During the first 20 hours of 30 hour passage from Turks and Caicos to the Bahamas, we sail without encountering another vessel. The stars, away from any source of light, shine brilliantly. We arrive at Conception, a nature preserve, to decompress from our period of confinement. Crystal clear light blue water and powdery white sand greet us. The water’s hue is as clear as a pool: from 150 feet to shore one can see the entire length and the slope of the sand as cants up to the beach.
Surrounded by such beauty, we fritter away a couple days building sand castles, diving for sand dollars and strolling the beach. One day we chance upon a school(?) of squid drifting along. What oddly misshapen creatures. When approached, they tighten formation; when chased they streak away at an astonishing speed, changing from a deep purple to silver. JT inadvertently scares them into squirting ink by jumping into the water near them.
After Conception, we sail into Elizabeth Harbor, Georgetown breaking our weeks of solitude. This popular wintering spot for cruisers contains some 50 or more boats of every shape and size. With so many boats, we are surprised and disappointed to find not a single cruising family with kids close in age to Zoe and JT. The weather forces us to stay a few days and during that time we come to appreciate the breadth of activities available here: beach volleyball, a town with a decent grocery store, a library for book swaps, a lovely ocean beach with body surfing just a short hike away, a loggerhead turtle who enjoys nibbling the sea grass near our boat, the rays who will eat out of one’s hand if one is brave enough to offer them food, the cave snorkel with huge Atlantic spade fish (envision a foot and half long version of your aquarium angel fish). With time, Elizabeth Harbor has grown on us and we’ve come to appreciate why so many choose to winter here.
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