Sunday, November 16, 2008

So Here We Are

After the farewell cocktail in the Crow's Nest, I ran to our room grabbed my GPS and laptop, then went back to the Crow's Nest where there are huge tilted windows, ideal for picking up a GPS signal. I launched my RouteBuddy software, then plugged the GPS into the laptop for a full screen map of our position in the Bahamas area. Unfortunately, I didn't download a detailed map of the Bahamas before I left home, but the screen shot below shows our exact location at 7:45 PM Sunday night.

gps.jpg
The red circle is our location.

gps-02.jpg
Detail of our location. It would look more interesting if we weren't in the middle of an ocean.

Half Moon Cay, Bahamas

About 8 AM we arrived at Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas. This is a private island owned by Holland America Cruise Lines. Here, you can take a launch from the ship to the island and have the beach all to yourself. All two thousand of you.

The beach is beautiful. Beautiful turquoise water. Beautiful fine, white sand. Robin stayed on the ship while I checked it out. It was so pretty that I decided to go back to the ship and convince Robin to come ashore. By the time I got back to the ship, the sun was so blazing hot that I decided to stay on the ship myself. However, as usual, I documented the day with some photographic evidence.

At 5 PM we're meeting pals Duane and Margie (from Ashland, OR) at the Ocean Bar (a piano bar on Deck 3), then we have a farewell cocktail party in the Crow's Nest bar on Deck 10. Finally, we have reservations at the Pinnacle Grill at 8:30 with Theresa, principal of InSight Cruises (organizers of this and other themed cruises, including MacMania Cruises).

01-Boarding-the-launch.jpg
Boarding the launch that will take me to the private paradise of Half Moon Cay. I wonder where all these other people are going?

02-beach-and-ship.jpg
A veiw of the cruise ship as I approach the private paradise beach. Hey, this isn't so bad. I wonder where everyone else went?

03-Half-Moon-Cay.jpg
Oops. And this is with half the ship still heading this way.

05-empty-pool-area.jpg
I'm back on the ship, and most of the sunbathers are on the beach.