Small Hope in Bahamas?

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megieblue

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Small Hope in Bahamas? Has anyone been there? We're thinking of taking our family (kids ages 2 and 4) to this resort but wanted anyone's thoughts on it. We're hoping for a comfortable but relaxed place. Cleanliness is important. So is good diving. We went to Cousteau in Fiji last year and are looking for something similar.
 
megieblue:
Small Hope in Bahamas? Has anyone been there? We're thinking of taking our family (kids ages 2 and 4) to this resort but wanted anyone's thoughts on it. We're hoping for a comfortable but relaxed place. Cleanliness is important. So is good diving. We went to Cousteau in Fiji last year and are looking for something similar.

I haven't been there in years, but did enjoy my stays there in '93, '94, '95, and '97. It's a quiet, laid back place on a beautiful beach. Food was good to excellent and the other guests good company. The conch fritters served during happy hour are to die for. Accomodations are plain, but clean. At that time, no AC, but I was always comfortable with the sea breezes and ceiling fans. Baby sitters were available.

Diving was good - quite varied. There's a wall that runs along the shore and drops to 6000 feet or so. Inside of that are shallows with 15 to 30 feet of water. There are also several isolated reefs nearby, a couple of small wrecks, and a "blue hole" which are dived. While the first few times I went I saw ample numbers of grouper (one huge one) and a few sharks, the last time there I saw nothing but small fish. I've heard the same thing from someone else who was there more recently.

The daily dive routine is two in the morning - the first deep (90-100 feet) and the second quite shallow (<30 feet) - and one in the afternoon. I always enjoyed the second morning dive; it was a great opportunity to go looking for little stuff in the sand and coral.

Unless things have changed, Small Hope will require you, as first-time divers with them, to take an "entrance exam": put your gear together, dress, jump into 4 or 5 feet of water, remove your mask and reg and hold them out at arms length, then put them back in/on and clear them. If you can do this, you can dive with them; if not they'll give you lessons until you can.
 
Small Hope Bay Lodge is a nice enough place for families, rustic but clean, decent food, etc. (No air conditioning - only fans). The Andros wall is impressive in its starkness although it is largely lacking in corals, sponges, etc. The top of the reef is overwhelmed with green-brown algae (or at least it was last May). They do two morning dives, the first being a deep one on the wall and the second one very shallow on the reef. A third, afternoon dive is a repeat of the second AM dive. We asked if we could at least do the shallower dives at the top of the wall, but they said no.

SHB offers all guests a free "introduction to scuba" or resort course. Every afternoon, the same boat carries the resort course divers along with all the other divers, regardless of certification level or experience. If you love shallow diving with students, this system works great. After guests complete their introduction to scuba, they are invited to do additional instructor-assisted dives or to do a certification class, all from the same boat as the other divers.

SHB does offer "specialty" dives which are limited to 2 or 3 divers escorted by a DM. These cost extra and sound interesting, but we did not participate.

The Lodge markets itself as a place for getaway weekends, romantic weddings, etc. (there were two weddings during our 7-day stay). I'm sure there are weeks when the place is full of serious divers, but this was not the case when we were there.
 
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