Andros, Bahamas

Andros
Nickname: Big Yard
Geography
Location	Atlantic Ocean
Coordinates	24°26′N 77°57′W / 24.433°N 77.950°W
Archipelago	The Bahamas
Area	5,957 km2 (2,300 sq mi)
Length	167 km (103.8 mi)
Width	64 km (39.8 mi)
Administration
	Bahamas
Demographics
Population	7,800
Pop. density	1.31/km2 (3.39/sq mi)

Andros Island is an archipelago within the archipelago-nation of The Bahamas. Noteworthy for a unique combination of marine features and ecosystems, Andros rests on the west side of the 6000 foot (3+ km) deep Tongue of the Ocean. The world’s third longest barrier reef after Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and the Central American Belize Barrier Reef, runs for 142 miles (225km) averaging a distance of only 1-2 miles from shore . The extensive flats of the Great Bahama Bank lie to the west, northwest and south of Andros. The island ishome to the world’s largest collection of Blue Holes. The Bahamas’ first dive resort, Small Hope Bay Lodge founded in 1960, is located on Andros Island. The land area of Andros consists of hundreds of small islets and cays connected by mangrove estuaries and tidal swamp lands, together with three major islands—North Andros, Mangrove Cay and South Andros. The three main islands are separated by “bights,” estuaries which trifurcate the island, connecting the island’s east and west coasts. Thirty-five miles across the Tongue of the Ocean from the Bahamas’ national capital of Nassau on New Providence Island, Andros’ northern tip lies 138 miles/233 km from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The township of Fresh Creek is home to the Atlantic Undersea Testing and Evaluation Center (AUTEC) where the United Kingdom and the United States conduct special operations training and sonar and submarine research in the Tongue of the Ocean. AUTEC is the island’s largest single employer. Geo-politically considered a single island, Andros is the largest island in the Bahamas, with an area greater than all the other 700 Bahamian islands (26 are inhabited) combined . It is 104 miles (167 km) long by at its widest 40 miles (64 km) wide. Geographically, North Andros at approximately 3400 km2 is the sixth largest island in the West Indies, and the 153rd largest island on Earth. If all three main islands are included, Andros is the fifth largest island in the Indies, after Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica and Puerto Rico. Although comparable in area to the state of Rhode Island (3140 km2, population 1.05 million) and Long Island, N.Y. (3600 km2, population 7.5 million) Andros is home to a population of only 7800 almost all of whom are settled in a thin strip near the Queen Elizabeth Highway running along the island’s eastern coast. Geologically the Bahamas, including Andros, are not located in the Caribbean Sea, whose northern boundary is the Windward Passage, but rather in the Atlantic Ocean. However, politically the nation was historically part of the British West Indies and is considered culturally to be part of the Caribbean. The Bahamian dialect of the English language is distinctively Caribbean in character, similar to those of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, also formerly part of the British West Indies.

Transportation to Andros

Andros Island has four airports with paved runways: San Andros Airport at Nicholls Town, Andros Town International Airport located at Fresh Creek, the Clarence A. Bain Airport at Mangrove Cay and Congo Town Airport in South Andros. Andros Town International is an international port of entry for private pilots. The island is served by multiple daily flights from Nassau by BahamasAir, Western Air, and LeAir (external link, no wiki)—the flight to any of the four airports is 15-25 minutes. Daily scheduled flights to Nassau from London, Paris, New York City, Boston, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Houston, Dallas, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach, Orlando and other major cities provide easy connection from Andros to the rest of the world.

Regularly scheduled charters provide direct service to Andros Town from Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, mostly offered by Gulfstream International Airlines. Continental Connection offers seasonal scheduled flights (November-July) from Fort Lauderdale, operated by Gulfstream under contract. Andros is connected to Nassau by Sea-Link ferry which runs daily to Morgan’s Bluff on the north end of the island and Fresh Creek in central Andros. It is also reachable by mailboat from Nassau and for interisland travel with stops at numerous Andros settlements.

Economy of Andros

Despite its small population, Andros Island has given rise to several ongoing commercial ventures. Western Air maintains its headquarters in a modern facility at the San Andros airport. A Mennonite mission-run commercial farm was founded near Blanket Sound in 1983, which grows everything from habanera peppers to sorghum and potatoes, and has numerous fruit orchards. Androsia, a hand-crafted batik factory founded at Fresh Creek in 1972 produces a vibrant, colorful fabric which has become part of the national dress and identity of the Bahamas. GreenLife Growers, a Bahamian native tree nursery at Young Sound, provides landscaping material to real estate developers and government projects throughout the Bahamas. Commercial fishing remains a mainstay of the island’s economy—conch, lobster, snapper and grouper are all commercially harvested for sale locally and in Nassau’s fish markets. There is a small local boat-building industry servicing the fishing community. Local handicrafts in the Seminole style—particularly wood carvings and woven baskets—are a cottage industry in the settlement of Red Bays. A sample of Red Bays baskets is in the Smithsonian Institution.

There is a fledgling conservation industry on Andros, dedicated to spotlighting and preserving the island’s unique ecosystems, working in partnership with both the Bahamian government (The Bahamas National Trust) and such varied non-governmental organizations as The Nature Conservancy and the Professional Association of Dive Instructors (PADI). Most of the island’s conservation efforts funnel through the non-profit nongovernmental organization the Andros Conservancy and Trust (ANCAT.) ANCAT’s efforts are closely tied to efforts to encourage eco-tourism, preserving the existing varied habitats of the island.

Tourism

The tourism industry is Andros Island’s largest employer. There are from Nicholls Town in the north to Little Creek in the south several dozen hotels, motels, resorts, guest houses and lodges located on Andros, primarily serving SCUBA divers, bonefisherman, eco-tourists, and those looking for relaxation off the beaten path with easy air connections.

Districts and Townships

Andros is subdivided into four Districts and ten Townships for administrative purposes.

Districts of Andros Island^[1]	Chief Councillor^[2]	Establishment	Seat of Local Government^[3]	Townships^[4]
North Andros District	Brian O’Neal Cleare	1999	Nicholls Town	Mastic Point, Lowe Sound, Nicholl's Town
Central Andros District	Clyde Duncombe	1999	Fresh Creek	Staniard Creek, Fresh Creek, Cargill Creek
Mangrove Cay District	Brian Moxey	1999	Mangrove Cay (Settlement)	none
South Andros District	Zebedee Rolle	1999	Kemps Bay	The Bluff, Long Bay Cays, Kemps Bay, Deep Creek

Scuba Diving

Andros Island was the site of two of the first two dive-dedicated resorts in the world, and the first in the Bahamas, both founded by Canadians—Small Hope Bay Lodge near Fresh Creek, founded by Dick Birch (1960) and Forfar’s at North Blanket Sound founded by Archie Forfar (1962). After Forfar’s death in a diving accident in 1971, his property was taken over by International Field Studies, Inc. of Ohio in 1972 and re-named Forfar Field Station. IFS today runs science and cultural programs mostly for American high school students. Half a century later, Small Hope Bay Lodge continues to operate as a dive resort under the ownership and management of Dick Birch’s children.

Inside the Barrier Reef staghorn, elkhorn and other corals are found in shallows 10-20 feet deep. Beyond the shallow reefs are tiny cays and islets from which the sea bottom gradually deepens until at a depth of between 70 feet and 120 feet comes “The Wall,” with its plunge 6000 feet into the abyss of the Tongue of the Ocean. The ability to dive with shallow reef denizens—angelfish, butterfly fish, parrot fish, etc, and then interact with deep sea pelagic life in such close proximity to shore is rare in the word. Andros dive resorts offer deep wall dives, diving with sharks, diving with wild dolphins, reef diving and cave and cavern diving in both inland and ocean Blue holes. The marine biosphere is fed by both the teeming life of the mangrove marshes and estuaries on the mainland and the upwelling of cool water from the Tongue of the Ocean, resulting in an unparalleled variety of sea life. There are four species of turtles found in Andros’ waters—loggerhead, green, hawksbill and rarely the leatherback. Sometimes seen are humpback whales, pilot whales and whale sharks. There are several divable wrecks off Andros, including the AUTEC construction barge ‘Marion’ with its giant coral-encrusted crane just offshore from the settlement of Small Hope Bay in 70 feet of water. In 1970 Jacques Cousteau on his legendary research vessel RV Calypso visited Andros and filmed in the Blue Holes. The Deep Sea Submersible Vessel Alvin (DSV Alvin) made its first working dives off Andros in the Tongue of the Ocean in 1965.

The Blue Holes of Andros are unique ecosystems readily accessible to recreational divers, and have been studied by cave diving pioneers Dr. George Benjamin (1960s), renowned cave explorers Rob Palmer, Rob Parker and Wes Skiles (1980s-2000s) and National Geographic (2010).

Bonefishing and Other Fishing

Andros Island is surrounded by hundreds of square miles of fishable flats, home to permit, tarpon and especially bonefish. The island is known as the bonefish capitol of the world. Bonefish are considered among the world’s premiere gamefish for anglers. Both predator and prey they are faster and more wary than fresh water game fish. “A voracious predator…it accelerates faster and swims farther than any other fish you take on light tackle It fights more doggedly than most fish twice its size...you must see it before you can cast to it. You stalk it like a predator. You track it down, take your aim and cast with precision…The ruthless, primitive instincts of this skittish creature leave no room for error.” Other varieties of fishing are available on Andros. Deep sea fishing beyond the reef in the Tongue of the Ocean offers among others dorado, tuna, sailfish, wahoo, and jacks. Locals fish regularly on the reef for abundant snapper, and grouper.

Special Events

Andros is home to a number of festivals: Crabfest at Fresh Creek , the annual regatta at Morgan’s Bluff , Conch Festival, a local Junkanoo and Goombay festival between Christmas and New Year’s, the Pirate’s Festival and the Annual Seafood Splash & Chickcharnie Festival. In addition ANCAT sponsors numerous ecologically oriented events for tourists and locals.

Flora and Fauna

“As the largest island in the Bahamas, Andros exhibits greater botanical diversity than any other island.” Hardwood coppice, pineyard, scrub, saltwater marsh, rocky and sandy beaches, palm savannas and mangroves. “The presence of Andros’ barrier reef and the Tongue of the Ocean give the island a great zoological diversity.” Non-coastal areas on Andros are referred to generically as ‘the bush.’ Costal mangrove flats and estuaries are referred to as ‘the swash,’ or salt water marsh. Andros has the Bahamas’ only fresh water river, contributing to its biodiversity. Andros has thousands of kilometres of underground water from rainwater collected in the many caves in the island's interior. Nineteen million litres of freshwater are shipped to Nassau daily through the pumping station located in Morgan's Bluff.

“Much of the pineland of western Andros is on hummocks of high ground…this isolation of pines by wetlands has severely limited their commercial potential and therefore they are among the largest pines remaining in the Bahamas.”

Most resident bird species of the Bahamas are believed to have come northward from the West Indies rather than North America, because winds and sea currents favor immigration from the south and southeast. Some 225 species are known in the islands. “Andros, with its vast undeveloped land, is home to many of them. Among the most common are: The Bahama Woodstar, the West Indian Woodpecker, the Loggerhead kingbird, LaSagre's Flycatcher, the Great Antillean Pewee, the Bahama Swallow, the Bahama Mockingbird, The Red-legged Thrush, the Thick-billed Vireo, the Black-whiskered Vireo, the Olive-capped Warbler, Kirtland Warbler, the Bahama Yellowthroat, the Black-cowled Oriole, the Great Antillean Bullfinch, the Black-faced Grassquit, the Melodious Grassquit, the Least Grebe, Olivaceous Cormorant, the Flamingo, the Bahama Pintail, Osprey, Kestel, Sooty Tern, Roseate Tern, Noddy Tern, White Crowned Pigeon, Zenaida Dove, White-bellied Dove, the Key West Quail Dove, the Great Lizard Cuckoo, the Smooth-billed Ani and the Cuban Emerald Hummingbird.” Experienced birders come to Andros hoping for a sighting of the rare Kirtland’s Warbler, first seen on the island in 1879. There are more than 40 known species of wild orchids on Andros, many of which are endemic, including three native species of the climbing orchid vanilla Commercial flower collectors have been known to set fire to the pineland coppices to collect purple flowered orchids (Bletia puperea) that flourish in ashy soil. The orchid genus epidendrum has nine species endemic to the Bahamas, all of which can be found on Andros.

Politics

Andros is politically divided into four districts (North Andros, Central Andros, South Andros and Mangrove Cay) and ten townships. (Mastic Point, Lowe Sound, Nicholls Town, Staniard Creek, Fresh Creek, Cargill Creek, The Bluff, Long Bay Cays, Kemps Bay, Deep Creek). It is represented in the national parliament by two seats—North Andros and South Andros. There are dozens of tiny named settlements along the island’s east coast, (i.e. Blanket Sound, Love Hill, Davis Creek, Small Hope Bay, Calabash Bay, Bowen Sound, Behring Point, Little Creek), and one settlement on the west coast—Red Bays at the island’s northwestern tip.

Climate

Andros lies just north of the Tropic of Cancer, with moderate temperature range affected by its relative proximity to the Gulf Stream to the west. The island has a semitropical climate with only two seasons, summer (May-November) and winter (December-April). Midsummer temperatures range from 27C-29 C/80F-85F with a relative humidity of 60 to 100 percent. Winter temperatures range from 21C-24C/70-75F and can drop to 5C/41F after dark. Andros Island is hit by a Bahamas hurricane an average of every 2.5 years. The Great Florida Hurricane of 1929 is known in the Bahamas as The Great Andros Hurricane. Notable strikes in the modern era have included Hurricanes Betsy (1965), David (1979), Arlene (1987), Andrew (1992), Lili (1996), Floyd (1999), Michelle (2001), and Wilma (2005).

Religion

There are a number of church denominations represented within Andros. In North Andros, the Anglican Episcopal Church has a presence through St Margaret's Parish. This parish consist of two churches, St Margaret's located in the settlement of Nicholl's Town and St Mary Magdalene located in the settlement of Mastic Point.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Nassau [1] provides clergy for parishes throughout Andros. On South Andros Sacred Heart parish is in Little Creek and St. Robert Bellarmine parish is in High Rock. Mangrove Cay is served by St. Benedict's parish and Central Andros is served by St. John Chrysostom parish in Fresh Creek and Christ the King parish in Cargill Creek. Catholic services are also provided on Saturday evening at the AUTEC Navy Base chapel.

Etymology

Originally named Espiritu Santu by the Spanish, Andros Island took its present name sometime early during the period of British colonial dominion over the Bahamas. Several eighteenth century British documents refer to it as Andrews Island. A 1782 map refers to the island as San Andreas.[citation needed] The modern name is believed to be in honor of Sir Edmund Andros, Commander of Her Majesty’s Forces in Barbados in 1672 and governor successively of New York, Massachusetts, and New England.[citation needed]

Numerous secondary and tertiary sources indicate that the island may have been named after the inhabitants of St Andro Island (St Andrew or San Andrés) off the Mosquito Coast of Honduras, because 1,400 of them reportedly settled in Andros in 1787.[citation needed] However contemporary records indicate that the number of inhabitants of Andros in that period was many fewer than 1,400, and the original source of this report remains obscure.

Another theory suggests that the island was name after the Greek isle of Andros, by Greek sponge fishermen, however this is unlikely as Greek spongers did not arrive on Andros until the mid-19th century.

History

Pre-Columbian

Artifacts and remains of Lucayans, a subgroup of the Taino people indigenous to the Bahamas at the time of European discovery have been found in both Morgan’s Cave on North Andros, and in the Stargate Blue Hole on South Andros.

The population of the Bahamas is estimated to have been approximately 40,000 Lucayan-Tainos at the time of the arrival of the Spanish. Prized for their free-diving capabilities used in fishing conch, they were enslaved by the Spanish and mostly sent to Cubagua as pearl divers. An expedition by the Spanish in 1520 to round up all remaining Lucayans discovered only 11 people—the Lucayans were effectively extinct.

Spain laid claim to the Bahamas including Andros Island after Columbus’ discovery of the islands—his first landfall in the Western Hemisphere was on the Bahamian island of San Salvador. The Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci, for whom the Americas are named, on a Spanish charter spent four months exploring the Bahamas in 1499-1500, and mapped a portion of the eastern shore of Andros Island. The Spaniards established a brief colony known as Columba on Cat Island in 1495. Ponce de Leon sailed by Andros on his journey from Cuba to Florida in search of the Fountain of Youth in 1513.

British Colony

After the extermination of the Lucayans, there were no known permanent settlements in the Bahamas—including Andros Island—for approximately 130 years. In 1648 British settlers from Bermuda established a colony on Eleuthera and in 1666 Charles Town—later renamed Nassau—was founded on New Providence. Throughout the late 17th and early 18th centuries the Bahamas was variously ruled by the Spanish and English. American colonists in rebellion briefly seized Nassau in their war for independence. After over a century of back-and-forth sovereignty, in 1783 Great Britain exchanged East Florida to Spain, receiving the Bahamas in return. In 1787 the Bahamas became a British colony. Self-rule was granted in 1964 and independence in 1973.

During the late 1600s and 1700s various pirates and buccaneers frequented Andros Island. In 1713 the islands were declared a Pirate’s Republic. Morgan's Bluff and Morgan's Cave on North Andros are named after the famous privateer-pirate, Henry Morgan. It is said that the settlement of Small Hope Bay was so named because Morgan claimed there would be “small hope” of anybody finding the treasure he had hidden there. Pirates raiding the Spanish treasure galleons out of Cuba maintained a settlement on South Andros; outlines of their cattle pens and outbuildings can be seen when overflying the island today.

Loyalists fleeing Mainland America after the American Revolution settled on various Bahama Islands including Andros, bringing their slaves with them. By 1788 the islands of New Providence, Abaco, Exuma, Eleuthera, Harbour Island, Long Island, Cat Island, Turks Island and Andros were inhabited by a reported population of three thousand whites and 8000 blacks. The 1788 census reported 22 white heads of families with 132 slaves on Andros, cultivating 813 acres of land.

In 1821 Seminoles and black slaves fleeing Florida were brought to the west coast of Andros by the wrecking vessel ‘Steerwater,’ where they established the settlement of Red Bays. Additional Black Seminoles traveling by canoe across the Gulf Stream joined them over the next several decades.

After the British Empire ended slavery of blacks with emancipation in 1834, African immigration to the Bahamas continued through the raiding of passing slave ships by Bahamian mariners. Slaves freed in this manner entered a system of apprenticeship or indentured servitude. Many of these freed slaves and their offspring immigrated to the Out Islands including Andros, resulting in a culture that is closer to African than most other black cultures in the Western Hemisphere.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries (1841-1938) Greek spongers immigrated to Andros for the rich sponge fishing on the Great Bahama Bank off Andros’ west coast. For a period of years Andros sponging was the Bahamas’ largest industry. The sponges were wiped out by Red Tide algae in the 1930s, and the sponging industry died and the spongers left the island for Key West and Tarpon Springs, Florida.

Famous Visitors

Besides the pirate Morgan, Jacques Cousteau and Queen Elizabeth II, Andros has seen other famous visitors. Neville Chamberlain, who later became British Prime Minister famous for declaring “Peace in our Time” after meeting with Adolph Hitler at Munich, managed a sisal plantation near Mastic Point on North Andros in the late 19th century. The Lighthouse Club at the port of Fresh Creek was a popular hangout for the "Rat Pack," including Sammy Davis, Jr. 41st U.S. President George Herbert Walker Bush and baseball great Ted Williams frequented South Andros for its bonefishing. Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and U.S. Secretary of State William Rogers were regular visitors to Small Hope Bay Lodge for SCUBA diving, where National Geographic’s premiere underwater photographer, David Doubilet, began his career working as a divemaster/guide.