Glamping and Blue Hole Dives, Andros, Bahamas

Just back from one of the most fun weekends I can remember! This past weekend Small Hope Bay Lodge owner, Jeff Birch, took some staff to South Andros for the weekend to do some blue hole dives. It was a great opportunity for some of us to get a chance to see some of the amazing natural beauty of the area as well as dive some of the most amazing caves and caverns in the world.

We called our friends down at Tiamo, a resort on South Andros, who are closed for the season. They happily invited us to use their resort as our camp site while we were down there. Not your typical campsite - we had use of the pool, showers and more, not to mention our amazing welcome night with great wine and champagne.

Our first morning we took the boat to the small dock and headed south by car to Stargate, an incredibly beautiful and ornately decorated cave dive. This is, hands down, one of the coolest dive any of us have ever done - amazing stalactites and wall formations. We even saw a blind cave fish!

Next up was El Dorado, an awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping, cave dive. El Dorado starts as you head into the mouth of the cave, visible from above water as well, through a tunnel filled with great wall formations and stalactites (quite a few blind cave fish too!). But then, you start to see light at the far end of this tunnel and you end up beneath a different lake, looking up through the green light.

We turned around and returned to our entry point. As this dive was only at a depth of 90' we had plenty of time to play around outside the mouth of the cave, checking out the debris, wall formations, and sediment. There was a vere eerie mist too!

After a very full (and cool) day of diving we all headed back to our campsite (and the infinity pool) at Tiamo. We rounded out a great day with some tasty tacos and, all exhausted and looking forward to our final dive the next day, went to bed very early.

On Sunday, after camp fire coffee and breakfast, we hopped in the boat once more and headed to the road and the last dive of the trip, Mohrdohr. This place is a bit further into the bush and we had to trek all the gear in. It is a beautiful walk though - views of 3 blue holes, tons of different butterflies, and at least 2 Great Lizard Cuckoos that stopped to check us out. The surface of this blue hole is almost as impressive as beneath the water . There is a land bridge that connects this blue hole with another so you can swim between the two. This dive, Mohrdohr, is technically a cavern dive as outside light is visible at all times. We had a depth of 110' here, but the most impressive part of this dive is coming out. It is a giant room, like a big cathedral, and when you turn around there is a huge column of light coming from the entrance, illuminating the sides and floor of the entire entrance. Breathtaking! 

Check out the video for Part 2 here!

After this, we hiked back out to the cars, then took the boat back to the camp site to pack all our stuff. We said goodbye to our friends at Tiamo and some of the boys headed back to Small Hope with most of the dive and camping gear on the boat, and the rest of us flew with Jeff, doing a couple fly-bys of the boat on the way.

All in all, an amazing weekend! Can't wait till the next time. Thanks boss! Pin It Now!

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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Annual Small Hope Bay Lodge Staff Party

Nassau Here We Come

Every September Small Hope Bay Lodge closes temporarily to undergo maintenance, repairs and inventory. The first order of business however is the annual staff party. 

Whether it is at Captain Bill's Blue Hole, Somerset Beach, or right at Small Hope the staff party is always a ton of fun. This year Jeff decided to fly everyone over to Nassau and hold the party at Traveller's Rest, a beach side restaurant run by his mother, Joan Hanna. 

Austin, Nicky, Fede, Dale and Tony on the Pursuit

On the morning of the party everyone woke up and headed to the airport, except for a select few who elected to go to Nassau in The Pursuit, Small Hope's 21 foot V-hull. 

Tony and Inez cutting the rug

Arriving in Nassau everyone dispersed for a couple hours to do a little shopping before meeting up at Traveller's for some food, some drinking and of course some dancing. With a live band playing throughout the day there was always someone on the dance floor. Alvin, Jardie and Tony especially enjoyed dancing the day away. 

Alvin gets the dancing started

The food was of course delicious and once everyone had digested a little it was time to hit the water. 

having fun out on the water

There was not a dry seat in the house as everyone had a blast riding on the tube! Fede and Jeff were excellent captains...they only dumped a few people off. 









All in all is was a great day in Nassau and a terrific staff party, one we will not soon forget. A big thank you goes out to Jeff for planning such a wonderful day and leaving everyone with some amazing memories. Annual renovations and inventory are now getting underway at Small Hope,  everyone is getting excited for October and looking forward to the new season!

 Highlights from the 2012 Small Hope Staff Party

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