Slowing it down in Andros

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.  It was a great time of year here in Nassau, lots of sun and the pleasure of hosting a great friend. And then my lovely wife arrived for good the day after. So yes, it was quite the good week.

The week was made all the better with a work trip to one of the Family Islands – Andros. This island is by far the largest of the Bahamas archipelago, even if it is divided into three separate sections that are in effect their own islands due to the logistics challenges of getting between the regions. It is actually necessary to fly back to the Nassau to get from the south of Andros to the north or vice versa. Most of the island is desolate pine barrens growing on top of rugged limestone and vast mangrove swamps. It is the kind of place where that show 'Naked and Afraid' gets filmed.

For this work trip, I was excited to head to the north part of the island, which is not visited frequently by tourists.  I flew to Nichols Town (the biggest settlement, at 500 people, in northern Andros) and spent the Sunday exploring the island with my buddy.  Andros is well known for blue holes, which actually should be called black holes because there is not much light to get a blue hue.  These geologic features are deep caves that fill with a mix of rain water and salt water seeping in from the ocean.   These two types of water do not mix though. The first hole we explored was actually right off of a beach and was just salt water.   It was kind of choppy so the visibility was sub-optimal and with the huge sting ray chilling in it, it was pretty creepy.

Then inland we found a more classic blue/black hole.  This one, called Uncle Charlie's hole is over a mile inland. Driving down a random dirt track through pine trees to find the blue hole, it felt improbable to find something impressive.  Man was I wrong.

All of a sudden there was a little lagoon with 5-8 foot cliff walls. The water was black, and forbearing. We scoped it out and then it was time to jump in.  I went first and the water was actually quite refreshing.  Then with the snorkeling gear it became apparent just how bizarre this quirk of geology is. With the mask it was easy to see the cliff walls extending down maybe 10 feet max, then the bottom of the cliff cuts away like and it gets spooky. Swimming out to the middle of the hole was an exercise in trust --trusting that it all was going to be okay, because it sure did not feel certain. Especially since, the visibility should be excellent in this clear water. When snorkeling in the waters off the island where I live I can have visibility over a hundred feet. Here that same impressive visibility just tailed off to nothing.  This water cave extends hundreds of feet down and was explored by Jacques Cousteau.

After those adventures it was time to head north and track down some food, no easy feat on a Sunday on the family islands. Finally we stumbled on this dive of a sports bar which serendipitously had the Pats game on against Detroit. A beer, some chicken and football felt just about right to hang out with some of the dudes that live in the tip of North Andros and were just chilling.

Then it was time to head home, squeeze in a run on the deserted beach and hit the hay.  It was so quiet in our little corner of the island--leading to a feeling of peacefulness and deep relaxation. I got to finish my book, which had taken way too long to read.  No TV, no internet and such quiet. I slept like a champ and was ready for full and super interesting days of work.

If you are curious about the work part of my trip, check out this summary on Facebook from the US Embassy account: https://www.facebook.com/wilson.korol/posts/10152866389955930.