2012-11-15 Half Moon Cay:

After our sea day, we had one last port---the HAL private island, Halfmoon cay.  We have been here twice before and were looking forward to a restful day at the beach there.  We were not disappointed.  This was the only port we had to tender to, but that didn't take too much time.  We threw our towels and bag on a couple chairs and donned our snorkel gear and headed into the water.  There's a little snorkel area by the kids area which we'd snorkeled before and knew it didn't have much, but we didn't care.   We knew the water would feel great.

the shopping area on the island

 the ship from the water.

Getting in the x-mas spirit.

Much to my surprise, the snorkeling this time was considerably better then the last 2 times we were there. We were even able to get all the way to the rock wall to the far left of the bay.  The last 2 trips the water was too churned up to see anything over there.  This time we saw a  cute Caribbean grouper---

A large gray triggerfish---

 A hard to notice large octopus---

 Then I noticed this baracuda watching us----

 Next thing I knew there was a school of barracuda, as you can barely see here.  I didn't venture too close to them!  But they seemed as scared of us as we were of them.

Here is a picture of part of the artificial reef out by the kids play area.

 A few of the fish by the rock wall in the "snorkel" area.

and more by the rock wall.

 even schools of minnows by the rock wall.

 Goatfish could be found in the sandy areas.

 It was another beautiful day on Halfmoon Cay!  Love that they have a picnic lunch there, too!  It's a short walk to the picnic area.  Along the way was this chapel---

 and this appropriate sign---

 and more views of the Noordam---

 even a play ground with this boat to play on.

 The pathways are even landscaped.

 and the food is good.

 maybe too good!

 There were a bunch of birds cleaning up after us, including these cute little yellow bellied ones.

When we weren't eating or swimming in the water, we wandered around the beach a bit.

While we were there, the tide really went out.  The chairs to the right were almost in the water when we got there.  With the low tide we had even calmer water.

 All too soon it was time to get back to the ship---and wait in line for the tender.

Here's a view towards the tiny snorkel area on the other side of the rope as we head back to the ship on our tender.

Another beautiful day on HAL's private island!  And a beautiful sunset as we sailed away.

It's was really nice have a port day when we didn't have to wonder where we were going to go and whether or not we would get back to the ship in time.  Good way to wind down from a great cruise.