Conception Island National Park

So we scrapped our plan to go to San Salvador. As we did a final check of the weather before losing cell phone coverage, we decided that the northerly swells that were forecast to arrive Sunday were no joke and would affect both San Salvador and Conception. And with our cruising season winding down and good friends heading to Conception, we altered course to join them! We now hold the record for the shortest goodbye...less than 6 hours until we saw them all again! 

A beautiful sail east!

We arrived around noon and quickly realized that while this island is sort of out of the way, it’s definitely popular! By nightfall there were 15 boats anchored here. But it is just stunning! The island has not had inhabitants in over 100 years and it’s believed that has contributed to its pristine nature. Sandy beaches, sandstone cliffs, mangroves, corals, birds...it’s all spectacular! Some corals are suffering from bleaching and algae growth, but much of what we saw was quite healthy. 

Our first excursion was to the mangrove creek. Only really accessible near high tide, our arrival was timed perfectly! On the ride there, long tail tropic birds circled overhead—they are so beautiful! Once we navigated the rough creek entrance (the swell was running right into it), we were treated to crystal clear, aquamarine waters and tons of turtles. It reminded us of the creek on Shroud Cay, but much shallower. 

A tropic bird—love the long tail!

The crystal clear mangrove creek.

Next we walked along the beach by our anchorage and found a trail across the island to another bay! We continued down the trail to a climbing rope that helped us get up a sandstone cliff for some more amazing views! 

Powdery sand, brilliant blues, and stunning views!

The day ended with sundowners on the beach with our friends and a movie night on S/V Kolohe for the group of six kids. Oh, and we discovered that if you raise the WiFi router up the mast in a dry bag, not only can you pull down an updated weather forecast, you can get dang good internet! So much for being disconnected for a few days! 

Watching the sun go down with our friends.

I started our second day in the park with a nice SUP paddle along the shore, scoping out trails and a shallow shipwreck. One kiddo was dealing with a stuffy nose so the rest of us went snorkeling and found some great shallow reefs south of the anchorage. The other kiddo got tired so Frank and I continued on to the north end of the island for some more underwater fun. The coral formations were huge, 15-20’ tall, and the animal life has definitely never been hunted—they all would come out to say hi! We saw large grouper and snapper, a massive conch, and a big lobster was just strutting across the sand without a care in the world! And Frank had two little fish swimming along with him for a solid 20 minutes—it was cute! When we returned to the boat we got a visit from “Mr. Lemon,” the resident lemon shark!

Awesome snorkeling!

It was one of our friend’s birthdays so while his family had sunset cake and cocktails on the beach, I stayed back to start dinner for the teens! The three teen boats decided to let all the kids hang out on our boat for dinner and Xbox while the adults gathered for dinner on another boat. I watch the sunset and made a ton of cheesy, unhealthy Mexican food—quesadillas and chips & queso—before heading to the adult party. We shared our remaining tuna with our friends and the sides came together for a perfect, Asian-inspired feast! We ate, drank, laughed, learned more about each other, and shared in the spirit of adventure that you find out here. It was such a great evening! 

A peaceful sunset before the party started.

And I’m so glad we all got together last night as at about 3am the northerly swell came into the anchorage. Waves started breaking on shore and between the swell coming in on our stern and the reflected waves coming back at us from shore, it was really getting uncomfortable. Boats started leaving at sun up and we decided to leave as well. It’s tough to leave such a beautiful place, especially after such a good time with friends, but I’m happy for the time we had and can’t wait to do it all again. 

Watching for coral heads as we get underway and watching our friends on Pleiades and Happy Together sail away.

We are headed for Cat Island...a new island for us! So far the sailing is great (broad reach, making 7 knots SOG) and while the swell is 6-10’ (higher when combined with wind waves), its long period makes it very bearable. If only all ocean passages could be this great!