Alec,
Pleasure to speak with you once again. While
Andros Is. is the largest island in the Bahamas, it is
the least populated, little tourism, few facilities (other than the joint
US/UK Naval facility where I reside), and rather desolate. It is
probably for these reasons why I have come to love the area so much.
There are over 250 Blue Holes on land and in the ocean (inland Blue Holes are
not conducive to sub ops), the third largest reef in the world runs for ~140
miles down our Eastern coast, and there is a 6000 foot wall that breaks at
70-90 feet of water just a short ways offshore in many places along the
coast. As a plus there is very little current, often great visibility
100-200+ feet, and always warm water. On the negative side, there is
generally a strong, constant wind out of the Southeast to East which
complicates marine operations with a short period chop that can often range
5-6 feet just outside of the reef due to the short fetch of the wind.
Best diving and general wind conditions (other when we are threatened with the
occasional hurricane) is during the summer
months.
Logistics for PSUB operations here are not
great. Most boat ramps are shallow making sub launch difficult.
The main island road is rather rough in most places. Electrical power
supply is not clean and can be iffy. Freight ferry out of Dania, FL
(just south of Ft. Lauderdale) to the island can be problematic (took 3 months
to get my boat and truck over before we had access to the military barge out
of Port Canaveral, FL). Local Customs bureaucracy and pocket lining
(both of which have supposedly been curtailed) can make life difficult when
importing something. There has recently been inaugurated a direct flight
from Ft.
Lauderdale to the island
on Continental?s regional provider Gulfstream but is rather expensive ($400 to
$800). The alternative is to fly through Nassau. Accommodations in the few local
resorts or hotels is spartan and expensive. There are only 1 or 2
operational scuba air compressors available to the public outside of the
Base.
If you were to visit the island as my guest, you would
fly over on a space available basis on the CSC?s chartered 19-seat plane for
$42 round-trip, the equivalent of a motel room on the Base if we can?t find a
spare empty room runs $31/night, and 3 meals a day in our cafeteria totals
$10. The wall/reef is 0.64 nm from our ramp which would be very
serviceable at high tide. The reef is further offshore in most other
areas along the cost The dive club on Base has three 17 ft. Whalers with
40 & 50 HP engines which would make great tenders. Air is also
available and we make our own dependable electricity. There are a
variety of other craft that would be willing to support sub ops.
Bahamian Customs is much easier for us to deal with than the general populace
visiting the Bahamas. Not sure what
G&G Shipping (out of Dania) price is for shipping these days; it is based
on square feet of deck space and may take into account weight also (my truck
was ~$600). From my previous description, the trailer would be
mandatory. I believe I can host a non-family member for up to 2 weeks at
a stretch and up to 60 days in a year, foreign nationals can be an
issue. Unique opportunities that are available at times is a trip out to
a submarine (BIG) on the transfer boat (no tours) and/or a helo tour down
island/down range on our large torpedo recovery
helo.
Hope this long expose answers everyone?s
questions.
As to sub ops in SE Florida, if you wanted to dive the
great reef off of West Palm to Boynton Beach, at times you might need as
much as 6 kts. Speed to safely operate in the
current.
R/Jay
Respectfully,
Jay K. Jeffries
Adros Is., Bahamas
Natura nihil fit in frustra
- Nature does nothing in
vain
-----Original Message-----
From:
owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org
[mailto:owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org] On Behalf Of
Smyth, Alec
Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 10:07 AM
To:
personal_submersibles@psubs.org
Subject: RE:
[PSUBS-MAILIST] ANDROS
VISIBILITY
Jay,
If you have local information on the practicality of
logistics for
diving a K250 there I'd be really interested as well.
For instance, if I
shipped Snoopy, should I do so with the trailer and
can you think of
places to launch the sub or keep it while it's out of
the water? I took
Snoopy to Florida last year and had a hell of a time
due to the length
of tows and the currents. My conclusion is for
Southern Florida I'd
need
a sub with a surface speed of 4 knots and an endurance
of 10 miles, and
that's just not anything a K-250 can ever do. I've
been in communication
with Karl Stanley about shipping a sub in Roatan, and
while the
logistics there are ideal, shipping costs to get there
are probably much
higher than to your neck of the
woods.
Thanks,
Alec