Andros

Diving is by day boat from two resorts, Small Hope Bay Lodge near Fresh Creek and Kamalame Cay. The barrier reef lies 2–3 km (1–2 miles) offshore, and dozens of sites sit within a 15-minute ride, so the same site rarely comes round twice during a stay. Dives are not scheduled in advance: the weather decides each day's plan. A typical week mixes coral gardens, walls, caverns, a wreck, open-ocean blue holes and a shark observation dive.

Inside the reef, staghorn and elkhorn coral grow in 3–6 m of water. Seaward, the bottom shelves down to the wall at 21–37 m, where it falls 2,000 m (6,000 ft) into the Tongue of the Ocean; the Turnbull's Gut swim-through exits on the wall at 37 m (120 ft) with nothing below but open water. Old spur-and-groove reef has grown into caverns and swim-throughs where glassy sweepers school and nurse sharks rest. Caribbean reef sharks gather at the shark observation site, and the island holds the world's largest collection of blue holes, the Great Blue Hole among them. Visibility reaches 30 m (100 ft).

Andros suits divers who want variety from a resort base: shallow coral for new divers, walls and caverns for those with more experience. Both centres teach, and Small Hope Bay Lodge runs PADI and SSI courses up to Advanced Open Water. Divers who need a fixed dive plan booked ahead will find the weather-led schedule frustrating. Nassau & New Providence, across the Tongue of the Ocean, is the nearest alternative, with its own boats and its own sites.

Andros was the site of the first dive-dedicated resort in the Bahamas: Small Hope Bay Lodge, founded in 1960, which still runs as a dive resort under its founder's children. The Central Andros National Park was founded in 2002. Water ranges from about 23 °C in January to 30 °C in August, and June to November is hurricane season.