Conception Island

Conception Island

Sunday 6th - Tuesday 8th April, 2025

The passage over from Calabash Bay to Conception Island was miserable. We knew it wasn’t going to be great but we thought it would be over quickly … 3 hours never went by so slowly! It started out fine, but as soon as we passed Cape Santa Maria we were plowing into 4 foot seas with a really short period. There was lot of pitching and rolling, along with some unpleasant slamming every few minutes. However, we made it and by noon we were anchored off the west side of the island in the most beautiful of settings.

After a hearty lunch of lentil soup and kielbasa we put on our wet suits and went snorkeling right off Cotinga. We each carried a small wooden stick to fend off sharks, because we saw one as soon as we dropped anchor, but fortunately we didn’t see any others whilst snorkeling. The water was astonishingly clear and we did see some nice fish, but the coral is in poor shape and the snorkeling wasn’t great. 

It was a wonderful, peaceful night and it felt magical with the half-moon shining down through clear skies. I took some long exposure night-time shots from out on deck and they look like they were taken in daylight! 

Today we snorkeled again in two different locations and then went into the beach and took a short walk over to the north side of the island. By mid afternoon the tide was rising and we took the dinghy a couple of miles down the coast and over a shallow bar into a tidal estuary that runs through mangroves. Navigating the shallows was a little stressful but it was worth it as the inner bay was stunning. At various times during the day we have been delighted to look up and see white-tailed tropic birds flying around. They nest on the island and appeared to be involved in some highly acrobatic courtship flying.

In the evening we watched the sun go down in cloudless skies and saw what we believe to be the famous green flash. We stowed the dinghy on the davits and prepared to head out in the morning to Georgetown. We contemplated staying an extra day but there is a front that is going to come through (or perhaps stall before it gets here) and winds are likely to go south - south west and possibly west. At best it could become quite uncomfortable, so we decided to take the opportunity to move on. Visiting Conception Island has been an ambition of ours for many years and we are so glad that we took the opportunity to do it now - it really is beautiful. 

The sail over to Georgetown went really well. We were expecting to have to motor the majority (perhaps all) of the passage because of light winds, but with 8-12 knots of breeze at a relative wind angle of about 60 - 80 degrees, along with fairly calm seas, we were able to sail 30 of the 40 nautical mile journey. We are now happily anchored in Elizabeth Harbor, Georgetown, a place we have been to on two previous occasions. 

Mike

Conception Island - 23 50.927 N, 75 07.232 W

Georgetown - 23 29.922 N, 75 44.864 W 

Sunset on our first night ... too many clouds for the 'green flash'

Looking towards the beach under a moonlit sky ... 9 pm, 4 minute exposure 

Ditto

Looking southwards down the beach from Cotinga (also 4 min exposure)

Looking northwards to the other ~ 6 vessels in the anchorage (the boats are dark and swing around, so only their anchor lights and the moonlit water are visible)

The beach and anchorage as seen from shore

The end of the path to the north shore was marred by piles of trash. At least in this case it had been gathered off the beach, but somehow it needs to be removed, buried or burned. This is typical of all windward beaches in the Bahamas.

Once past the trash pile the north beach was beautiful

Amazing water colors

Gloria enjoying our dinghy ride into the tidal mangrove estuary

The tidal mangrove estuary