On a late May afternoon that got cut short by a thunderstorm, Andros South guides Sparkles and Freddie chatted us up about their other favorite pastime: Crawfishin’.
Bahamian Spiny Lobster (crawfish on the island) are abundant on South Andros. In August, the season opens and many of the guides spend their days free-diving for the local delicacies. Grouper, snapper, conch and crawfish are captured and sold to local markets in Nassau. It’s great sport and provides a steady income while they wait for Andros South to reopen.
All the guides have their own secret crawfish hot-spots. They free-dive areas of rocky formations and coral heads off the East Shore of Andros, oftentimes at depths upwards of 40 feet! They find the crawfish by looking for ‘the whips’ – the Spiny Lobsters’ long front antennae. Once the whip is spotted, they maneuver into position and use a traditional sling & spear mechanism to get them.
A good crawfish spot can yield close to 200 pounds of deliciousness, for which the markets in Nassau pay handsomely.
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