Conception

3.26.11

We left early Thursday morning, intent on getting to Conception by lunchtime so that we could fit some snorkeling in before dark. We arrived just after noon, grabbed a quick bite to eat and jumped in the dinghy to explore the reefs.
Conception is an uninhabited island, known for its extensive reefs, sharks, and exotic tropical birds. We had spoken to several people who had snorkeled Conception previously and had told us some good spots to check out. We headed first to the reef just North of the anchorage, a large reef off the Northern tip that stretches for 3miles North of the island. We dropped anchor in the midst of some coral heads and jumped right in. The water was crystal clear, the sun high and we were treated to gorgeous colors of coral – bright purple fan coral waving in the current, brain coral heads larger than Brad, and beautiful unknown coral(to us) of blues and greens. The fish life was unfortunately slim pickings, but we did see lots of brightly colored parrotfish. We kept a wary eye out for sharks, always aware of our surroundings, but didn't see any danger in the area.
We snorkeled for an hour or so and then headed back to the boat, tired from a full day of sailing and swimming. We had gotten an underwater camera brought to us by Chelsea on her visit, especially for our trip to this island. We took some ok pictures that day, but once we got back to the boat, realized that the darn thing wouldn't turn on! After only one use, it had leaked and gotten water inside. Waterproof my ass. So, we took the battery and memory card out and left everything out to dry, hoping it would work in the morning.
Friday morning we woke up to a still broken camera. We were so bummed out! So much for great underwater pictures. We did manage to salvage the pictures we had taken the day before, but it was of no use to us now – Amazon will hear about this!! I would strongly urge against anyone buying a Fujifilm “underwater” camera!
We ate breakfast outside and as we were finishing, noticed about 8 people on the beach with at least 5 dogs running in their midst. We loaded Koa up in the dinghy and headed in to make friends. We were a bit nervous since Koa can be very excitable and has never been off leash around other dogs. But, every other dog was off leash and with so many people around, we opted to give him a chance. He had a blast! It was like doggy paradise for him! All the other dogs were large dogs – a rarity for the boating community. They ran around, played in the water and wrestled in the sand. Everyone was very nice and the dogs all got along great. There was one uncomfortable incident where Koa peed on one of the older dogs, but the owner just laughed and said “I guess she's Koa's bitch now.” Whew – our first dog group encounter was a success! Koa was tired and we had met lots of new friends.
We took Koa back to the boat and then we headed out for some more snorkeling. First, we stopped by the boat that had left us in their dust two days ago. He laughed when he saw and said they had been looking out for us and that we should still come over for that beer later. He told us about some cool must-sees on the island and so we headed out with the promise of sun-downers later.
We beached the dinghy and walked 100yards over the dunes to a secluded beach on the NorthEast side of the island. We were able to swim right out from the beach to some of the shallower coral heads. It was a bit more murky here due to the waves breaking on the shore, so we were a bit more vigilant about our surroundings, but again had a great swim. We snorkeled the length of the whole beach, then went back and had a snack while sitting on the beach. It was around noon now, and we decided to head back to the dinghy and go inland.
There is a series of creeks that wind their way inland with one way in and out from the shore. Due to the shallow depths, we were told to go in an hour before high tide and come out no later than an hour after the tide changes. We made it in through the cut, dragging sand behind us. Once inside, the creeks were a beautiful light blue crystal clear color. We had been told that the creek opened up to a small lagoon where there were dozens of green turtles that lived there. We wound our way back a ways wondering if we were in the right place. Finally we saw another dinghy off in the distance in what looked to be greenish, deeper water. We headed that way and when the area opened up we saw that there were at least 6 dinghies there, everyone had come to check out the turtles! And we were not to be disappointed! There were turtles popping up everywhere! Medium sized turtles (1.5 – 2.5 feet across the shell) had apparently made their homes back there. They were darting in between the dinghies, who all had their outboards off and were just floating around the lagoon. We joined the floating masses and hung out for an hour watching the turtles surface all around us. It was the coolest thing!
When the tide switched, we all headed back out so as not to get stuck in the creeks. On the way out, we stopped and snorkeled a crystal clear deep area along the mangroves. The mangroves provided cover for so many fish – mangrove snappers of all colors and a puffer the size of my head!
After that surreal experience, we headed back up to the reef North of the anchorage and snorkeled for a bit before heading over for sun-downers. We had a great time with the owners of “Ariel” and oohed and aahed over their nice boat. As the sun was about to set, we had visitors of the dangerous sort – a lemon shark perused the anchorage, swimming circles around all the boats. He was at least 6feet long and although it was cool to see him from the safety of the boat deck, it was a bit unnerving knowing he was there.
The following day we joined the dog chaos on the beach again and then dinghied around to the Eastern side of the island for more snorkeling and more secluded beaches. We snorkeled right at noon, with the sun high overhead and saw the most beautiful coral we have ever seen! Conception has elkhorn coral (one of the few places in the world where it is found) and it was gorgeous – and looked just like elkhorns, go figure! It was a beautiful orange with white tips. The coral heads here were huge, coming from 20-30 feet of water all the way to the surface. We snorkeled in and around the heads for an hour, enjoying the vibrant colors and the beautiful reef fish. We were near the edge of the reefs and the open water beyond was a bit ominous – I now know what shark bait feels like. But, we were not to see any sharks today either. We did see an extremely large barracuda staring at us menacingly, so we high-tailed it back to the dinghy and spent the rest of the afternoon laying on the white sand of our own private beach.
When we got back to the boat, we borrowed a hacksaw from “Ariel” and Brad made us two conch horns – now we can feel like real boaters! The tradition is to blow a conch horn every night as the sun sets; the majority of boaters have them, especially if they cruise in the Keys or the Bahamas.
We readied the boat for sailing tomorrow and then had a relaxing dinner in the cockpit while we watched the sunset. Our conch horn wasn't clean yet, so we enjoyed the sunset in silence. And then watched as the men in gray suits came back in full force – another large lemon shark and a nurse shark swam in lazy circles around our boat. We had heard they were prevalent there and we were not disappointed!