Saturday, December 20, 2014
At 8:00 this morning the Cruise Director, Dave woke us up to announce that we were anchored off of “Half Moon Cay”, a private island owned by Holland America. I did not need a wake up call to tell me that. So I did not get up until 10:30. I’m retired you know! It is the fourth time I have seen this Island, and between ships, the island is uninhabited except for the horses available for riding and a couple of ranch hands who care for them. It is a pretty place where the waters reflect about five shades of blue with a sugar white beach. This is starting to sound like a wine description. I did go ashore for the Tropical Island Barbecue of short ribs and chicken. After lunch I walked the nature trail for awhile.
At 2:30 the last “tender” brought passengers back from the beach, and we sailed off to Ft Lauderdale. Entertainment today ranged from Bingo to a class on photo editing with Microsoft. I stayed up in the Crows Nest reading and skipped the “Wrinkle Remedy” presentation. I’ve already figured out how to do that: get fat. It stretches out the skin and wrinkles disappear!
There was a big crowd at Mass tonight, and after dinner I headed up to Karaoke which is usually good for laughs, and I wasn’t disappointed. The strangest things happen to the nicest people when they get a live microphone in their hands and spot light comes on.
I have packed my bag and will send a text message to Msgr Fetcher across the bay at St Sebastian after his 8:30 Mass on Sunday to let him know I’m ready for him to pick me up. I will take the later Mass there. Then I will make the 80 minute drive home to Naples, do laundry from this trip and pack for my flight to Colorado on Monday. It was a pleasant week, and the weather could not have been better. The Eurodam is one of my favorites in the Holland fleet. January 3 this all starts again with the same itinerary on the Westerdam which is the ship I sailed to Alaska in September. Many of the crew will be the same from September, and I look forward to seeing them again.
Beach and Hiking trails on Half Moon
