Near the end of our stay in Cat Island, the weather man, Chris Parker, predicted one calm day and then at least a week of strong northeast winds; so we ran right down to Hawksnest, loaded fuel and water, and left the next morning for Conception.
When we reached West Bay, Conception there were no other boats in the anchorage – there is no place on earth where it is more wonderful to be alone. We set two anchors just before the wind went into the north and began to blow, and by morning the wind was NE 25-30 where it stayed for the next seven days.
The first day we made a turtle survey in the creek to estimate the number of turtles, and every day we tagged as many turtles as possible. We counted 31 green turtles in the survey, and over the week we captured 29 green turtles in the creek.
Studying movements of turtles in and out of the creek is a challenge; but we are making progress by snorkeling outside the creek and capturing and recapturing as many turtles as we can. Green turtles are hard to catch in the deeper water, but we always manage to get a few. Recently we have also been able to take close-up photos of resting turtles and read the tag numbers on the photographs. We often find turtles we had tagged in the creek, and, conversely, we now find turtles in the creek that we have tagged outside. It is clear that a significant number of turtles move in and out, and it appears that the larger turtles spend most of their time outside. There are patches of turtle grass in the deeper water.
Green Turtle #BX2097 South of Conception Creek
With 25 knot northeast winds, there was no way we could take the speed boat around to the north shore, so one day we walked to “Turtle Cove” to see if we could count turtles from the high ground at the western end of the cove. The walk across the land has now been marked by cruisers. The going is easy, and the vistas are spectacular, especially when the sun shines directly on the striated limestone cliffs. We counted six green turtles in the northern bay.
Years ago my wife, Babbie, happened upon some ruins on the hill at the very south end of West Bay; so one day Barbara and I anchored the speed boat in the creek and walked up to the ruins with food, water, and a cutlass. The ruins were more extensive than we had heard, and we cleared some of the bush to gain access. The ruins seem part of a small settlement with a view of
Long Island and an easy walk to the creek. We think we found all the buildings, but there may be more. We called Antiquities, Monuments, and Museums to ask about the history of the ruins, and they contacted Jud Rosen who is on their Board and lives on Long Island. He will measure all the ruins, study their construction, and draw a site plan. Hopefully these ruins will be put in the National Register of Historic Resources.
Conception Island Ruins
On May 1st we left for Rum Cay and then followed the Long Island fishing boat DESTINY down to Clarence Town and moored at the Flying Fish Marina, where we were welcomed by the owners, Mario and Claudia Cartwright. Flying Fish is one of the finest marinas in the Bahamas.
In the last three years Clarence has become a very important place for us. The harbour contains several separate turtle habitats, and the area is teeming with green turtles ranging from small juveniles to teenagers well over 100 lbs.
A new discovery to us was the green turtle population in Little Harbour, 10 miles south of Clarence. For several years local fishermen had told us of a healthy turtle population in Little Harbour, but the weather never let us get down there. This year we had a calm day and recruited Garrett Fletcher, a young tri-athlete from Colorado, to go with us. The local boys were absolutely right. There are plenty of small turtles in the flats at the southern end of the harbour and large turtles in the deeper water inside the cut from the ocean.
Many people we take with us say they can swim, but Garrett was the real deal, so we caught 10 green turtles with 4 turtles over 70 cm curved carapace length. We estimated one was over 200 pounds - no way Barbara and I could have handled that turtle alone.
Garrett Captures a Green Turtle in Little Harbour
Garrett Brings the Turtle to the Surface
When we reached West Bay, Conception there were no other boats in the anchorage – there is no place on earth where it is more wonderful to be alone. We set two anchors just before the wind went into the north and began to blow, and by morning the wind was NE 25-30 where it stayed for the next seven days.
The first day we made a turtle survey in the creek to estimate the number of turtles, and every day we tagged as many turtles as possible. We counted 31 green turtles in the survey, and over the week we captured 29 green turtles in the creek.
Studying movements of turtles in and out of the creek is a challenge; but we are making progress by snorkeling outside the creek and capturing and recapturing as many turtles as we can. Green turtles are hard to catch in the deeper water, but we always manage to get a few. Recently we have also been able to take close-up photos of resting turtles and read the tag numbers on the photographs. We often find turtles we had tagged in the creek, and, conversely, we now find turtles in the creek that we have tagged outside. It is clear that a significant number of turtles move in and out, and it appears that the larger turtles spend most of their time outside. There are patches of turtle grass in the deeper water.
Green Turtle #BX2097 South of Conception Creek
With 25 knot northeast winds, there was no way we could take the speed boat around to the north shore, so one day we walked to “Turtle Cove” to see if we could count turtles from the high ground at the western end of the cove. The walk across the land has now been marked by cruisers. The going is easy, and the vistas are spectacular, especially when the sun shines directly on the striated limestone cliffs. We counted six green turtles in the northern bay.
Years ago my wife, Babbie, happened upon some ruins on the hill at the very south end of West Bay; so one day Barbara and I anchored the speed boat in the creek and walked up to the ruins with food, water, and a cutlass. The ruins were more extensive than we had heard, and we cleared some of the bush to gain access. The ruins seem part of a small settlement with a view of
Long Island and an easy walk to the creek. We think we found all the buildings, but there may be more. We called Antiquities, Monuments, and Museums to ask about the history of the ruins, and they contacted Jud Rosen who is on their Board and lives on Long Island. He will measure all the ruins, study their construction, and draw a site plan. Hopefully these ruins will be put in the National Register of Historic Resources.
Conception Island Ruins
On May 1st we left for Rum Cay and then followed the Long Island fishing boat DESTINY down to Clarence Town and moored at the Flying Fish Marina, where we were welcomed by the owners, Mario and Claudia Cartwright. Flying Fish is one of the finest marinas in the Bahamas.
In the last three years Clarence has become a very important place for us. The harbour contains several separate turtle habitats, and the area is teeming with green turtles ranging from small juveniles to teenagers well over 100 lbs.
A new discovery to us was the green turtle population in Little Harbour, 10 miles south of Clarence. For several years local fishermen had told us of a healthy turtle population in Little Harbour, but the weather never let us get down there. This year we had a calm day and recruited Garrett Fletcher, a young tri-athlete from Colorado, to go with us. The local boys were absolutely right. There are plenty of small turtles in the flats at the southern end of the harbour and large turtles in the deeper water inside the cut from the ocean.
Many people we take with us say they can swim, but Garrett was the real deal, so we caught 10 green turtles with 4 turtles over 70 cm curved carapace length. We estimated one was over 200 pounds - no way Barbara and I could have handled that turtle alone.
Garrett Captures a Green Turtle in Little Harbour
Garrett Brings the Turtle to the Surface
May 11th we moved to the anchorage off Strachan Cay; and Elizabeth Buxton, a senior student from Greensboro Country Day School in Greensboro, North Carolina, arrived to work with us for two weeks. Her senior project was to help us with our research and make student surveys in two of the primary schools. Elizabeth learned quickly, swam hard, and had good eyes.
