On our 2017 trip to the Bahamas,we had heard about a beautiful uninhabited island called Conception Island that was part of the Bahamas National Park. We had been warned not to go unless the weather is “settled”, meaning light wind from the east. Little Conception Island sits all by itself in the Atlantic Ocean, about 20 miles from other islands and offers very little protection for overnight anchorage. We made the mistake of visiting Conception in 2017 in less than ideal conditions. We sailed over with two other “buddy” boats in raucous conditions. One of the other boats damaged his mainsail on the way over. We tried two different anchorages, but it was just miserable. We were probably rolling 15-20 degrees side to side in the large ocean swells. David was very sea sick and skipped dinner. I went to one of the other boats and enjoyed some freshly caught Mahi, but I would not say it was an enjoyable evening. It was too rough to go ashore. The rolling was relentless and no one got any sleep.
So this year we tried again, but this time we waited and waited until we got the right settled weather window. It was glorious and so worth the wait! The color of the water there is unlike anywhere else we have seen. The Bahamas has the most gorgeous colored yet clear water, but this was a step or two above even other places we have seen. We could easily see down to the bottom in over forty feet of water! The shade of blue is impossible to describe. The soft white sand beach that surrounds the anchorage in a perfect crescent helps the blue water stand out even more. If an artist painted a picture showing the ideal remote uninhabited tropical island, it would look much like Conception Island.
We knew the place was special when we first arrived. A seven foot or so nurse shark swam by to check out our boat. He came back every afternoon that we were there. We could see rays trying to bury themselves in the sand near our boat. There were white long tailed tropical birds flying all around and lots of bird noises. It turns out Conception is a protected nesting ground for three species of birds.
We put our bathing suits on, grabbed our snorkel gear and went in search of a reef to snorkel. Conception has a ton of coral reefs around it, but mostly what we found was some deadish coral which was disappointing. There was one spot with a huge elkhorn corral and lots of tropical fish so it was worth the exploration. We have heard that Bahama fisherman used to dump bleach on the coral reefs to flush out the lobsters. They didn’t realize that this would eventually kill the reefs. We don’t know how much of the dead coral we’ve seen is due to the use of bleach by fishermen and how much of the dead coral we have seen is from this or other causes.
As we motored back to the boat after snorkeling, we saw a couple on another boat loading snorkel gear in their dinghy. We stopped by to chat and see if they knew of other places to snorkel. We made a date to explore the mangrove creek together the next day.
After a few days on the boat, we often want to just get on shore and walk, whether it’s on a beach or a trail or a road; it just feels good to stretch our legs. We found a trail that led over to the other side of the island with another gorgeous white sand beach on the ocean side which continued around the northwest tip of the island. Our walk included climbing up small cliffs with the help of a rope, and fantastic views of the crashing surf.
The mangrove creek trip the next day was a fun adventure with lots of turtle sightings, some small sharks, rays, and lots of fish. On the dinghy ride over to the creek, a dolphin joined us and swam in our bow wake for awhile. We have never had that happen in the dinghy before! He was bigger than the dinghy so I was a bit worried he would hit the dinghy and capsize us, but not even a bump.
In the mangrove creek, we found a deep area where the turtles seemed to congregate so we got in the water and snorkeled with them. I also found my first black long spined urchin. There was a lot of tidal current rushing through and the water was stirred up a bit and silty so no great pictures. It was fun to turn off the dinghy engines and just drift and listen to the quiet and the birds. The other couple had a drone and they flew that around a bit and they got some great aerial views. As we left the creek, they invited us over to their boat for sundowners later on.
Black Long Spined Urchin
Small Black tipped reef shark
A ray and jack just hanging out together
This couple was very young (mid to late 20’s), but had been sailing their boat for two years and had already sailed from Europe to the Caribbean and were just now starting to explore the Bahamas. We had a lovely evening with them sharing stories and telling each other about must see places. They are from Lithuania (we have met people from lots of places in the world, but this was a first) and we thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them. The next day we were off to Cat Island, but we have exchanged some emails.
As we were motoring away the next day, there was no wind and the ocean was pretty flat. The sun was shining down into the 6000 foot depths and you could see the rays extending down into the water. Magical!
We hope you enjoy these pictures from Conception, but they don’t quite do it justice!
NOTE: The picture at the top of the blog post was taken by our Lithuanian friends, Julius and Aurelija on S/V Alka using their drone.
Thanks for reading!
Mary Beth and David