Conception Island

Conception is an uninhabited island that is part of the National Land and Sea Park. There are no services, no rangers, no cell phones, nothing. When we arrived, there was only one other boat at the anchorage. It was a super yacht and as such, anchored in much deeper water far away from us. We practically had the place to ourselves. Eventually, other boats arrived but it was about the time we were leaving.

The island is surrounded by coral reefs for snorkeling, mangrove shallows in the island’s interior for paddle boarding, and lots of beautiful beaches to walk down. I’m not sure why it’s not more popular; maybe the lack of services and socializing. But it was a nice change of pace from Salt Pond and George Town.

After three days, we had our fill of snorkeling, paddle boarding, and walking and decided it was time to hit a grocery store for the much coveted avocado and fresh meat. We waited for a day where we’d be able to do a nice downwind sail to Cat Island and the New Bight Settlement.

The wind and waves were more than what was in the forecast, but we’re getting used to that. Sailing downwind, you never realize just how bad it is until you turn. If it’s blowing 25 knots and you’re sailing at 7 knots, the apparent wind is only 18. Once we got to Cat Island, we had to make that turn. All of a sudden, our apparent wind went from 18 to almost 30. And the waves that we were gently riding with changed as well. The last few miles were rough ones.