Conception Island. This small, uninhabited islet is a mere 2100 acres but is huge in beauty. It is protected as a Bahamas National Land and Sea Park. It is the home of nesting seabirds and hatching site for green turtles. Most people don't venture out the 15 miles from Long Island. It is very remote and that was the appeal for us. We had the perfect settled, weather window to enjoy it. The white sandy beach on the lee shore stretched from one end of the island to the other. The sandstone bluffs were covered with lush greenery. We anchored in crystal clear water about 100 yards from the beach. It couldn't have been more perfect.
Mahi! Caught on the way from Long Island.
Ring around the sail
That's it....Conception Island. Don't blink or you might miss it.
Passing by the southern tip of Conception Island by Booby Cays (don't laugh, I dare you). I think this rock resembles the profile of a toad.
My postcard image
Entering Conception Creek mangrove system at high tide, which is just deep enough for our outboard motor (most of the time). The sand bars shift with the current, which made it an exciting maze to explore.
Mangrove roots reaching out. We encountered turtles, lots and lots of conch and a few fish.
Playing in the shallow water amongst the mangroves. Notice the darker blue stipe behind the girls. That's the current "troff", if you will, that we followed in the dinghy.
Look Auntie Em, a tornado! Don't you worry, it never reached the ground
Nap time. You can see they are really worried about the tornado.
No words to describe the sparkly blue water. I think this picture looks like it's upside down.
Reese and Kate doing schoolwork on the deserted beach.
Olivia racing the sailing dinghy sans life jacket. We yell out to her "Olivia, where's your life jacket?" Her response: "I'm racing!"
Afternoon sail
Liv racing back to the boat to get her life jacket!
Craig goes fishing in the dinghy and brings home a black fin tuna! Oh Yeah Baby!
Chris and Bryson also caught a tuna while dinghy fishing. Craig went over to Patronus to clean the fish together. The rest of us were down below hangin' out when we hear "oh my gosh, OH MY GOSH!" followed immediately by "OOOHHHHH MMYYYY GGOOOSSSSHHHHH!" We all bolted out to the cockpit to see a shark swimming around the boat. It was very exciting!
Erica attaches her GoPro camera to the boat hook to catch some underwater video
Chris cleaning while the shark mills around and waits
Video footage from Erica's underwater GoPro. At times, the shark thought the camera was food, which made for some exiting shots!
Unfortunately, the weather changed sooner rather than later and we were forced to leave before we would have liked. We were grateful we had the opportunity to experience it and it has proved to be one of our all time favorites!
Wow - the color of the water was spectacular - great shark videos - I could hear the theme from "Jaws" playing in my head. - Joyce
ReplyDeleteSounds like it was everything we imagined it would be. Unfortunately the weather didn't co-operate for us so we didn't manage to make a stop. So glad you got there. Did you stop at Rum Cay at all? We had a nice time there, but mainly because of the other boats who were there at the time.
ReplyDeleteMark ("Por Dos")