Conception Island

Moonbeam
David and Lynn Wilkie
Sat 16 Apr 2011 13:42
 
 
23.51.018N  075.07.260W
 
Back to Moonbeam after our walk we decided to up anchor and head for Conception Island, just 20 miles to the North-West.
 
    
 
The wind was very light so we motor sailed up to the beautiful bay at the NW corner of the island where we anchored with a dozen other boats including  "Wings" and       " Nayaa" that we were with in La Gomera.
 
    
 
While the beach here reminds us of Vatersay there are always other things reminding us of home. A few days ago we heard the yachts "Iolair" and "Isle of Arran" on the VHF radio; in the Turks and Caicos's it turns out that PRATT is a common name and we decided not to visit PITTSTOWN on Crooked Island as we were not sure who we would meet!
Chatting to another "Red Ensign" yacht ( not many about) "Amazing Grace" he said he was from Dunblane and when we mentioned David Vass he said " Oh Yes, Dr.Vass was my Scoutmaster"! Small world.
The water here is not only warm but very clear and in the evening a 7ft Lemon Shark was swimming under the yachts in the bay. The snorkelling is excellent with the best visibility yet and some of the coral formations are fascinating.
Thursday morning in company with "Wings" and "Nayaa" we took 3 dinghies up the short river into the shallow lagoon in the middle of the island. Here there were turtles, a nurse shark and snapper darting about as well as several different birds exploring the drying flats.