It’s not a long sail from Georgetown to Conception Island. We ended up motoring because the promised northeast wind ended up being just east, and that where Conception Island lay. I can honestly say, though, that whatever you have to do to get to Conception Island would be worth it. Wow. You know those Corona commercials where they just show the beautiful sand and sea, and all you hear is the distant surf? This is that place. It’s isolated, so we were alone there after the first night. The sand is the softest I’ve ever encountered – almost like walking in fresh snow, but warm. The blue water is gentle and the anchoring is easy.
The snorkeling is endless. Massive coral heads are everywhere except in the wide open anchorage. There are only a couple there, and they are easy to see in the crystal clear water. Unfortunately, the water was a little stirred up for some reason, so the clarity wasn’t as good as we wished for snorkeling and photos, but that didn’t really stop us. We spent hours hopping from head to head on the north side of the island.
There are also mangrove creeks to explore by dinghy or kayak. We saw many sea turtles, small sharks, and flocks of nesting birds as we cruised these creeks.
After a beautiful and refreshing few days in this paradise, we headed out for Rum Cay. We caught a small tuna as we sailed away from Conception; just enough for me to try making sushi later. Good! We also caught a fish (or something) in the intake for the cooling water for the engine. Not so good. This meant the engine started to overheat. Fortunately, Alan was at the back of the boat cleaning said tuna, so he saw the moment it started to steam. We shut her down and headed off the wind a bit so I could just sail slowly while he worked through the problem.
Those who know me well know I am attuned to risk, having dealt with it professionally. I know it goes with almost any worthwhile endeavor, and part of doing anything cool involves managing risk acceptably. This background did not prepare me for the ultimate fix for the fish in the intake problem. Alan came up into the cockpit, and we discussed how he needed to remove the hose the cooling water flows through, open the seacock, and stick a screwdriver down it and dislodge…whatever. For my non-nautical friends, the seacock is what keeps the water outside the boat. When it is open, normally, water flows through the hose to the heat exchanger and cools the engine. A lot of water. With the hose off, well, that water would just flow in. To my boat. That was actually how he would know the fix worked. Water would start to flow in. I didn’t really care for this idea, to say the least; It went against my survival instinct. But, it was the solution, and Alan managed it perfectly. The bilge pump didn’t even come on. Much. Adventure comes in many colors. Not all of them Caribbean blue, I guess.
Ultimately, the problem was fixed, and we turned the engine back on so we could get to Rum Cay. We had sailed a good ways in a direction more southerly than we needed, and had some ground to make up. We made Rum Cay just as the sun was getting ready to set, which is not our preference coming into an unfamiliar harbor. However, our charts and the last of the light allowed us to make a safe anchorage anyway.
Then I set about making sushi. Pretty good effort for a first try at making rolls, I thought. And so delicious…
Rum Cay has some decent drift snorkeling, and we enjoyed
that. The problem we had there was that the anchorage is subject to large ocean swells. We’re talking about things flying off the counter here. We deployed a swell bridle, which helped a bit, but two nights were enough for us. I don’t mind a bit of motion, or I wouldn’t live on a boat, but this was just silly.
We decided to set a few way points and see which way the wind would take us – determined to sail and not motor. Turns out, we ended up at Crooked Island, and it turned out to be one of my favorite Bahamas destinations. Thanks Wind!
