Andros Expedition, March 14-20th 2021

As always, Andros didn’t disappoint. We swam with Caribbean reef, blacknose, blacktip, HAMMERHEAD (!), lemon and nurse sharks, eagle rays, stingrays, turtles and more! We jumped and freedived in blue holes, watched dolphins play with our boat, spotted sea stars, made our own rap video, rocked impulsive photoshoots, played ring toss, competed in Heads Up!, celebrated a 31 year wedding anniversary, danced in local bars, shopped in local shops, enjoyed lectures, screamed during performance takeoffs, paddled the shallows on secluded beaches, snorkeled the depths of the Tongue of the Ocean, cleaned mangroves, rescued reptiles, cuddled Bentley, shot tequila and made friendships that we KNOW will last a lifetime. Read the full trip breakdown below.

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Day 1

Today finally arrived, it was go time! On arrival to the small, semi-private airport Annie handed out Silent Hunter face masks, individual glass bottled hand sanitizers, questionnaires and pens to all guests. Soon after a quick meet and greet we were in the air gazing down at the incredible colors of The Bahamas, with heaps of blue holes scattered across the remote landscape. A quick 80 minute flight later we landed in Andros, cleared customs, hopped in our taxis and made our way south to the lodge, our home for the next week.

On arrival we quickly unpacked our belongings and met in the communal area for lunch, followed by a lodge welcome and a safety briefing. Lastly, Annie handed out the Silent Hunter eco bags which were loaded with goodies such as a special edition purple shirt, a reusable sandwich bag and water bottle, followed by other goodies such as a Mable bamboo toothbrush, a facial bar, a Cape Clasp bracelet, decals and more! Time was of the essence though and before we knew it we were on a boat heading to our first dive location.

We hopped in to a shallow spot (15’) and snorkeled the region searching for life while enjoying the healthy corals that flooded the sea floor. Guests spotted many southern stingrays, a nurse shark, barracuda, huge jacks, an eel, a turtle, and more. What a great start to our trip!  

After a few hours of fun we slowly made our way back to the lodge for showers and dinner, and a chance to get to know each other!

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Day 2

We woke up early today to beautiful weather and an abundance of positivity! First up we headed to a shallow sand flat in search of giant red cushion sea stars! We see them regularly so thought we would find them within minutes, we were wrong! It took us approximately 20 minutes and finally, Emily spotted a big star! We all hopped in to take a few pics, but the local sharks had other ideas… Within minutes we had both a Caribbean reef and lemon sharks present, looking at what we were up to! Of course, given their presence we had every intention of diving with them, but first up, we wanted our sea star pics!

After 15 minutes of shallow dives and posing we turned our attention to the sharks. We formed a line and began to throw a few pieces of fish to them. It didn’t take long and before we knew it we had at least three large lemon sharks and three big reefs.

Our fun in the shallows was up, and it was time to move on for our afternoon activity but before we reached our destination, mother nature delivered an incredible surprise. Six huge spotted eagle rays! Of course we couldn’t resist jumping in for a quick pass with these beautiful birds of the sea, what a moment! 

Next up we set our sights high, we were searching for a great hammerhead. We set up and began to bait. Immediately we spotted a nurse shark, then one, two, three reef sharks arrived, a few of which were clearly adults at approximately 210cm! In addition, two smaller blacknose darted around the sea floor just below us.

As we all peacefully held our buoyant safety line, Annie screamed the words we all longed to hear HAMMER HAMMER HAMMER! Sure enough a large great hammerhead rolled into view and everyone lost their minds with excitement! The hammer first approached from the right, then the left and then from the front. You know you’re viewing a large shark when the large reef sharks suddenly look small! This was the moment we all hoped for and it was as incredible as we anticipated. Sharing the water with such an iconic species is something we can’t put into words……

But then, just as things started to slow down Annie squealed through her snorkel as a GIANT loggerhead turtle came into view! Annie did a dive and it was only then, when she was side by side to the animal that we really appreciated it’s size, it was over 5ft! 

It’s always hard leaving any dive site, however with an utterly incredible day under our belts, it was time to move on and head back to the lodge for the day. Guests enjoyed a few practice freedives and then finally we set off for home. After cleaning our equipment and showering, Emily gave a lecture on The Sharks of The Bahamas before finally eating dinner and heading to bed.

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Day 3

Given the amazing success of yesterday we voted on today’s activity. Should we head south to a popular hot spot known for sharks and incredible blue holes, or should we roll the dice and try for tiger sharks? The vote was in and tiger sharks it was! We all knew that a full day baiting in direct sunlight could result in disappointment as the site would be a risk, however people were keen to try, and so try we did! As we headed out we were escorted by dolphins! A great start!

As we waited for the tides to change we hopped in for a blue hole snorkel and dive. We took it in turns diving to the bottom, doing handstands, practicing duck dives and rolls and simply having fun. After our dives we snorkeled the surrounding reef where we spotted multiple stingrays, a cowfish, grey angels, lion fish and more. Before we knew it, it was time to start our tiger attempt.

We anchored up and started to bait. The first few hours flew by as we sang songs, ate lunch and snacks, sunned ourselves, and had a spa day complete with hair masks and braids! We all kept our eyes in the water in the hopes of seeing a big shadow approaching the boat. We spotted what we believed were two reef sharks on the peripheries and a few mystery sharks that we couldn’t ID, but none we believed were tigers.

After a few hours of waiting we did a search in the hopes of seeing a shark in the area, but no such luck. We resumed baiting and had two little blacknose come in to view the action, and then we got back to searching a final time, well, searching with a twist! We turned the volume up on the boat speakers and had ourselves a mini music video with dancing and singing! We never did find our tiger shark, however we really gave it our best shot and wow, did we have a blast trying!

Once back at the lodge it was the usual showers followed by dinner and ring toss (a Bahamian game) followed by a rather competitive game of HeadsUp! – understatement!

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Day 4

Today was another great day and we had ambitious plans for a lot of shark action! First up we headed to our lemon shark spot in the hopes of seeing them in some incredibly shallow water. Our destination was a secluded beach with white puffy sand and crystal clear aqua water. On arrival we were greeted by a large female southern stingray and could see a few small sharks off in the distance.

We jumped in for some group pics and then set up for some shark action. It didn’t take long… One, two, five, ten, twenty (!) in total we had over 25 lemon sharks, two blacknose and a blacktip!  We couldn’t have asked for better conditions – Bright sunshine overhead, a slight breeze to keep us cool and sharks EVERYWHERE!

We planned to stay at this location for one-two hours, but with no one wanting to leave, we stayed almost four! There is something very calming about this spot; Bahamian blues, the salty air, the utter silence and of course, being surrounded by nature. There were instances where we all just stopped and took it all in. Paradise. 

But all good things come to an end, well, sort of. Our next spot was also loaded with sharks, this time large Caribbean reef and lemon sharks! In total we had at least six reef and five lemons, some as big as 240cm! We sat on the boat and watched them pass by, dunking our camera’s over the side to snap a few shots.

Then, we turned our focus to an impulsive photoshoot! Everyone joined in, posing boldly and having fun living in the moment!

Finally, as we headed back to shore we announced one last activity, a mangrove clean up. Silent Hunter always aims to clean an area on each expedition, and this was no different. Back in January Annie had seen a washed up dock within the mangroves and that was our target for the last of today’s light. On arrival we found and hauled the dock pieces, followed by cleaning up fishing line and other plastic trash. Cleaning an area is often overwhelming, however every piece of small trash removed is a big win!

Once we had disposed of the trash it was back to the lodge once more to clean up, have dinner and head to bed as an early day was planned tomorrow.

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Day 5

As The Bahamas requires all visitors to take a COVID test during their stay, today we planned our day around this request. First up however, we headed out early in search of silky sharks! As we made our way out to the pelagics it became clear we wouldn’t reach our usual spot, so, we decided on trying something new! We simply stopped in the middle of nowhere, in ~2,000 ft of water and started baiting to see if any sharks were nearby! We persevered for almost two hours, however with our tests booked for the afternoon we wanted to ensure we had some action before returning to land.

So, we moved on and headed to one of our favorite locations, a creepy crevice blue hole! Guests took it in turns diving the opening, some only 2-3ft, others over 40ft. The blue hole has a large opening at the surface and then gradually gets smaller as you descend. On exploring the surrounding area we found another blue hole, which was more like a swim through cave. A few of the divers took it in turns to dive down and though, we believe it was more creepy to watch the dives than to do the dives! Nonetheless we had a blast playing in the spooky systems.

Once back at the lodge we cleaned up and headed north for our COVID tests (we were all negative), after which we visited local bar Sam’s for some light snacks and drinks, and to kick off Bonnie and David’s 31st wedding anniversary! We all had fun sitting and dancing with stunning Bahamian views and wonderful company, before finally moving on to our next spot, Androsia.

Androsia is a small, local batik store, that was established in Andros in 1973. Batik is a very beautiful, and unique art form which involves hand waxing textiles. On arrival we entered their store and made some purchases of their colorful, fun textiles. Silent Hunter supports authentic ecotourism so stopping to support a local business, especially amongst a global pandemic, was right up our street! After our purchases we headed back south for supper. 

After dinner and cake, we sat around the outside bar listening to music, having a few drinks and enjoying the local lemon sharks right off the dock! Before we knew it, our beds were calling… What a truly wonderful day!

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Day 6

Today was our final full day and with the local wind speeds too high to safely board the boat, it was an inland activity day!

First up was a GIANT inland blue hole, with a dive platform! After a light trek we arrived and immediately hopped in. Everybody jumped from the platform, some more than others (Emily!), and we had an utter blast filming slow-motion videos and capturing action shots! After our fun we got serious and snorkeled the blue hole’s parameter enjoying the small fishes that call the blue hole home. While snorkeling some guests took the opportunity to practice their freediving. Blue holes are often the perfect place to practice diving as they are deep, and do not have many distractions such as pretty corals or fish! Once we’d swam the hole extensively it was time to move on for lunch.

Lunch was at another local bar, called Brigadiers. Due to the wind we set up inside and were treated to a feast! We all ordered local food and could barely move after consuming way more than any of us needed! Our afternoon activity was a mangrove walk/snorkel in a location we had never visited before. We walked out over some sharp rocks and slushy silt before finally reaching a nice edge habitat where we set up.

It wasn’t long before we’d attracted two lemon sharks, both of which were incredibly cautious and only made two close passes. It was fascinating to watch a subadult shark show such caution. In addition to the lemon we spotted a much larger and darker shark in the distance, we saw it at least three or four times but it never did come close enough for us to ID. What did come close however was a southern stingray! Out of nowhere a large female appeared right under our feet and stuck around for a few passes, enough to excite us and reward us with some cool pictures and video.

As time was running out (it was 5pm at this point!) we slowly made our way back to the truck. A few of us snorkeled the stunning mangroves, and Annie chased some ghost fishing line (to remove) that seemed to go on forever! Finally, we were back in the truck and headed south to the lodge.

On arrival we had just enough time to shower before dinner at 7:30pm, followed by a project talk from Emily on white sharks. A great end to a great day!

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Day 7

Our final morning had arrived and although we were sad to be leaving we still had a morning of fun ahead! We jumped in the truck and headed to an inland blue hole which is known for its eerie green water! We hopped in, took some dives and then played on the walls taking upside-down pics! This location is incredibly small but with so many fun and upbeat personalities we had the time of our lives simply playing in the shallows and releasing our inner child!  

However, the inevitable rolled in. It was time to leave. We packed the last of our belongings, grabbed a little lunch and hopped in the taxi’s north to the airport. – Some guests enjoyed a shark movie on route! Once at the airport a few people searched for more life – They didn’t find any live snakes but they did find a deceased one, they rescued a few trapped lizards and frogs, and found an incredible spider which we believe is a wolf spider!

Before we knew it though, we were in the air flying home. But not without one last hit of adrenaline! The pilots kindly agreed to a performance takeoff and gave us all a hit of g-force! Not only that, they did a few ‘tricks’ that left us begging for more. It’s always sad leaving and saying goodbye to Andros, but once back on US turf and after clearing customs we said our goodbyes and parted ways. What a week! Until next time team…

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our wonderful guests for joining us, the incredible Andros Island Bonefish Club for their hospitality, the hardworking and ever professional Cole from PFO Charters for his top class boating and captaining skills, and everyone that made this trip as awesome as it was: an entirely unforgettable March 2021.

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If you’d like to join us on an expedition, we still have space on our 2021 expeditions, so contact us and be part of something truly special.