Beautiful beaches of Conception Island + Rum Cay.

(Conception Island + Rum Cay, Bahamas)

We made quick two-night stops in both Conception Island and Rum Cay.

And somehow, we left both islands having taken only a few photos. :((( I cannot believe it either. That is SO unlike me.

We headed back into open water on Wednesday, May 28th for the journey from Cape Santa Maria, Long Island to Conception Island.

Conception Island is an uninhabited island in the Bahamas known for its seabirds and turtles. Unfortunately, it rained our entire full day on the island. ALL. DAY. LONG.

Thank god for a stocked boat and my Kindle. Jer and I hunkered down below deck, and since we had zero wifi on such a remote island, we pretty much just read and cooked. …pancakes for breakfast, egg salad sammies for lunch, and BBQ chicken, grilled zucchini, and yellow rice for dinner! Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

There was a small break in the weather around 4PM, so we hightailed it over to the infamous Southampton “skyscraper” Reef to snorkel. The reef is just on the north side of the island, where 20 to 30 foot coral heads dot the ocean floor for two and a quarter miles. The island is known for a large cove of dead, but still intact and quite beautiful elk-horn coral you can swim through. We drove the dinghy up-current to the top of the reef area, hopped out with our snorkel gear, and simply floated back downstream while swimming from coral skyscraper to skyscraper. …That is, until an eight-foot black tip shark joined our party. :((

It always happens.

Either a barracuda or shark makes an appearance.

At that point, we were done with our snorkel adventure for the day.

And after a fun little happy hour on a neighboring boat in the anchorage, we called it a night and headed to Rum Cay the next day.

The trip to Rum Cay was an interesting one. ;)) Beating into the wind with six to eight foot waves and a few squalls popping up along the way, doesn’t really make for the most pleasant sail. It was slow going the entire way, but we made it in about 6 hours and anchored directly in front of the government dock at Port Nelson. …where we got to learn our fancy new >>swell bridle<< technique. The anchorage is a little choppy and affected by ocean swell coming around the point.

Rum Cay is a very quaint island with only 67 people living there full time. We got the lowdown on the island and a great golf cart tour from the new owner of the Sumner Point Marina. He took pity on us walking to town in the blazing sun and offered us a lift.

At one time, the marina had been an awesome little spot to stop over on your way through the Bahamas, but it took a severe beating during Hurricane Irene and hasn’t been the same ever since. Boats have continued to tie up to the marinas docks (for free) for the past few years, while the rest of the marina/facilities have been out of commission. However, the new owner has plans in the works to rehab the dilapidated facility and get it back in ship shape.

Regardless, the island is quite charming and definitely worth stopping at to check out…

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