A Season At Small Hope Bay

Another Season Come and Gone...

This year was filled with many great memories. We made new friends and reunited with old ones. We shared many laughs, many beers and many conch fritters! 

Some highlights from our 2011-2012 season

Jeffrey Birch being goofy over Christmas

Crab Fest 2012! 

We adopted another potcake named Izzy!

We created an artificial reef by sinking a plane! 

Ben finished the list...success!

This season at SHBL we were treated to not only one but two of John Rice's famous margarita parties. We enjoyed countless Black Monkey nights at the bar and even got to witness Ben aka 'Evil' become the first to complete every drink on the extensive Small Hope drink menu, not to mention the extras that were thrown in there just for fun! 




We went diving with sting rays and hammerheads, reef sharks and turtles. A pod of dolphins joined us at the Blue Hole and under the dock. We successfully sunk a plane and christened our second new dive site of the season. We watched our crazy divemasters play it up for the cameras on the day dives and dance in the beautiful bio luminescence on our nights dives. We bid farewell to two dear friends and fulfilled their wish of a burial at sea. Patrick Laing and Jim Spencer are missed and will forever be in our hearts. 

Petter, Sam and Laura with instructor Fede 

We went fishing, biking and kayaking. We swam in the blue holes and relaxed in the hammocks. We laughed at our crazy interns, who taught us how to "Bruk it Down" and what NOT to do when driving a golf cart on the dock! In turn they were taught how to rescue an unresponsive diver at the service during their Rescue Diver course, or how to conduct a correct dive briefing during their Divemaster course. 

Wedding party dancing the night away

Our spontaneous dance party was a highlight of the Spring and during the Summer we had one heck of a wedding reception! We battened down the hatches and rode out Tropical Storm Isaac, playing Backgammon and Jenga in the lounge as the rain poured down outside. When the storm cleared we finished out the summer with beautiful weather, spending days snorkeling or beach combing.




It was a great season finished in true Small Hope fashion with a wonderful and hilarious staff party. It was a year of friends, family, and fun and like every year at Small Hope Bay Lodge it gave us memories to last a lifetime. 

Watch this video and re-live some of our more memorable moments from the last year

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Dana Harding Maxwell - Forever at Home

Dick Birch, the founder of Small Hope Bay Lodge, always said Small Hope was a way of life. SHBL becomes a home and a family for most of the people that pass through our little Lodge. Dana Maxwell, a long time guest and member of the extended Small Hope family, passed away this past November. His will specified that his remains be buried at sea by his family at Small Hope. Dana had his final wishes carried out by joining Dick Birch and other members of the Birch and Small Hope family in being released over the wall, having the Tongue of the Ocean as his final resting place.

Jeff and Mike, who had been diving with Dana for years, through his good times and bad, took Dana's ashes on their last dive, taking the biodegradable box that held Dana's ashes to 160 feet over the wall at Dana's Delight, the site named in his honor years ago, and released him into the abyss. They then placed a plaque in memorial on a ledge at 160 feet.

Dana's lifelong friends, Ernie and Judy, accompanied Dana on his final trip to the Bahamas and Ernie wrote a poem that he read at Dana's Memorial. You can hear that at the end of the video.

Dana Maxwell was a wonderful friend, a funny man who was dedicated to the Lodge and his two prized puppies. His wit and irreverent attitude embodied an eclectic and eccentric spirit that made him a favorite character at SHBL. He is loved and will be missed. Pin It Now!