"HW "Skip" Weldon" wrote

No, but I've visited.  One of our Blackbeard's trips made a stop at Andros.
Some boated to shore while others made the swim in.  We wandered the island,
including Small Hope Bay Lodge.  The town, if that's what it is, is small,
quiet and quite friendly, even to people who obviously brought no money with
them, i.e. were in bathing suits.  The lodge property was attractive and the
facilities appeared to be well cared for.  I say "appeared" because the
island was recovering from recent hurricane damage and, being on the water,
the lodge took some damage.  There were signs that the place is normally
well maintained as well as signs that damage was in process of repair, but
it was not yet repaired when we visited.  That was quite a few years ago.

I'm no sure about the idea that no air conditioning is necessary.  The lodge
is right on the water, so they probably get good sea breezes year round.  I
imagine they have ceiling fans which can do a lot to keep things
comfortable.  On the other hand, we were there in the middle of summer and
it was pretty much as hot there as it is here.  I'm not sure ceiling fans
would be enough if the sea breezes were to stop for a while.  Similarly, I'm
not sure I'd like to be on the island at all if the breezes stopped.  I seem
to recall encountering more than a few insects.

Lee

Hubby and I were there in November 2001.  The ceiling fan was enough to keep
us cool during that time of year.  The rooms all face the ocean and have
windows in the back to allow a cross breeze.  The corners of the rooms are
lined with boric acid on a regular basis to ward off "Palmetto bugs".
Beware of the coconut trees that grow over the metal roofs.  Falling
coconuts make a heck of a racket when they land (and then roll off onto the
ground).  Hubby remembers me using DEET lotion so there must have been
mosquitoes and/or noseeums.

Unfortunately, we were there just after Hurricane Michelle went through so
the staff were in the midst of moving the beach from one end of the property
to the other with a bulldozer (the sand was blown around by the wind).
Also, shortly after the hurricane, their office burned down so they lost all
their records, including the one that proved hubby and I had already paid
for our stay.  They refused to allow hubby and I to leave without paying
again and we spent the next several weeks trying to get a refund from them.
The hurricane also destroyed their dock and their clothing-optional
solarium.  Because the dock was gone, we were shuttled back and forth from a
dock in town (next to a villa owned by SHB which could be rented - comes
complete with housekeeper and cook).  The solarium and dock reconstruction
was already underway while we were there so I'm sure the dock is now
completed.

SHB is pretty homey, as you can tell from their website.  The food is very
good, if I remember correctly, but I couldn't get a decent cup of tea
because desalinated water that tasted good only if it was made into hot
coffee was used.  All alcoholic beverages were included the week we were
there (because of the hurricane).

Our most memorable dive was the Blue Hole "snot" dive.  The site is
somewhere in the middle of the ocean and has to be located using GPS.  We
went to about 105ft for a "taste" of the sulphur in the water.  Something in
the water at that depth cause what seemed to be strings of snot to hang in
the water.  One fellow diver who wore much silver jewellery discovered all
her baubles had turned black after the dive.  We also saw Midnight
Parrotfish, some of the coolest looking fish I'd ever seen.

The dive operations Manager (Mike) said he was hoping to make SHB the
"Technical" diving centre of the Bahamas.  In fact, while we were there, a
couple of other guests went to a prehistoric beach at > 200ft. (complete
with extra tanks for a prolonged safety stop).

Our most memorable staff member was a French DM Jean-Paul, the most fun DM
we've ever had.  He was an absolute hoot, kept everyone in stitches for the
whole week.  We enjoyed our week-long stay and would probably return if
there weren't so many other places in the world to go to.

Jo