Alone … but you are never alone
28 March 2018
Then on Saturday 24th March we sailed the 23nm to Conception Island in 14kts NE wind. This uninhabited marine and land park was ours and ours alone. WOW.
A pod of four dolphins greeted us as we approached the anchorage in the NW of the island and no sooner had we set the anchor than a 1.5m Lemon Shark arrived and slowly circled the boat before taking up station at the starboard quarter on the seabed 3 metres down. Very shortly it was joined by another 2+metres Lemon Shark that settled down immediately astern. Interesting. These are intelligent creatures. They know the bow from the stern, and they know that boats mean food … some folks have been feeding them then.
We decided to go for a snorkel on the reef. We removed shiny things such as watches and climbed gingerly into the water without splashing so as not to alarm the sharks – apparently Lemon Sharks can be bad tempered if they are bothered. They just sat there. Off we went and the reef at the north end of the bay was only OK – it may be better further out but there was a bit of a swell so we preferred the shelter. Anyway, back to the boat and, yes, our two friends were still there. We did not feed them – best to let them live their more natural lives.
Next day another boat arrived and our friends clearly thought they might be a better bet and took up station off their stern.
We dinghied to the creek halfway down the west coast and found lots of skittish Green Turtles and then walked the beach and to the east coast which was sufficiently dramatic in a Bahamian kind of way – modestly.