February 9 & 10, 2022 - Conception Island

February 9, 2022

6:00am- Woke up to rain.  

Change of plan this morning. We were going to go to Long Island with Gunter and Sue however they decided not to come. 

Instead we charged our plans and headed to Conception Island and meet up with other boaters since we have never been there. 

About Conception Island 

Conception Island itself is barely 6 square miles in land area but sits in a surrounding shield of reef that extends 4.5 nm to the north, 4 nm to the east and just over 1nm to the south. 

The whole island including the reef , is a marine park, protected by Exuma Land and Sea park and is uninhabited. 

 7:15am- Anchor is up, we wave good bye to Sue and Gunter and both sails are up for the first time once we are in the open waters.8:00am- Steve is going to try to catch a fish from the back of our boat. 

    8:30pm-With  both sails up with no motor, we are going an average of 7 knots. Seas are 3 to 4 ft. It is nice to finally have GaYa sailing. 

9:15am-  SV Oceanic just passed us and called  us on VHF and said they are on their way to Thompson Bay in Long Island. They are not catching fish either. 

What a gorgeous sail. It is nice when you don’t have to hear the engine all day. 

10:48am-  GaYa actually hit 8 knots with 15 to 18 mph at 60 degrees off the wind. 

12:00pm-  The winds picked up and the rain came so we brought in our sails in case it got gusty. The rain lasted less than 1/2 hour although the seas were a little rough. I ate a few crackers and drank ginger ale to settle my stomach. I made the mistake of eating  a peanut butter sandwich (too heavy) when I should of ate something more bland. Lesson learned. 

2:30pm- We arrived at Conception Islandd and covered 46.5 km. 

What a gorgeous beach. Can’t wait to explore. Robin on S/V Endangered Species has been here before and we will find out from her the spots to go snorkelling. Ruth Ann and Fred came earlier and were out exploring themselves but were unsuccessful in locating good snorkelling. There are a lot of boats that came from George Town anchorage. 

3:15pm- Steve read while he made water. I worked on my art project. 

4:30pm- We went for a dinghy ride to the beach. The water is deep all the way to the edge. The sand is so white with lots of really white shells. Beautiful beach to walk on. 

On our way back, Ruth Ann and Fred called us over for a drink. They are anxious to explore the reef tomorrow. We have no cellular connection and therefore I will have to wait until we return to George Town to reconnect. It started raining while we were having our drinks. Didn’t matter since there boat had total enclosure. 

6:30pm- I heated up the left over pasta we had last night since I didn’t feel like cooking something. 

Seeing that we didn’t have cell connection, I was glad to have been giving the CD for season 4 series of Black Sails.  How appropriate since the movie was taken place in the Bahamas. 

9:00pm-  We both went to bed early since we were tired. We could see lightning light up the sky from a distance. 

9:15pm- Just as I was going to bed, it started to pour out. Glad we don’t have to worry about any leakage. 

February 10, 2022

6:15am-  Woke up to paradise. The water was so calm and CLEAR. We could see the bottom in 16ft of water. It was like looking through turquoise glass. . Unbelievably peaceful. 

Everything feels wet after so much dampness. 

You can also hear the rhythm of the waves as it washes against the shore of the sandy beach. 

8:00am-  I took the dinghy to the beach and had a 3 km walk. I can’t emphasize the beauty of this beach. 

9:00ish-  Went snorkelling with Ruth Ann and Fred. I went in for the first dive and then watched Steve and snorkel other areas. Even with my wet suit on, I still get cold. 

There was a lot of dead reef and not a lot of fish. Someone told us the hurricane damaged many reefs. 

12:00- Had lunch and then Steve read while I painted. 

2:00pm- Went for a dinghy ride in what they call ‘The Creek’.  The creek is an inland salt body of water where you can only go in a high tides with your dinghy. It had a lot of turtles, some big fish and stingrays. Part of it had really crystal clear water and other parts where more stagnate with mangrove along the side. We stopped at one area and walk down to a beach where I found some unique shells. 

4:00pm- After we  came back, Steve and I went to the beach to fly our drone. After watching the footage later, we realized we needed to practice more. 

5:00pm-  Ruth Ann and Fred came to the boat for munchies and drinks. They showed us how to play Hearts. It was fun!  

8:00pm-  After our guest left, Steve and I brought up the dinghy on the davits since we will be departing with Fred and Ruth Ann around 7am. Steve and I then sat on the bow of the boat watching lightning in the clouds in the distance. The half moon was shining bright along with the star. It was beautiful. 

9:00pm- Off to get a good night sleep.