Position: 23:51.183N 75:07.297W

Date: Tuesday29th April 2014

We left Clarence Town on Monday morning and sailed northwards up to Conception Island.  There was a good wind so we were able to travel all of the way with full sail on a beam reach.  We managed to fly the cruising chute which whisked us along at around 8 knots for several hours. It doesn’t get much better than that.  The island lies in an area of deep seas, but close to the shore the depths reduce very rapidly to produce some quite startling colour changes.  The deep ocean is a rich indigo, and the shallower waters close inshore are a startling turquoise colour.  But the strip of water in between was the most unbelievably luminous, eye ball sizzling royal blue colour.  I mean, come on, a royal blue sea?

Water colours have been mentioned several times before in this log and it is difficult to describe the mood boost that is produced by some of the colours of the sea. It is impossible to become jaded by the surplus of turquoise experiences.  Most mornings, when we open the hatches and gaze out across water showing all shades of blue and green we always feel a small burst of elation.

Conception Island is uninhabited and has been declared a nature reserve.  As such it is pristine and completely unspoilt.  It is an important nesting site for Tropic Birds, Boobies and other avians and it has some of the best reef structures in The Bahamas.  It’s also quite beautiful.