I Just Really Want to See Conception Island

View from the Columbus Monument Cape Santa Maria, Long Island

One of our favorite places so far is Long Island. Just an easy 20 mile sail from Georgetown we actually travelled here twice and absolutely loved it both times. Many cruisers head to Thompson Bay. Its centrally located and has a great grocery store, but the water is eh and there's no decent beaches. Our favorite place is Calabash Bay.

Cape Santa Maria Resort Calabash Bay, Long Island (image from their website)

Calabash Bay is on the north west side of Long Island. There is not much there but a few houses and the Cape Santa Maria Resort. The water and beaches are some of the most beautiful I've ever seen. We spent way more time there than we anticipated because we just couldn't leave this beautiful place. Seriously, I wish everyone could see this place, pictures don't come close to explaining its beauty. So if you are looking for a quiet, out of the way vacation spot check out the Cape Santa Maria Resort.

Dinghy Landing at Cape Santa Maria Resort

The Beach at the Cape Santa Maria Resort Taken from the Happy Hour Deck

We arrived in Calabash Bay on February 12th. We rented a car to check out the island. Our first stop was Dean's Blue Hole. Dean's Blue Hole is the second deepest blue hole in the world at 663 ft. We loved swimming and snorkeling around the hole and the near by sandbars. Even Bullet had a great time swimming here. Of course, that meant lots of sand and a car full of sand. Oops. On our way back we stopped at Tiny's Hurricane Hole for a beer and snack. This great cruiser bar is on Thompson Bay and unfortunately is only open on the weekends. Their homemade potato chips were amazing. The kids enjoyed some wings while sitting in the hammocks.

Dean's Blue Hole Long Island

Beaches and Sandbars at Dean's Blue Hole Long Island

Tiny's Hurricane Hole on Thompson Bay, Long Island

Katie Enjoying the Swing at Tiny's Hurricane Hole

Typically How We Find Mikey, Hammock and Internet

The next morning we used the car to check out the Columbus Monument. The views from here were fabulous. The monument overlooks the western shore as well as inland creeks and sand bars. Long Island is said to be the third island discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492. Columbus described Long Island as the most beautiful island in The Bahamas and we couldn't agree more.

Columbus Monument Cape Santa Maria, Long Island

Columbus Monument Inscription

Beach Below the Columbus Monument

The resort in Calabash Bay was very welcoming to cruisers. They had a great happy hour each evening with free conch fritters and drink specials every night. The resort also had free water, if you asked nicely. Bullet was not fond of the resort cat, Killer, but he is a big fan of conch fritters. We met a very nice family from Kentucky at happy hour. They have been vacationing at the resort for 20 years. They told us all about the island and loved hearing our cruising stories.

Bullet Loves the Beaches at Calabash Bay, Long Island

The sunsets in Calabash were breathtaking. Barring a stray cloud, the view from the resort gave an unobstructed view and we saw the green flash many nights. Ah, I love a pretty sunset.

Sunset Calabash Bay, Long Island

We left for Thompson Bay on the 20th for yet another norther. Not too much to do there other than provision in their fabulous grocery store, Hillside Food Supply. We left on the 23rd, fully stocked and ready for more exploring. Unfortunatley half way back up to Calabash we realized our visas were expiring. Luckily mike got ahold of the customs and immigration person for Long Island and he would be in Thompson Bay later that afternoon. So, we turned around and headed back.

New visas completed, we headed out on the 24th for Calabash. We had an amazingly perfect sail. We threw up the spinnaker and did a comfortable 8-ish knots. We intended to head from Calabash to Conception Island, an uninhabited island to the east and then on to Cat Island. Unfortunately Conception doesn't have cell/internet service and the kids were working hard to finish classes so we decided to head back to Georgetown for a bit.

Perfect Sail from Thompson Bay to Calabash Bay Long Island

We ended up in Georgetown for two weeks because of some crazy weather. This time we anchored off Sand Dollar Beach. Hoping to finally see Conception, we headed out again on the 19th of March. We stopped in Calabash for a night and arrived at Conception Island on the 20th. Finally. We got to explore the east side beach that evening and had a great happy hour on the beach with some other kid boats. Unfortunately we woke to some crazy rolling surge from the north and had to leave, Ugh. I might never get to explore this place. Back to Calabash we went. Unfortunately it was too rolly there as well so we ended up in Thompson Bay again for a few nights. At least that meant more groceries. Yay!

So lets try it one more time. Back to Conception. Yay, I finally got to see this island. The mangrove river here is beautiful and we saw tons of fish and turtles. We hiked to the ruins of an abandoned settlement and played on the beach. Amazingly we even managed to get some internet by launching the Aliv hot spot up the mast.

Sibling Love Mangrove River Conception Island

Mangrove River Sandbar Conception Island

Settlement Ruins Conception Island

Settlement Wall Ruins Still in Pretty Good Shape Conception Island

Next we were hoping to head to Cat Island but discovered that the jib was starting to delaminate, so we took the easier sail back to Calabash and then on to Georgetown. Unfortunately our time in the Bahamas is winding down so we will be provisioning and prepping the boat in Georgetown for our trip back up the Exumas and on to the US.