The Solar Project at Small Hope

Four months ago, I expected my summer to be spent somewhere in the hustle and bustle of downtown Washington, DC, researching and writing memos on various environmental issues. It didn’t even occur to me that building a solar domestic hot water system in the Bahamas at a dive resort surrounded by mangroves and clear turquoise water was an option! I am glad I made the choice to trade in my metro card and suit for a bicycle and flip flops.

As August, and the end of my time with Small Hope Bay Lodge, approaches, I start to reflect on my experience here and all that has been accomplished. Working with Small Hope has been an incredible experience and a rare opportunity to be able to see a vision turn into a physical reality. I came down here with nothing but a notepad and with the help of some great teammates, Kevin Kurkul, Jake Vestal, and Esi Waters, and the support of the Small Hope family we can leave with a resort-wide solar hot water system, an energy monitoring program, community outreach material on solar hot water systems, and an environmental management plan for the resort.

Time has really flown by and these next few weeks will continue to fly by as we try to finish construction on the solar hot water system. I am ecstatic to get my hands dirty after weeks of dealing with the logistics of obtaining specialized parts and shipping to a remote Out Island like Andros.  (You will not believe how inaccurate those shipping estimate dates are!)

Finally after a few weeks of calling freight companies, distributors, and coordinating with manufacturers, the majority of the parts have arrived! We have been focusing our efforts on building the water manifolds for the hot water storage tanks and starting to solder the copper components. If you are interested in reading more about the specifics of the system, check out my blog entry on the system design. http://blogs.nicholas.duke.edu/internshipblogs/pulling-together-a-solar-hot-water-system-for-small-hope/ Once we are done with that, the team will start to run the pex tubing (a flexible tube that will deliver the end use water) around the resort and to each of our cabins. I am excited to see what our final system looks like and to get it online! I think it will be a great help to Small Hope in terms of reducing its energy costs, but also as an example for the community and to inspire others to follow suit! With plentiful sun exposure, Bahamians really could benefit by tapping into this underutilized resource!

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Celebrating Tom's 60th Birthday

Tom on the old dive boat, 1972

We had so much fun here a couple weeks ago. Former Small Hope divemaster, (and big part of the Birch family) Tom Bain, came back to Small Hope to celebrate his 60th birthday. He brought along with him his wife and four children and lots of great friends. They group took up the entire resort and it was a blast! There was one BIG party (and several smaller ones)  which included guests wearing custom-made Androsia Batik fabric specially made for the birthday party, great food and appetizers, Chinese lanterns, and a beautiful and memorable champagne toast to the birthday boy.

Tom also shared with us some wonderful old photos he had of his time as a divemaster with Small Hope (40 years ago!). It was a great time for all! Pin It Now!

Beachside Wedding in the Bahamas . . .

Stephanie and John came to Small Hope Bay Lodge last week to celebrate their wedding. They brought friends and family to join in the celebration and everyone, including the staff and other guests of Small Hope, were so happy to watch this beautiful couple celebrate their love for each other. I can't think of a more beautiful setting for a wedding - a white, sandy beach; a warm breeze; Andros, Bahamas! The bride looked stunning, the champagne was flowing, and the entire place was full of laughs and smiles!

Thank you Stephanie and John for letting us join you on such a special day!

Check out the wedding video too! 

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CRAB FEST 2013!!!

It was Crab Fest again here on Andros, Bahamas! Our staff and guests took full advantage too by heading down to the park on Friday and Saturday for some live music, freshly cooked crab and lots of fun!

Land Crab

Stuffed crab

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Operation Go Green

We have a very exciting summer starting here at Small Hope Bay Lodge. This summer we are hosting 4 students from Duke University. They will be here working as interns for almost three months. Unlike many of our other interns, they will not be filling tanks on the dock or helping to tend bar in the evenings. These guys are here to help Small Hope become more eco-friendly and energy efficient and we are very excited! Here is their own description of their project as well as who exactly comprises the Green Team: 

Project Description: (I call it Operation Go Green!)

This summer, we will be designing and building a solar thermal system (solar hot water) and exploring the feasibility of solar photovoltaic to help offset the 192,000 kwh energy use of the resort. The majority of the resort’s energy use is spent on heating water. Given Small Hope's location in the Bahamas and its environmentally oriented culture, Small Hope has tremendous solar potential. We get around 250 days of sun out of the year and receive about 3.5-5 kw per square meter at a latitude of 24° 42' 0" N. In addition to installing solar hot water, we will also be helping Small Hope create a sustainable environmental management plan, along with energy, waste and water monitoring programs. 

The Team:

Esi Waters- Duke University Masters of Environmental Management 2013 Environmental Economics and Policy Focus
Jake Vestal- Duke University Masters of Engineering Management 2013 Energy Systems & Big Data Analytics Focus
Kevin Kurkul- Duke University Masters of Environmental Management 2014 Energy and the Environment Focus
Michelle Yuan- Duke University Masters of Environmental Management 2014 Energy and the Environment Focus

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Coming home . . .

I have been a Divemaster at Small Hope for nearly two years now. I have enjoyed waking with the sun and the sound of the sea just feet from my door. I have enjoyed Bahamian summer, autumn, winter and spring. I have loved meeting people from all over the world who choose to come to an off-the-beaten-track resort like Small Hope Bay Lodge. 

In the past two years, I have gotten to travel a little, both for work and for play. But I hadn't been back to the states to visit my family in nearly five years. My parents had both come to see me in the Bahamas as well as when I lived in Mexico and Brazil, so I had seen my family a little. But my mom kept asking me to come visit her in Arizona and I decided it was finally time.

Mmmmm, chile relleno!

I took a little time off and flew out to Tucson, Arizona. While there I did the two things I miss the most while living on Andros - movie theaters and Mexican food! And then more movies, and then more Mexican food . . . and so on. It was great. I reconnected with my family, of which there are thousands (OK, I may be exaggerating, but only slightly). I cleaned out a bunch of stuff I had in the Mom-Stores-It storage facility. And got to hang with my mama, which I love!

But there were some things that weren't so great too. Things I never deal with while living on a remote, tropical island. Like Traffic - I saw a hit and run car accident while coming back from dinner with my mom; Consumerism - On Andros, there is minimal shopping, just Androsia, and as I don't have cable tv, I am not constantly bombarded with ads for new cars, fast food, electric diet belts (really?), anti-depressants, diet pills, gym memberships, pharmaceuticals, an so on - it's overwhelming; Dry heat - they always say Arizona is a dry heat, but there is dry and then there is AZ where it feels like every once of moisture is being sucked out of my body, my lips are chapped in 10 minutes, my hair is filled with static when I brush it and my skin feels like the skin on a lizard. 

While it was great to see family (especially my mom), and I definitely won't wait so long before another visit, I can't express how wonderful it was to to come back to Small Hope. I realized that this is truly my home now.   This is where I am happiest and most comfortable. My little cabin right on the turquoise sea; where my shoes consist of two varieties - regular flip flops and fancy flip flops; Sassy, the potcake, gets so excited to see me that she bounces up and down and rolls in circles; my choices for recreation are diving, snorkeling, paddleboarding, kayaking, hot tubbing, or just kickin' back with an ice-cold Kalik; where every day I get to interact with really great people and have really interesting conversations; and no matter what may be on tv that night, there is nothing as good as watching the sun rise over the sea or set behind the pines.

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Diving with a turtle on Andros, Bahamas!

This little guy was so great on our dive last week! Ever been diving with sea turtles? Where was it?

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