27. February 15, 2019: Conception Island, Bahamas!
February 15, 2019:
After snorkeling off Cape Santa Maria Resort on Long Island this morning, we headed to Conception Island alongside Dean and Wendy on Chaos.
Bahama blue!
Conception Island is uninhabited, and is part of the Conception Island National Park along with the very small Booby Cay (yes, we made the usual jokes: it's named for the birds) and even smaller rocky islands. We were very lucky to have a calm weather window, as there is very little protection from the waves here.
Conception Island
We anchored on the east side of Conception Island. On the shore was a thick black corrugated plastic tube that had washed up on shore with other trash. It was four feet in diameter and almost eight feet long. We're sure glad it wasn't in the water for us to hit! It was sad to see this much garbage on a spot that should have been pristine. However, the snorkeling was really good, and the coral looks healthy. I found this beautiful King's Helmet with intact snail, so back it went!
Underside of a King’s Helmet
Top of a King’s Helmet
King’s Helmet, side view
February 16, 2019:
More awesome snorkeling today. We towed the dinghy behind us as we swam around, just as a precaution against getting swept away by a current. Not many lifeguards here! On the upside, swimsuits are optional! think everyone should have the opportunity to skinny dip in warm water at least once in their lifetime. Add it to your bucket list.
Elkhorn Coral
Elkhorn Coral, top view
Juvenile Blue Tang
Reef
Blue Tang
More coral
Afterwards, we motored to the other side of the island, where about 13 other boats were at anchor. Chaos had anchored in a nearby bay next to Amel. We met Mike, Tina, and their kids. It turns out that it's not their boat! They helped their friend fix his boat, so he let them sail it for three months. Sweet! We all snorkeled some more, and I spotted a Peacock Flounder, about 18 inches long. Then a five foot long Lemon Shark swam quite near me, but went on its way. Whew!
Lemon Shark
Nikki enjoying the beach at sunset
Teddy enjoying the day’s end too
February 17, 2019:
John changed the engine's impeller: good thing! Only three teeth were left out of nine. As we snorkeled today, I got some video of an Ocean Triggerfish. They sure have a funny way of swimming!
Then John yelled "Shark!" There was a seven foot Lemon Shark swimming maybe 20 feet from us. We tried to catch up to it to get some video. Although it seemed to be barely moving, we could hardly keep up!
When we told Dean and Wendy about it, Dean laughed and said he had just gotten out of the water onto his swim platform when TWO of them swam out from under him! That must have been a bit unnerving.
Tomorrow we plan to sail on. Check out an amazing island in our next blog post
"February 18, 2019: Cat Island!"
