We just returned from our cruise to the Caribbean on the 11th and we had a wonderful time! There was so much to do on and off the ship. We really kept ourselves busy. And of course, there was more food than I could imagine available any time of the day.
1st stop * Half Moon Cay, Bahamas
This is actually pronounced Half Moon “Key”, but they spell it differently. This island is owned by Holland America and is a really beautiful little island. It was a bit chilly and windy this day, but we still found an exciting activity. We went on a jet ski tour of a bay on the back side of the island. We even went into the main part of the ocean, it was a bit rougher out there. Thankfully the sun came out as soon as we were standing in our swimming suits. But the water was so warm, it didn't really matter.
After our tour, we had a barbecue lunch they had available at the island. We were interrupted by a very unhappy rooster.
He was not happy with us being there and we found out this was because there was a mother hen and some babies nearby.It was strange to see one just sitting around…..but there were even more of them at a later stop!
Here, we took a private sailboat trip which took us to two different places to snorkel. They also gave us drinks, breakfast and a huge lunch on the boat. Chuck and I had never been snorkeling before and had a great time. We saw a bunch of wild looking fish. We even saw, sting rays, puffer fish, star fish….no sharks (phew) and no sea turtles (darn). It was so amazing. The color and clarity of the water is just like you see in movies and pictures.
The scariest part of the day was the drive to the sailboat. Their streets are very vertical and they drive like maniacs at high speeds….and you are on the other side of the road. It's a bit hard to get used to. Oh…and they lay on one loud honk to let people know they are coming around a sharp turn or steep area other cars can't see them. I guess you just pray anyone coming the other direction knows what that means!
We didn't have anything planned here, so we took a tour of the island. This is the same type of ride as the previous day….scary! But the views were gorgeous and it started to rain while we were on the tour, so we were glad we chose not to walk around. There are animals walking around all over the place here….roosters, hens, goats….it's just funny.
After we returned from the tour, Jean and I went to a couple shops and Chuck and his dad rented some scooters. I am glad I missed out on this adventure. It sounded a bit scary. You had to drive on the other side of the road along with all the other crazy people out there, and go up some of those really steep hills…all the while hoping your scooter will make it. Yikes. But they had a great time!
I think this was my favorite stop. Nassau is where the famous Atlantis Hotel is, but we didn't get a chance to go there because we took a 40 minute drive to a place called Stuart Cove's. There were did quite the “adventure”. His dad chose to do something called personal SUBs (Scenic Underwater Bubble)…here is a picture:
It was a very strange feeling. His dad was the first one in and was wondering what he had gotten us into. You sit on this thing and are wet everywhere except your head and shoulders. Then you drive around and look at things. You are about 15 feet underwater and have a bouy at the top of you. They pump in air and you just drive around breathing in this bubble-thing. They would line us up for pictures. Then they would feed them right in front of our faces. The fish knew this drill. They swarmed around the food and you could touch them and they brushed your legs…it was very cool. There wasn't a huge variety of fish here, but there had to be thousands of them. It was very fascinating. The most interesting fish was the bright blue parrot fish! This is what one looks like if you aren't familiar.
We had a great time.
**********
On the ship there were so many things to do. The rooms we had were wonderful and we were able to open up the balconies and walk between the rooms without going outside. That turned out to be the place we congregated quite a lot.
There were a number of shows on the ship. Our favorite was the illusionist. He was very entertaining. Some of the other people in the group also enjoyed a man who impersonated Elton John. He was an amzing piano and guitar player.
The food was fabulous! There was always a buffet somewhere to get food or room service. We also had a lounge across from our rooms that had food there as well. You were not going to go hungry…that is for sure. In one of the eating rooms there was a guy named “Honkey Dorey.” This man was amazing. He memorized everyone's name that came past him. It was crazy. That mind could be put to use somewhere much more productive, but he was certainly entertaining. We had a couple formal dinner nights. Here's a picture of us dressed up for dinner….
Well you can't see more than our faces, but you get the idea. 
Chuck and I played a lot of ping pong on our down time. There's a casino on the ship, too and I played some slot machines….I didn't win anything. Chuck played some Blackjack and poker. We lost some of the family down there for hours….they liked the casino.
One day, I made a bear on the ship! He was kind of cute and very soft:
I named him “ms Lido Neptune dam” after some of the rooms on the ship.
I also got this funny shirt:
On the back it has all the names of the Holland America ships…they all end in “dam”.
We also got towel animals on our bed every night. Here's my personal favorite:
**********
I included a couple pictures in here and links to some of the days, but there are many more photos to see HERE. More people should be adding to them when they get a chance. But the ones from us have my name as the owner and should be the first ones in the categories if you don't get around to looking at them right away.
*Note* Don't forget to click on the photos…that makes them larger.