Morgan's Bluff on Andros Island

We stayed a week in Morgan’s Bluff and found this place is a hidden gem in the Bahamas.  We are traveling with Jack and Penny on Circe – we met them when we started our journey down the ICW in November, 2014.  We took our dinghy ashore and started walking when a woman stopped in her car and introduced herself as Kadra, the Dockmaster of Morgan’s Bluff.  She drove us all over for over 2 1/2 hours showing us everything and stopping at different places.  We stopped at Pine Valley Resort, where the owner, Eugene, gave us a tour of one of the most unusual “resorts” we have ever seen.  There are live animals of all kinds, outdoor dining, outdoor disco stage, gardens, guest rooms with shells and driftwood permanently attached to the walls and floors, pet cemetery, indoor social room with a bar, theatre, disco stage and acupuncture on site.   Kadra is friendly, helpful, and happy to assist anyone visiting Morgan’s Bluff with anything they may need.  The local people are very friendly and often will offer you a ride, although it may be in the back of their pickup truck.

  

Kadra connected us with Solomon, who took us anywhere we wanted to go for the day and he taught us quite a bit about the history and culture of Andros.  We road in the back of his pickup and our first stop was a swim in a fresh water blue hole.  This one was called Uncle Charlie’s Blue Hole and is 40 feet wide and 140 feet deep and leads to the ocean.  There are more blue holes in Andros than anywhere else in the world.  We wanted to buy produce, so Solomon took us to a produce distribution center where we could buy papaya, tomatoes, and green peppers.  Next stop was a liquor wholesale store, where Bahamian Rum is less than $9 a bottle, however, beer is $42 a case!  We wanted conch salad, but the best local restaurant, F & H, was not open today – they must have been out fishing for conch.  The mound of conch shells was impressive.  We stopped at another local restaurant and enjoyed the best cracked lobster for $12.  The last stop was a grocery store which we thought was just a gas station.  Without Solomon as our guide, we would never have found the stores and restaurants as they are scattered throughout the area and either not marked at all or the sign is not clear.

Morgan’s Bluff is a commercial harbor and we watched many ships come in and out of the harbor right past our anchored boats.  During one of the busiest days, a local fisherman offered us 18 lobster tails for $20!  Dinner on the boat that night was the best!  Kadra took Penny and I to the “Stop and Wash” where she waited for us to do our laundry at $7 per load to wash and dry.  Another stop to the grocery store as each one offers something different.  On our last full day, Kadra took the ladies to the craft fair in Nettles Town.  Baskets are hand made by the local women with Batik fabric woven into them and I bought a beautiful basket for our salon table.  There was not only crafts, but some of the most wonderful food cooked right there and the local children danced and played instruments in a parade.  We spent the most wonderful week in Morgan’s Bluff with not only Jack and Penny on Circe, but two catamarans, Quandary and Miss Jody, where we spent many happy hours together on each other’s boats.  You just meet the nicest people cruising!