Andros

Andros, The Bahamas

Low golden-hour view of the round turquoise blue hole in Blue Holes National Park on North Andros, framed by a pine branch.

Andros is the Bahamas at its widest and quietest: a mangrove-threaded island of blue holes, reef and bonefish flats with very few people.

The place

Andros is the largest landmass in The Bahamas, though calling it one island is generous. It is really an archipelago: three big islands, North Andros, Mangrove Cay and South Andros, divided by tidal channels called bights, with hundreds of small cays and mangrove creeks filling the gaps. Politically it counts as a single island, and its area exceeds that of all the other Bahamian islands put together. It runs about 167 km from end to end and about 64 km across at its widest. Elevation is almost nothing, around 7 m, so the horizon is mostly sky, pine, scrub and water. Nassau lies to the east across the deep Tongue of the Ocean, close enough for a short flight yet a different world. Fewer than ten thousand people live on Andros, mostly in small settlements along the east coast, such as Nicholl's Town, Fresh Creek and Congo Town. Offshore on that side runs a long barrier reef, while inland and under the shallows the limestone is pocked with blue holes, flooded sinkholes that open into cave systems. To the west the Great Bahama Bank spreads out as a pale, shallow flat where bonefish are hunted. Fishing, small farms and government work carry the local economy, and visitor lodging is modest and scattered rather than gathered into big resorts. Distances are long, the main road is a single ribbon, and the beaches are often empty.

Its story

Andros was home to the Lucayans, a branch of the Taíno people who lived across The Bahamas before Europeans arrived. Their traces survive in Morgan's Cave on North Andros and in the Stargate Blue Hole on South Andros, where remains and artefacts have been found. Spain claimed the islands after Columbus's first crossing, and the Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci, sailing on a Spanish charter at the turn of the sixteenth century, charted part of the island's eastern shore. The real catastrophe followed within a few years. Spanish settlers on Hispaniola had worn down their own enslaved workforce, and the crown approved bringing in people from neighbouring islands. Lucayans were seized across The Bahamas and shipped away to labour there. Within about two years the southern islands were largely empty, tens of thousands had been carried off, and a later Spanish expedition found only a handful of people left. Andros then stayed mostly uninhabited for well over a century. British colonial rule began in the middle of the seventeenth century, and The Bahamas became independent in 1973. Resettlement was slow and tied to the sea, with families living from fishing and small-scale farming along the coast. Hurricanes have kept punctuating that story. The great storm of the late 1920s is still remembered locally as the Great Andros Hurricane, and Matthew in recent years flooded the northern settlements badly.

What to see

Culture

Andros life runs on the sea, church and community calendars. Settlements are small, everyone seems to know everyone, and a visitor is usually noticed, greeted and asked where they are staying. The year is marked by festivals, many of them tied to food and boats. Crabfest at Fresh Creek comes each June, Morgan's Bluff holds an annual regatta where traditional sailing boats race, and there is a Conch Festival, a Pirates' Festival and a Seafood Splash that carries the name of the Chickcharnie, a folklore creature said to live in the pine forests. Between Christmas and New Year, Junkanoo and Goombay bring rushing music, cowbells, drums and costume to the streets in the Bahamian way, in a local form. Conservation groups also run ecologically minded events, and many residents take quiet pride in protecting the reef, the blue holes and the bonefish flats that draw outsiders. Sunday matters. Church services are well attended, many small businesses close, and the pace slows further. Storytelling about storms, spirits and old sailing days is a favourite pastime, so a little patience over a conversation is rewarded. Fishing is both livelihood and pleasure, and what is landed, whether conch, lobster or snapper, is shared and sold with pride. Greet people with a good morning or good afternoon before asking for anything, and ask permission before photographing someone, their home or their catch.

What to wear

The best-known textile on Andros is Androsia, a hand-made batik produced in a factory at Fresh Creek. Wax-resist patterns of shells, flowers, fish and sea colours are dyed onto cotton, and the cloth has become part of how The Bahamas dresses itself on national occasions. It appears in shirts, dresses, headwraps and table linen, and is worn for celebrations and by staff of many offices and businesses. The other traditional costume belongs to Junkanoo, when groups make elaborate, shimmering outfits from crepe paper and cardboard that are worn for the Christmas-to-New-Year parades and then retired. Everyday dress on the island is plain and practical: shorts, T-shirts, light cotton shirts and sun hats for fishing and farm work, and rubber boots or water shoes on the flats. On Sundays many people dress up smartly for church, with pressed shirts, dresses and hats. A visitor should pack light, quick-drying clothes, long sleeves and a wide-brimmed hat against sun and insects, and swimwear that is kept to the beach or boat. Away from the shore, in settlements and churches, shorts of reasonable length and covered shoulders show respect. Reef shoes or sturdy sandals help on sharp limestone around blue holes, and winter evenings can turn cool enough to want a light jumper. A rain jacket is worth having in summer.

What to eat

Plan it

Best time. December to April, the drier winter season, when days are mild and nights can turn cool. May to November is hot, humid and carries the hurricane risk, which on Andros is real, as storms strike roughly every couple of years.

How long. 3–5

Getting there. Fly from Nassau to one of the island's airports; two are served by scheduled flights from Nassau, and Congo Town and San Andros are among the landing points. Boat services also cross from Nassau. Once on Andros, distances are long, so arrange a car or transfer in advance.

Budget. mid

Tips

Etiquette

Nearby

Sources