The reports are true. Conception Island is stunningly beautiful.

We joined 7 boats in the main anchorage tucked into the northern corner of the island. A couple of them left during the afternoon and a few more arrived, increasing our numbers to 12 by nightfall. Despite our best efforts, we failed to catch a fish for dinner on our way over so no seafood dinner tonight! After a quick lunch, we got into bathing suits, grabbed spear and bucket and set off to the coral heads to see if our luck would improve. There is some confusion about whether or not fishing is legal here. We had heard that it isn't, but then we were told it is, and when I looked up Stephen Pavlidis' book, "A Cruising Guide to the Southern Bahamas", he says that the land is a National Park and is under the protection of the Bahamas National Trust (no shelling, no fires and no garbage dumping) but the sea is open for fishing. Unfortunately, those fish and lobsters were elusive, and we never did catch dinner here.

We dinghied to several reef areas in and around the anchorage and snorkelled over them. I can't say that the variety of colourful fish is any nicer than what we have seen in the Exuma Land and Sea Park - both at Warderick Wells and Cambridge Cay, but it is certainly an enjoyable way to spend a few hours each day.

It is probably the combination of scenery, remoteness, accessibility of reefs and variety of things to do here that makes it so wonderful. Conception Island is small and uninhabited - no Batelco (Bahamas Telephone Company) tower - no wifi - no shops. Interestingly, it doesn't even have VHF traffic. Despite there being 12 boats here, there is no chatter! Instead of all those things, it has white cliffs and long crescent shaped white sand beaches on both eastern and western shores, deep water and coral reefs for divers, and shallow mangrove creeks for dingy exploration. This west bay anchorage where we are is plenty big enough to allow space between boats and the coral heads are far enough apart to be easily avoided. The water is - as they say - gin clear. The white sand that lies 15 feet below the surface of the water is just as visible as if it was 15 inches below. We have seen pretty little fish (and a couple of sharks in the late afternoon) swim underneath the boat, and we hardly needed the looky bucket to see that our Bruce anchor was well and truly buried.

A long rocky reef lies to the north; a beach of steeply sloped white sand forms a crescent around us; the creeks inland lie to the south beyond a little headland. We need simply to turn our heads from one side to the other to take in all the beauty. Phil and Leona (Falcon's Nest) stopped by to say hello, and Jan and Karl (White Pepper) joined us for Happy Hour on Monday so we had the benefit of happy socializing too!

Tuesday was filled with more exploring. We followed the short trail across the island from the north end of "our" beach and walked down the beach on the other side to the tall white cliff where a thick rope hung down - just begging hands to grip it and bodies to climb up for a better view. Of course, we all climbed! After oohing and aahing, we descended again and headed back, vowing to return and climb the next rope that led to a trail all along the ridge. That had to wait because our next excursion was timed to take advantage of the tide in the mangrove creek. We were off to see the turtles.

We entered the creek shortly after high tide and dinghied slowly up - weaving our way around sandy shoals and once more exclaiming over the colours of the water. We kept our eyes peeled for turtles and eventually found them in a deep green channel. They were so fast! We had expected to find them lazing on logs or rocks, but they were in the water and positively sprinted out of our way as we drifted closer to them. After drifting around there for a while, we paddled back to the main channel and then drifted on the ebbing tide all the way back to the entrance.

After lunch and siesta/book time, we were back in water mode for more snorkelling. We also dinghied out along the rocky reef to the north - deciding not to try to get around it this time. Instead, we beached the dinghy on a tiny beach on a tiny island where we lay on the warm sand and listened to the waves until it was time to go home for dinner. In the absence of seafood, I decided to use up some canned goods and we scooped up bowls of chili - hardly Bahamian food but tasty anyway and warming because we had gotten a bit chilled.

We planned to rise early, take the hike along the northeastern shore and depart for Rum Cay on Wednesday morning. We did the first two, and then decided to stay here another day! By 8 o'clock we were on our way to the beach, stopping to say goodbye to Jan and Karl. We scrambled up the black rope on the cliff below the lookoff cliff and followed "Holly's Trail" all along the ridge to another long beach. The views were fabulous and we spent lots of time watching those spectacular tropic birds wheel and soar over the water and in and out of holes in the rock walls. They can apparently mate in midair but we didn't see any of that action! There would have been good reef exploring on the far shore except for the surf that rolled in. Instead of snorkelling, we walked - shaking our heads at the array of plastic that was tossed up in the wrack and grass. It is immensely discouraging to see the number of cans and bottles and barrels that are washed up on so many shores. We know that they get tossed or washed overboard from ships, left behind by beach users, abandoned because they are broken or unneeded. If these are picked up, more will take their place. Perhaps some of the plastic will disintegrate in the sun but much will linger for years and years. Plastic is handy on boats - it doesn't rust or break. But it needs to stay on the boats! And we all need to resist the so called convenience of more and more plastic containers of all sorts of products, remembering to reduce, reuse and recycle. (That's my "speech" for today - but I'm serious too - we use and lose too much plastic.)

By the time we hiked back along the trail (about half an hour when we didn't stop for picture taking and exclaiming) and stopped to chat with Jim and Ruth (Spirit) and Angie and Clark (Seabbatical I), it was almost noon and we decided to postpone our departure. Why race off? Weather was a consideration again. We would have a fine sail for most of the way to Rum Cay, but would likely have a slog straight east into the wind for the last few miles. Thursday would probably deliver motoring winds - but no eastward slog. Sooo - we were free to swim and play like dolphins, to bask in the sun and to curl up with books. How could that be a poor choice?

Evening found us on White Pepper, visiting with Jan and Karl and with Angie and Clark. This is the last we'll see of Jan and Karl for this year; they are headed north to Cat Island while we head south from here. We need our fleecies on tonight - the breeze is cool but we have all our ports and hatches open because the air is clear and salty and we can see the stars!

Rum Cay - here we come!