The Bahamas, it always conjures up images of clean blue
skies, warn sun with a gentle breeze, crystal white sands with turquoise blue
waters lapping at its edge and lazy palm trees leaning out to sea. I’m sure that if you took a flight to
the northern Bahamas in the summer time then this is exactly what you would
find. Right here, right now in the southern most islands of the Bahamas it’s a
very different story. We set sail from Caicos Marina, Turks & Caicos, on
Saturday evening with eight guests and six crew bound for Mayaguana the next
morning. The itinerary would see us stop at this southern most island of the
Bahamas first and then follow on to Plana Cay, Samana Cay, San Salvador,
Conception, Long Island and dock in George Town, Great Exuma to complete our trip.
We arrived the next day after driving through the night, the crew taking turns
to watch the bridge, dropped the anchors and we were diving!! The day drew on
and the diving was good and the weather was calm. The weather report for the
next few days told a different story and so a decision had to be made. The
fourth dive was complete and over dinner the captain announced that the weather
was closing in and we would have to drive through the night to reach the
relative protection of San Salvador (they claim that this is where Christopher
Columbus first hit land, so do the residence of Grand Turk and so the argument
continues).
We once again took it in turns to sacrifice sleep and we
powered on into the night bound for San Sal and running from the weather. We
awoke the next morning to 20 knot winds and sideways rain but we could see
land. After finding somewhere to hide we hit the water and the diving was good.
We stayed here for the next few days and the wind started to calm but the rain
continued to fall with some glimpses of sun. We have had great guests this week
and they have been totally understanding of the situation.
We arrived at Conception Island yesterday morning and the
weather finally broke. We had some beautiful dives and a Hammer Head shark showed
its face, which really makes the trip for us. I jumped in to guide the first
dive at 6am this morning and the sun did not show its face before we surfaced
in time for breakfast. As I was diving along the wall, hovering in darkness
over the abyss with panicking phosphorescence exploding like fireworks before
us, I remember that I really enjoy the Bahamas for its epic topography and
stunning visibility. This trip has been different from previous trips and the
main reason is that we are all relatively rested, which makes everything else
seem that little bit more enjoyable.
