Jan 29, 2015 Touring Andros

Well, I understand the batteries have been ordered from Ft. Lauderdale and should, and I say again, should be on the next boat to Andros, which will be next Wednesday.  I say should, because "Mon, we be in the islands, and we not be in a hurry".  So Rich and Kathy and the people on Sea Wolf rented a car to try the tour thing again.  Andros is actually a really cool island, or so I've been told.  Rich and Kathy did not take us with them, so I am hearing this all second hand.  Andros looks more like northern Florida than like the other Bahamian Islands.  It is the largest of all of the Bahamas Islands, measuring 40 miles wide by 142 miles long, with 9,000 residents.  The largest settlement is Nicholls Town, which is about 6 miles from the harbor.  Andros is bounded to the east by the 3rd largest barrier reef in the world, and borders the 6,000 ft deep undersea canyon know as the "Tongue of the Ocean".  Andros includes over 150,00 acres of undeveloped, often untouched land.  Almost all of the land is Crown Land or government property.  Well, that is all I heard them say.  So off they went exploring the island.  They got some primitive directions, and were able to find the Mennonite mission-run commercial farm that was founded in 1983.  It grows everything from habanero peppers to potatoes, and has numerous fruit trees and honey bee hives.  Kathy bought green peppers, eggplants, tomatoes and bananas that were cut fresh from the stalk.  After that they took about a 25 minute ride on an extremely potholed road to the Red Bay Settlement in the most northwestern part of Andros.  This settlement was primarily developed by the Seminole Indians who left Florida in the 1820's to escape the Seminole Wars.  This is still a remote settlement and is highly renown for their artistry at a unique style of basket weaving passed down from generation to generation.  One of their baskets is on display at the Smithsonian in Washington.   The men do a lot of sponge fishing too.  Lunch at the Andros Island Resort was conch fritters, a grouper sandwich, and sweet potato fries.  Rich had a local beer made in Freeport called "Bush Crack" which he liked, and Kathy had one of those rummy drinks the color of the blue-green water and she said it was delish.   I think they got tired from hitting all the potholes so they came back home to the boat, with vegetables and baskets in tow.  Oh, did I mention they did not bring Bitts and I any goodies?