Conception Island, Bahamas

3-7-11

Today we sailed over to Conception Island. The sail was a nice one, but a bit rolly. On the way over Gary spotted an ice rainbow in the sky.

Conception island is beautiful. It’s surrounded by numerous reefs, both in deep and shallow water. As we came in, we spotted a couple of dolphins off the starboard bow, fishing by some of the deeper reefs.

We paired off and took dingy rides around the island. Gary and Carol went off first with Spinny, so Kris and I stayed with the boat. We donned our bathing suits and jumped in the ocean for a bit of a swim.
When they got back, Gary and Carol told us they’d gone over to a few rocks nearby that were covered in crabs. They also reported that the reefs around it housed many colorful fish. Kris and I explored the crab rock, then sped around to the southern part of the island where we saw an osprey high upon a clifftop nest. We also found the entrance to the mangrove outlines shores of the inner island waterways. The tide was too low, however, to venture in. We will have to go another day.

The crystal clear water.

3-8-11

We waited to explore the inner island until around noon, only to discover that we’d gotten the tides mixed up somehow. Again, it was too low to venture in, and wouldn’t be high enough to enter until too close to sundown for our comfort. Kris and Gary worked on scrubbing down the bottom of the boat. Carol and I cleaned and straightened up in the cabin. Later, Kris, Carol, and I explored crab rock and the reefs around it further. I saw a squid hanging around one of the coral heads, and an eels poking it’s head out of another. A rainbow appeared on the horizon, created by a distant rain cloud.

The rainbow.

Spinny went with Kris and I later to explore the shoreline and to play a game of fetch the coconut. Spinny is quite coo-coo for coconuts!

We will try exploring the mangrove center of the island early tomorrow morning before we head out for Cat Island.