scubish.com: Scuba diving Andros - Bahamas

Andros Island is the largest island of the Bahamas and the fifth largest island in the West Indies at roughly 2300 square miles (6,000 km²) in area and 104 miles (167 km) long and 40 miles (64 km) wide at its widest point. It is actually composed of three major islands: North Andros, Mangrove Cay, and South Andros. The island has the world's third largest barrier reef, which is over 140 miles long. It is affectionately known by Bahamians as the "Big Yard".

History

There is some evidence that suggests that the first inhabitants of Andros Island were the indigenous Lucayan people. The Lucayans throughout the Bahamas were wiped out mainly by exposure to disease following the arrival of the Spanish in the 1550s. The island was given the name “Espiritu Santo,” the Island of the Holy Spirit, by the Spanish, but is also called San Andreas on a 1782 map. The modern name is believed to be in honour of Sir Edmund Andros, Commander of Her Majesty’s Forces in Barbados in 1672 and Governor successively of New York, Massachusetts, and New England. It is also believed that the island could have been named after the inhabitants of St. Andro Island (St. Andrew or San Andrés) on the Mosquito Coast as 1,400 of them settled in Andros in 1787. Still another theory suggests that the island was name after the Greek isle of Andros, by Greek sponge fisherman.

During the 1700s pirates occupied the island. Morgan's Bluff and Morgan's Cave on North Andros are named after the famous privateer-pirate, Henry Morgan. Loyalists and their slaves also settled in Andros in the late 18th Century.

Andros Island's port of Fresh Creek was once a popular hangout for the "Rat Pack", including Sammy Davis Junior.

In the 1960s and 1970s the Owens Lumber company, a U.S. owned company, deforested much of the indigenous pine forests that grew on North Andros. As a result of poor planning for re-growth, what is found on the island today consists mainly of young, over-crowded tree forests.

Due to its proximity to the Tongue of the Ocean and network of fresh and saltwater blue holes, Andros Island became a popular Scuba diving destination in the early day's of the sport, frequented by such well known divers as Jacques Cousteau. The first dive resort on Andros was built by Archie Forfar, a Canada native who later died trying to break the Guinness world record for deep diving. His resort, in Blanket Sound, is now home to Forfar Field station, an environmental education facility owned and operated by International Field Studies.

The island today

Andros has a population of over six thousand and has the fewest people per unit area of all of the Bahamas. Most of these people live on the east coast of the island in the three major towns on the island; Nicholl's Town and Andros Town on North Andros, and Congo Town, on South Andros.

Much fresh water comes from this island, with about seven...