Bahamas Update - week 7

Well, the start of the week the weather wasn’t too great so Monday we were given a free day so we all went off to do Island Exploration. We all split into groups and hitchhiked all over getting rides from the locals. Tuesday we did some fish point dives at Amphiteatre and started our underwater fish tests. Wednesday and Thursday, again we didn’t dive unfortunately as the weather didn’t permit it, but then Friday and Saturday we had the opportunity to dive a blue hole. Half of us dove Friday afternoon and the rest Saturday morning. We went to Churches Blue Hole on the island and did a 30 minute dive at 18m. Saturday night was a night of celebrations as it was our Expedition Leader’s birthday, so this was definitely a good night. A few of us then got a ride up to Forfar, the American camp on the island, and stayed there the night. Sunday morning we all came back and the group recovered together in the sun (Will, a little bit too much as he got horrendously burnt) and got ready for diving again Monday.

Stevie and James

Bahamas Update - week 9

This week the weather has been good so we’ve done a lot of diving. The rescue divers have all gained their rescue qualifications and we’ve done a lot of survey dives so we’ve gone to a number of different dive sites and have been able to see more of the reefs around Andros. On Wednesday we all went on a fun dive and spent half an hour stealing each other’s fins underwater, and so using our air much faster than normal! On Friday most of us hitchhiked to Nicholl’s Town in the North of the island and spent the day there lying on the beach and eating chicken. In the evening we went to Queen’s Park, where the locals go on a Friday evening to dance and drink, and we, of course, threw ourselves into the local way of life. On Saturday we all went to Somerset beach, an absolutely gorgeous beach by AUTEC, the naval base. Some of us walked all the down the beach trying to find an oceanic blue hole we were told about but after a very long walk of making little progress along the beach we turned around, arriving back to find people going out for rides on a mini catamaran, photos of which can be found on Youtube when you look for AUTEC sailing! Only one week left in the Bahamas now, let’s see what happens!

Katie (and Joe, who did nothing)

Bahamas Update - Week 8

The week started by the entire group finishing the PADI DEEP DIVING SPECIALITY on Monday going to a site called ‘3 Anchors’ at the tongue of the ocean, where we went down just past the edge of the tongue at 40 meters allowing us to look directly down into the complete darkness which was 6000ft down. An unforgettable experience. A few members of the group were lucky enough to see a 12ft Great Hammerhead Shark swim a few meters from them, whereas others were lucky to see a Sea Turtle swim past. The second final dive for the specialty was at a site called Coliseum where we went down to 30 meters. On Tuesday we finished off the final underwater fish tests and starting practice surveying, by the end of the day everyone had passed the fish test and had done a practice survey over a regular site we use called Ampi. We ended the day with a few drinks in celebration of Becky’s Birthday.

On Wednesday we had a free day for island exploration and another day to top up the tans. Thursday we were back in the water and continued with practice surveys at Ampi, allowing us to feel more comfortable with surveying. On Friday we got back in the water for a morning dive before the weather changed allowing us to do one final practice survey before we would start before on the following Monday. On Friday one of the volunteers Harvey left to carry on his travelling so 1 member down, a few in the group decided to head down to Queen’s Park for the regular Andros Nights where music and drinks and of course conch fritters were there in plenty!

On Saturday the group headed to a local swimming pool to continue with the RESCUE DIVER CERTIFICATION. After the group had finished we all headed up to Nicholls’s Town hitching a 70 mile round trip up the island, to a Music and Arts Festival being held for the day by the local community. The festival had for sale many of the local crafts found on the island and foods and music common in the Bahamas. We all head back down to Timmy’s Bar for the evening, where we proceeded to celebrate Oli’s Birthday which was the following day. On Sunday we had our usual free day where a few went off exploring down to Small Hope Bay Lodge and others relaxed by the beach and sea.

Highlights of the week included the amount of diving we got done managing 7 dives due to the excellent weather we were fortunate to have last week! The group all finished the Deep Diving Specialty and the fish tests. We managed to eat well due to the continual kind donation of food by a member of staff at AUTEC Naval Base and we were all ready for surveying in the following week.

By Will

Bahamas Update - Week 6

This week in Andros we dove at Three Anchors, a site which leads to the Tongue of the Ocean. Here we completed some of our deep dives and the group saw a reef shark and two turtles! The rest of the week we continued our fish point dives and we all passed our fish exams!

We also went to Junkanoo, a local Bahamian festival, where the school children dress up and dance, we got to paint the children’s faces that we teach during the week to make them look like Indians, which we all enjoyed immensely, giving the girls the idea to show support for the children and paint even our own faces. We had a cracking night out which then lead onto Saturday night which is of course party night … Good times!

Stacey and Sophie