Conception Island
Lynn & Mike ..around the world
Mike Drinkrow & Lynn v/d Hoven
Thu 21 May 2009 13:05
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23:50.80N 075:07.29W Conception Island
We have been at Conception Island for a few days -
hiding from a tropical depression (lots of wind & rain) This island is
uninhabited and is a sanctuary for birds, turtles and sea life. We
were the only boat here for days ... a real desert island
experience.
The centre of the island is "hollow" with a massive
mangrove-edged lagoon, which is quite spectacular. We took our dinghy through
some waves and into the narrow entrance of this shallow, pale blue water.
The turtles were amazing, flying past us at high speed, scared by the noise of
the engine. Mike was snorkelling with his high tech "waterproof to 10m"
Olympus camera, and sadly it took on water and became our 3rd camera
loss since we left Cape Town. We were always suspicious of this claim
but it seem to work successfully for a while. Next time we will stick with the
underwater case!
We took a long walk along the north side of
the island, where the erosion by the waves has made some very dramatic
rock features. The texture of the rocks looks man made, almost like
cement and they are very light - I assume some mixture of coral and volcanic
activity.
Again we had a bunch of "friends" around our boat -
this time there were two big trunk fish that hung around grabbing any scrap of
food that we threw overboard, right off the top of the water. A bunch of noise
seagulls threatening to mess on the dinghy, and of course a barracuda and a
reef shark.
Mike and I went for two bubble
dives, both fairly shallow, but very enjoyable. The reefs
here are made of big round coral "bommies", with caverns and deep passages
between them, which is very dramatic to swim through. It was great to have John
as our "boat man" looking after the dinghy and keeping an eye on us from
above.
Today we head to Georgetown, but may stop off on
the northern end of Long Island - depending on the wind and the mood of the
captain. We do however need to get to some civilization, as provisions are
getting very low. This morning we ate the last of the cereal and the
eggs.
I will put up some photos of the last two stops
when we find an internet cafe.
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