving the Bahamas

Saw this beauty while diving the other day from Small Hope Bay Lodge, Andros, Bahamas! One of the coolest things about diving here! Come and see for yourself . . .

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Diving the Guardian Blue Hole . . .

Here is another installment from Small Hope Studios. We love these videos! Enjoy . . .

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Small Hope Has Gone SOLAR!

Solar panels for our hot tub

As you may know, Small Hope Bay Lodge has always been firmly committed to our natural environment. For many years we have employed several measures to reduce our environmental impact such as LED bulbs in all of our light fixtures and water saving devices in all our toilets.

Now we have taken it a step further. All the hot water for our entire resort - that means all 21 of our beachfront cabins, as well as our kitchen, lounge, and hot tub - is completely solar heated now.

Layout of our solar design

This is a big step for Small Hope, and Andros Island in general. This island's energy is currently supplied by diesel generators, a very costly and inefficient fuel source. By switching all our water heating to solar, we are taking a huge step forward in reducing our dependency on non-renewable energy sources. 

We are very proud of this. And it's just the beginning. . . .

Solar panels for our cabins and lounge

This process began last summer when we had a team of interns from Duke University down for several weeks to help design and implement a solar hot water heating system for the resort. They definitely got the ball rolling and helped construct the unit we currently are using to heat all the water for our cabins, lounge and kitchen.

We then expanded the project further and, with a little help for some good friends, constructed an additional unit for heating our hot tub.

A big thanks to everyone who helped us achieve this goal!

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Check out this beautiful and HUGE loggerhead we saw while diving Andros, Bahamas!

We had an amazing dive the other day. We were at Dana's Delight, a beautiful wall dive, at about 70 feet, when this amazing loggerhead swung around to check out the divers. He was so cool!

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I can't believe this is FEBRUARY!

We are having a ridiculously lovely winter this year. Flat, calm waters, warm sunshine, light southerly breezes . . . I love my job!

February 24, 2014

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Diving with sharks, on Andros, Bahamas

One of our favorite and most popular divers here at Small Hope is our shark dive. At a depth of 50 feet divers can watch Caribbean reef sharks swimming around, feeding on a slow-release "chumsicle". It is a great way for new and experienced divers to overcome any irrational fears they may have about these beautiful and graceful animals.

Check out this video of one of our shark dives!

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Plane, trains and . . . Yachts?

I recently got to head over to Paris and Dusseldorf for a couple dive shows. It's a tough life, you know, but someone's got to do it. I got to represent Small Hope Bay Lodge at the Salon de la Plongee in Paris and the BOOT show in Dusseldorf (the largest boat show in the world, with one out of 17! halls designated to diving).

During the day it was work, work, work (keep in mind the Paris dive show is the only dive show I have been to that has a Champagne tasting booth) but by night I got to check out two of the coolest cities in Europe. Oh, and I had great food. And wine. And beer!

Check out some of the photos!

Working it, at the show

Eiffel Tower from Arc du Triomphe

Climbing the Eiffel Tower

Mona Lisa

Musee D'Orsay

Musee du Louvre

Dusseldorf

I'll take the one on the right

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