The Joys of Cat Island

We anchored in Fernandez Bay after our ocean voyage from Conception. We had been to Cat the first year that we sailed in The Bahamas but not since then. The first year we had rented a car and discovered Fernandez Bay where there is a lovely resort. The bay is a nice anchorage; however it can also get a bit rolly as we discovered during our second night. This vist to Cat was such a pleasure as we discovered many creeks and mangroves to paddle with lots of wild life.
Right next to the resort is a great paddle up a mangrove creek and we took our lunch and explored much of the area until the dropping tide forced us back to the main creek. We happened upon three good sized green turtles who put on quite a show for us. They kept swimming around the same area and even poking their heads out of the water to take a peak at the big white fish that was hovering in their creek.

Before leaving Cat we decided that it might be a good idea to visit a clinic for a post puncture wound follow up. We anchored near the clinic in Smith Bay and paddled ashore. You never know until you get to the clinic whether there might be a doctor as the doctor rotates from clinic to clinic during the week. We happened to hit the day that Dr. Adderly was in smith Bay so we were very happy. Both the doctor and nurse felt that my wound was looking very good....in fact the nurse called it gorgeous. That is not a term that I would use to describe it; however it was nice to be told that what we were doing was working. The doctor prescribed another two weeks of antibiotics just to be on the safe side and a new topical antibiotic ointment. We left the clinic with 2 litres of saline solution to mix with peroxide, a bottle of peroxide, a two week prescription of Augmentum (a combination of amoxicillan plus clavulanic acid to fight bacteria that are penicillin resistant) , a tube of Bactroban ointment, 3 vaginal ovules in case I get a yeast infection as a result of all of these antibiotics, several packages of non stick bandaids, a wad of dressings, gauze, tape etc. and this time the bill was $60.00. Rob only had two fifty dollar bills and the clinic couldn't make change so the nurse said $50.00 was fine. You have to love The Bahamas.

After our clinic visit we picked up a few groceries at a local store and headed back to the boat and motored up the coast of Cat Island and anchored off of Alligator Point. It was like a sight seeing trip by car and we enjoyed our lazy afternoon. Alligator Point reaches out into the bay for a couple of miles so we took a lunch with us and paddled all along the coast. At the end of the point we saw a large osprey sitting on a nest. Our plan was to paddle into a creek access at the tip of the point but between the wind and the current we knew we wouldn't be able to go too far. The creek was beautiful and in the right conditions it looked like you could paddle a long way. The water was so clear that it felt like we were paddling in an aquarium. We wanted to go further but we knew we had to paddle back against the wind...always a challenge in constant trade winds.

From Cat we had a good sail to Little San Salvador. Little San Salvador is a private island owned by the Holland Cruise Ship Lines. The ship comes into the cove and people spend the day on the beach where there a Disney Land of things to do. The last time we were there we had watched a cruise ship arrive; however this time we missed all the entertainment. We did however see this big ship off of the Eleutheran coast.

Conception Island Paradise

We were glad that the weather cooperated and that we could stop at Conception Island. The anchorage is beside a beautiful white sand beach.

Paddling through the mangroves and seeing the green turtles was wonderful.

Conception Island is truly a paradise worth seeing.

The sandstone is quite stunning on Conception Island.

Life in Long Island....On to Conception

Where there is a will there is a way to keep one's leg from getting salty!

We spent sometime exploring the ocean beaches on Long Island.

Treffina makes the best rum punch! Tony from Georgia E, another Bayfield 36 agrees.

The Thompson Bay Club comes complete with rooster!


It is Wednesday March 2nd and we are anchored at Conception Island. The island is part of the Bahamas National Trust and it is being preserved in its primitive state. It is uninhabited and truly a place to cherish with its crescent beaches, crystal clear water, mangrove creeks, turtle nurseries and long tailed birds. It is just over 15 miles from Long Island but you can only stay here in the right weather conditions. As always our sailing decisions are dictated by the weather and gratefully this year we have been blessed.

Dr. Bob took out my stitches a week after my accident and thought that my wound looked okay. Since Savage Son was off to Georgetown and Celebrian was heading to Conception it was good to get his blessing.

We had happy hour with Treffina and several other cruisers at the Thompson Bay Club and made plans to leave the next day. From Thompson Bay we sailed north two hours to Simms, another settlement on the western shore. Simms happened to be one of the settlements with a health clinic and we decided to have my leg looked at as it was starting to look infected. We rowed ashore and waited forty five minutes to see Nurse Barr. She was excellent and before I was though I had a shot for tetanus, pain pills, antibiotic ointment, a 7 day supply of amoxicillin, gauze dressings, tape etc. and my wound cleaned and dressed....all for $46.90. We were thankful that we had decided to go ashore to the clinic and grateful to the Bahamas government clinic.

From Simms we sailed another couple of hours up to Calabash Bay near the northern end of Long Island. It was just over 20 miles to Conception where we arrived yesterday by noon. We had met Stuart and Tony on Georgia E, another Bayfield 36 during our stay in Thompson Bay . They are from Toronto and this is their first year cruising in The Bahamas. Stuarts' wife is flying down this next week for 3 weeks. She is still working but gave her blessing to Stuart to sail south. We joined them for an afternoon's dinghy trip to the mangrove creek. We pulled the kayaks for the 1.5 mile trip to the creek mouth. The creek is home to many green turtles and the creeks are great nurseries for the young. We didn't see any small ones but lots of mid size and larger. They don't linger long on the surface when they come up to look and they definitely don't hang around for photographs. In fact it was amazing to see how fast they swam ....a good skill to learn before heading out into the ocean. We paddled while Stuart and Tony putted along in their dinghy. It was a lovely outing and wondeful to see so many turtles. It was my first time back in the kayak after my leg injury. We came up with a how to keep my leg dry idea by using my sailing rubber boot along with a plastic splash wrap around my bandage. Where there is a will....there is a way. I am very grateful to be able to kayak if not snorkel.

The next day we spent hiking along the north shore of Conception Island. The ocean views were spectacular and the colours of the surrounding waters just beautiful. We found another lovely beach to hike and had a picnic along the shore before heading back along the trail. The ocean was looking very uninviting in the 25-30 knot wind. We were glad that we were anchored safely on the lee side of the island. We spent the last day in Conception walking the beach on the lee shore, reading and relaxing.

The winds were forecast to go down by Sunday but change in direction;however the change would mean a following sea (waves behind us) for our trip to Cat Island. We decided that it was better to leave on Saturday with a more favourable wind direction even though we knew it was going to be 20 knots and high seas. We sailed the 30 miles in 12 plus foot seas with 6 foot wind chop on top and Celebrian was a star as she just climbed those waves and made it look easy. Both Rob and I agreed that they were some of the largest swells we have ever sailed in. The worst part of our trip was the 10 miles over the bank at Cat Island. We had to sail close reached (closer to the wind) into a wind driven chop in 10-15 feet of water....it was ugly and wet. We decided to go into Fernandez Bay as it looked like a good spot for shelter and have been quite comfortable. We are hoping to go kayaking up a creek nearby and then head further north to Smith Bay. Smith Bay has a clinic with a doctor. My leg is still red and not healing particularly well and I am finished the oral antibiotics today. Even surface wounds take a very long time to heal in the tropics so I should not be surprised that this wound is being troublesome. I do hope that it heals well enough that I can get snorkelling again in the Abacos. For now I will just have to be patient.