Ever since we set off on our cruising expedition, we have been most looking forward to Conception Island in the Bahamas. It is a 2100 acre uninhabited tropical paradise that is protected as a Bahamas National Land and Sea Park. It is a sanctuary for a variety of birds, fish, turtles and coral.

The weather seemed promising for a few days, it should be calm and relatively moderate before a big cold front comes with strong wind and stormy days. We figured we would make the most of our 3 days in paradise.

Here’s a little movie, mostly of the underwater adventure since I’m obsessed with sea life.

Wednesday March 2, 2016
It was 7AM when we left our anchorage in Calabash bay. Jake raised the main and the anchor, but since we had no wind, we knew we’d need to motor at least the first portion of the trip. Since we sailed all day yesterday we have plenty of fuel. Still, its always more fun to sail when we can.

It was a gorgeous day, despite the lack of wind. It should take us around 4-5 hours to go 20 miles. We wanted to arrive with the sun directly overhead so that we could see the coral upon entering the anchorage (VPR).

The trip was extremely uneventful. We had no luck with fishing, since we broke our big hook yesterday. We tried using the smaller hooks but didn’t see any action. Once we cleared the northern part of Long Island, we were out in the nice big rolling waves of the Atlantic ocean. I much prefer these to the smaller and choppier waves in the shallows.

We managed to get a little bit of wind, so we could sail close hauled for about 1/4 of our journey before we dropped sails completely and motored into the anchorage. It was before noon when we pulled in and dropped the hook. It had to be the most crystal clear perfect “pool-colored” water we’ve ever seen. We anchored in the northern bay, just south of the West Cay coral reef (which spans about 4 miles to the north of Conception island).

Yay we made it! And we wasted no time in our exploration of the island. I was getting our snorkel gear ready before we even had all our sail stuff put away. Jake pulled the dinghy off the deck and had it all rigged in about 20 minutes. Before we left, we had a quick bite (sandwiches and chips) and then we were off.

We motored around the bay scoping out the nearby coral before beaching the dinghy. We hiked over to the north shore, which is also the very edge of the reef. The water was a bit more choppy on this side, but we didn’t let that stop us! We saw a good sized nurse shark before we got waist-deep in the water. I was so excited I could barely contain myself.

The water was pretty cold, but I could have cared less. I was in my own personal heaven. Nothing could distract me now. And we were off before long, winding our way up to what we thought were some reefs. The water was cloudy over here because conditions were a little strong, but we did manage to see several blue tangs. The coral was not at all impressive so we didn’t spend too much time over here.

We opted to move to the other side of the bay (where we are anchored) since that area was much more calm and clear. And we were rewarded by some of the most beautiful tropical fish we’ve seen so far. And such variety! Parrot fish, tangs, snapper, wrasse, puffers. Holy cow.

We spent about an hour here before moving up into the heart of West Cay reefs. The water was more choppy but much more clear as well. You could actually see the coral from above the water. So naturally I couldn’t resist and spent another hour or so exploring this region – which was by far the most beautiful and healthy looking coral I have ever seen. Everywhere I turned there were different coral heads to explore – and tons of fish too. I only wish my camera battery wasn’t flashing red, because that just meant I wouldn’t be able to capture all of it.

Once the camera died, we decided to call it a day and head back to Bosco. But now we know where to come back – THIS is the good stuff!

The afternoon wore on slowly but we were feeling great. Jake rigged the hammock which made for a wonderful place to “hang”. The boat was rocking back and forth from swell, but it didn’t bother us much. Several more boats came into the anchorage before dusk, but it was fairly quiet. The stars were out in their full splendor and we really enjoyed the simplicity of life at this moment.

Thursday, March 3, 2016
Well its 1:00AM and I’m wide awake. Not completely by choice, but what can you do? Its another very rolly night aboard s/v Bosco. My neck was still hurting from my injury last week, and thus made sleeping more difficult. Oh well.

I managed to fall back asleep for a few hours before the sun came up. I was still tired and sore, but my desire to explore outweighed my exhaustion and physical pain. Today we planned to explore the famous turtle hatchery. It would be a 2-mile dinghy ride to the southern part of the island, and then another mile ride up through the canals, which we planned to do on our kayak.

It would also be our longest and furthest dinghy ride to date. We are always paranoid that our outboard will break down so we brought our handheld radio just in case. We also packed ourselves a bunch of snacks, water, kayak paddles and my camera(s).

It took about 30 minutes to get down the island and then up into the creek. We had some absolutely perfect blue water to enjoy and saw about a dozen birds of paradise (or at least that’s what we call them). These white-tailed tropic birds reflect the aqua-color of the water on their bellies as they fly above. We passed several sting rays, turtles and a nurse shark on our journey. We also ran aground on the shallow bank when crossing into the cut up the river. We had to pull the outboard up to clear the shallows before continuing our way to the beach.

Once we arrived, we beached the dinghy and prepped the kayak for the rest of our journey. The creek was so pretty in its own way – the water was very calm and had a green tinge to it. It wasn’t as crystal clear as the ocean water, but it had a beauty all its own. The area around us was also something out of another planet – there were tons of sand banks that had tiny little puddles of water scattered about. I’m guessing this is where the turtle hatchery is, since it was HUGE and we saw a lot of remnants of turtle activity (turtle tracks and poop). But, we didn’t see any turtles lurking about.

We spent a good 3 hours or so paddling around every nook and cranny of the canals. We hiked around trying to spot wildlife and landed on a couple of picture-perfect beaches instead. We also managed to find tons of conch, sting rays, nurse sharks, starfish and about a dozen or so turtles swimming about. But everything was too skittish to get on film (besides the conch).

It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the exercise as much as the exploration. It felt great to hike and paddle, though our arms were pretty toasted after we finished exploring everything.

And after another 30 minute dinghy ride we were back at Bosco!

I was still energized and wanted to do some snorkeling. Jake wasn’t in the mood for it, so he opted to dinghy around and act as my safety net, so that I could go play around. It was even better than yesterday. Seriously the light was perfect. The beautiful coral and fish kept me occupied for a good hour and a half before I was pretty much wiped out from exhaustion.

Note: This underwater world is very fragile. Jake and I take great care to avoid touching the coral in any way so as to preserve its health. We will often bury our anchor by hand in sandy areas or behind rocks. Its so important to protect this tenuous environment for future generations to enjoy.

Friday, March 4, 2016
Today, we were both up before 6AM. We love mornings the best. Its the time we enjoy listening to relaxing music, drinking coffee and letting the warm sun and promise of a new day warm our bones.

Jake spent the morning trying to get Chris Parker on the SSB. Its frustrating because generally it goes something like this:

“It looks like there’s going to be some turmoil coming down the pipeline. Not at all what we thought after the past few days. Friday will bring …kkkkkkkkskshshhshshshsh (static) so you want to make sure you are protected from …kkkkkkkkskshshhshshshsh (static) and then Saturday it will change to …kkkkkkkkskshshhshshshsh (static) so you can definitely move …kkkkkkkkskshshhshshshsh (static) direction for most of the day. The weekend it will pick up from the …kkkkkkkkskshshhshshshsh (static) so you don’t want to be out unless you are going …kkkkkkkkskshshhshshshsh (static).”

He did manage to pick up some useful information about our weather. It will continue to follow the predictions since the last time we looked. Tomorrow (Saturday) would bring mild winds early in the morning and then pick up to the mid-teens throughout the day. Wind would be out of the northeast. Sunday would be very strong around 20-30 knots and continue in that fashion for the next 4 or 5 days out of the east, northeast. So, we decided that our next stop will take us back to Rudder Cay, 70 miles due east. It will allow us to remain completely protected from the big winds, but we can still continue to push north and have land to our lee. We can take advantage of the wind and hopefully sail too!

With our plans set, we decided to enjoy ourselves and take an easy day. Since it was cloudy and overcast, we weren’t too keen on snorkeling. We decided to do a bit of boat cleaning (the boat was starting to get very messy) and secure all loose articles. I cleaned and reorganized the lockers – we are FINALLY making a dent in all of our food that we packed (remember how we provisioned for the Bahamas oh so many months ago?!). Well, we are finally getting through those food stores. We still have PLENTY of food to last us another few months. I was also very happy to empty out the lazarette, which has become Jake’s personal nemesis. Normally its where we dump all of our miscellaneous stuff so it needs a good thorough organizing and de-cluttering.

After a few hours, we jumped in the dinghy and went to shore. It was cloudy but still beautiful. There was no one else around so we had the perfect beach all to ourselves. We moseyed over to the north end of the island, hiking the entire stretch of beach to the big rock face that juts out over the water. Jake climbed up barefoot and I followed. It felt so good to be on the rock – and the overview was spectacular.

Note: This is the moment that Jake and I said that we had to hike New Zealand. Walking barefoot along the rocky features triggered something deep inside and that feeling blossomed into our Te Araroa Adventure.

As I was watching the overlook, I noticed an animal swimming. I thought it was a shark since it looked so large from up here, but then I noticed it swim over the reef and it was a HUGE tropical fish. I’m guessing a parrot fish but I can’t be sure. It was so cool!!!!

We climbed around and hiked a bit longer. I was enamored with the little tide pools and all the tiny fish and sea life that were in abundance – even in these TINY spaces. Nature is the coolest thing isn’t it!?

It was nice to spend the afternoon off of our rolly boat and explore the island with no real agenda to see or do anything. Just be. The sand here is the softest my feet have ever felt. The sound of the waves on the beach and birds chirping was just perfect.

Our beach combing session wasn’t very successful but we found a couple. There were also a ton of tiny little blue jellyfish all over the beach. We probably hiked for another hour before heading back to Bosco to just sit and relax for the rest of the day.

We called it an early night. It was about 530PM when we went to bed, since we planned to get up at 2AM. It would be a 70 mile journey across the Exuma Sound to Rudder Cay, and we wanted to be sure we would arrive in daylight.

It was a fantastic couple of days in true paradise. I don’t think you will find a prettier island in all of the Bahamas.