Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Pineville Motel
MOTEL $
( 242-329-2788;
www.pinevillemotel.com
; Nicholl'sTown; r from $70; )
Independent travelers couldn't ask for a better base than this eclectic motel complex.
Rooms, each eccentrically decorated with murals and bits of seashells, surround a man-
made forest garden and petting zoo - say hi to the Androsian land crabs and the tetchy wild
boar. There's a homemade indoor movie theater, small lending library and a hand-built out-
door tiki bar. It's all the creation of Pineville's owner, the ebullient Eugene, who bubbles
over with information about Andros - the best conch stand, the bus driver's home phone
number, the route to a hidden beach (complete with hand-drawn map).
Conch Sound Resort Inn
HOTEL $
( 242-329-2060; conchsoundresort@yahoo.com; Conch Sound; r from $85; ) This
cheerful, though rather isolated, orange hotel has clean, bright-painted rooms on manicured
lawns. There's a restaurant and bar, open sporadically.
Fish Fry
BAHAMIAN, SEAFOOD $
(Nicholl's Town; mains $8-14; lunch & dinner) In Nicholl's Town's Sea View Park, a
handful of bright-painted seafood shacks sell cheap and tasty local food, mostly of the fried
variety. Smitty's is tops for cracked conch, while locals swear by Sky Fox for conch salad.
Wash it all down with a plastic cup of homemade wine while you shoot the breeze with
tout
le monde
of North Andros.
SPONGERS
Sponging in the Bahamas began in earnest in 1841 after a Frenchman, Gustave
Renouard, was shipwrecked here and discovered superior sponges to the Medi-
terranean varieties. Greek deep-sea sponge divers left their homeland to make
their money from the Bahamian seabed, using glass-bottom buckets and a
hooked pole. (Today spongers dive with snorkel or scuba gear. They also slice
the sponges at the base, leaving the root to regenerate.) Ashore, the sponges
were beaten to death and put in shallow-water 'kraals' to allow the flesh to rot
and decompose. Then they were rinsed, pounded to a pleasing fluffiness, and
strung up to dry before being shipped for sale at the Greek Sponge Exchange in
Nassau.
At the close of the 19th century, 500 schooners and sloops and 2800 smaller
vessels were working the sponge beds, and in the peak year of 1917, 1½ million
lb of sponges were exported. 'The Mud,' an extensive 140-mile-long, 40-mile-
