Exploring Conception Island Barrier Reef

Medical Leave had some good company with a couple of megayachts sharing the quiet anchorage with us.

Conception Island was on our radar as a beautiful place to scuba dive as part of the Conception Island National Park managed by the Bahamas National Trust. It is a small, uninhabited island located in central Bahamas between Rum Cay to the south and Cat Island to the north. It is just over 2000 acres and rises to the highest point about 25 meters above sea level. The park itself is between 25 and 30,000 acres of protected marine area. It is surrounded by reef on north, south, and east sides, with both patch reefs, and a more impressive barrier reef on its southwest coast with four well-positioned mooring balls on the reefs edge. The drop-off started at 52 feet and rolls off onto a 350 foot wall.

Our mooring ball right on the edge of the wall was the perfect spot to drop in for the third dive of the day, a night dive. Of course we did not think to bring cameras, since our little Go Pros are not that great in the day, much less at night. This was likely why we saw some amazing basket sea stars which are almost always hidden during the day. And... a 10-12# lobster that came out to check us out as we sat and watched him walking towards us on the sandy bottom at 60 feet. They seem to know when they are in a protected park situation and have very little fear.

Our friend, "Honey" descends toward the wall.

During the day, we stopped at what was supposed to be "Grandma's Garden" so I could jump in with Honey and give her a quick refresher course on buoyancy control and scuba basics. As soon as we dropped in, two adult dolphins swam over to meet us, but did not stay around to play. Honey did finally see them as they swam away.

Shot from 60 feet below, the visibility of Rob's contour against the sun is striking.

A Nice Black Grouper

Sheri floating at the edge of the wall

Saw Three Nice Lobsters on the dives during the day, and one huge one on the night dive. This one is at least 5#

Lionfish: Beautiful, delicious, and have toxic spines that deter most predators. They are an invasive species and most locations welcome divers to remove them from the reef, but not in the parks.

Sheri stays well above the coral so as not to inadvertently damage anything.

Blue damsels protecting their garden

Large sponges abound

Another interesting fluorescent green sponge

A Large gorgonian, "sea fan". hard to believe these are filter-feeding animals.

Very well-developed coral wall.

Rob in a beautiful swim-through

Sheri has spotted another lobster hiding in the crevices.

Out in the distance, Mr. Grey (Black-tipped reef shark) was gliding effortlessly 100 meters off the wall. You cannot see him in the photo, nor can you often see them while diving, but they know you are there!

Ocean Triggers swim down "The Notch"

We were happy to see the diversity of corals and marine organisms there at Conception Island. We look forward to diving some more remote areas including the Ragged Islands in the upcoming week, so stay tuned!