Kyle Barnell speared a large black grouper while freediving near South Andros Island in the Bahamas. KYLE BARNELL / FOR THE MIAMI HERALD

CONGO TOWN, Andros Island, Bahamas -- South Carolina college students Kyle Barnell and Tanner Parkman went out for a morning of spearfishing on the reef and came back with a 40-pound black grouper. Boca Raton spearfishing champion Sheri Daye taped an episode of her popular cable TV show Speargun Hunter in the 6,000-foot-deep Tongue of the Ocean. Underwater cave explorer Brian Kakuk scouted local inland blue holes for an upcoming National Geographic Channel TV program.

All four divers got what they came for on Andros Island -- the largest and one of the least developed islands in the Bahamas -- home to the third-largest barrier reef in the world and the highest concentration of blue holes, or marine caves, in the Western Hemisphere.

``I've always loved the place,'' South Andros' only dive operator, Vermont native Jesse Leopold, said. ``The first time I came here, I was 13. I'm happy here, love being here.''

TRICKY TIDES

Leopold recently escorted Barnell, Parkman and a few other Andros visitors on a half day dive trip aboard his friend Rosevelt ``Rogie'' Rahming's 30-foot Prowler catamaran. The group's first stop was the Lisbon Creek blue hole, a clear, shallow sea cave teeming with fish surfing its brisk current. Barnell and Parkman freedived using fins, masks and snorkels, but no tanks. Leopold and the others took the plunge on scuba.

Trying to swim into the entrance of the cave was a challenge. The outgoing tide boosted the current's velocity to about a knot -- strong enough that the two freedivers had to begin their descent well up-current of where they expected to explore. The scuba divers had to add extra weight to keep from being blown backward on the bottom. If the tide had been rising, the underwater cave would have been sucking in water instead of blowing it out.

The blue holes' peculiar tidal vagaries decades ago spawned the local legend of the lusca -- a sea monster inclined to devour anyone entering its lair.

``I think that was just something our parents made up to keep us away from the blue holes,'' chuckled Rahming.

But instead of the lusca, the divers observed a large school of horse-eye jacks, a multitude of snappers and grunts and one very large Cubera snapper.

According to Rahming and Leopold, as many as 100 ocean caves surround South Andros, with at least 20 more located inland in the dense jungle. Hundreds more have been spotted or explored throughout the entire 2,300-square-mile island -- a Swiss-cheese-like, limestone foundation holding the Bahamas' largest reservoir of fresh water.

One of the most spectacular inland blue holes in South Andros is El Dorado, according to Leopold.

``Definitely amazing,'' Leopold said. ``It's like another world with the vertical walls on either side. It's like mountain-climbing but being weightless at the same time.''

He said El Dorado was formed by a fault line that runs through South Andros, with a crack that plunges 300 feet deep beneath the surface. Recreational divers can explore safely to a depth of 130 feet.

Many of Andros' blue holes hold historical artifacts -- such as ancient tools and even watercraft -- as well as prehistoric human and animal remains. Kakuk, who lives in Marsh Harbour in Abaco and has mapped several of the caves, scouted Andros recently for the upcoming National Geographic shoot.

Meanwhile, the abyss that separates the east side of Andros from New Providence -- where the country's capital, Nassau, is located -- is known as the Tongue of the Ocean, lined by a 120-mile-long barrier reef.

A few miles seaward of the reef in the deep blue of the Tongue is the AUTEC buoy -- installed decades ago by the U.S. Navy for submarines to test missile and sonar -- but also an effective fish-attracting device.

SCHOOL IS IN

Sheri Daye and her crew joined Barnell and Parkman there in May to tape a TV show on freediving with pole spears. The divers plunged as deep as 70 feet to spear dolphin fish and other pelagics.

Even a casual reef dive reveals abundant fish life: mutton snapper, mackerel, grouper and a cornucopia of tropicals. That's where Barnell and Parkman managed to bag their prized black grouper and a smaller mutton snapper using pole spears.

For those not interested in spearfishing, the underwater sightseeing opportunities are vast and uncrowded. Swimming along at a leisurely Andros pace is the best way to take a swim on the wild side.

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