2015-11-14 Half Moon Cay:

After not being able to tender into the beach last time we were at Half Moon Cay and ending up with another day at sea, I was anxious to see if we would get to the beach this time.  We did and we (at least I) had a great time!

 The surf was down and the water was clear.

Didn't take long for us to make our way into the water.

 Soon we were heading towards the snorkel area by the kids play area.

 We even saw a couple turtles there this time.

 and lots of fish.  The snorkel area seems to be getting better and better since the first time we were there.

 Instead of just having juvenile fish, there were even some larger fish like these surgeon fish and snapper.

 Even saw a couple flounders

 a Jack hanging out with some yellowtail snappers.

another type of parrotfish

I think this is another type of Jack.

the 2nd turtle.

a feather worm

bally hos

some of the artificial reef.

a shell

a blue head wrasse

 The Eurodam in the distance

 Christmas Tree worms

 Looking back towards the beach

 After a couple hours it was time to head to the bar b q on the beach.

 along the way

 Ken leaving me in his dust again.

 part of the buffet.

 more of the buffet.  Along with the salads and fruits, they grilled burgers, hotdogs, and mahi mahi.  I had mahi mahi which was very good.  Ken enjoyed the burgers and hot dogs.  We also ate LOTS of watermelon!  Why---because the water to the island was out so we couldn't get anything to drink unless we wanted to pay for a can of beer or soda.  So we had watermelon.  Clever way for HAL to make more money!  I understand they ran out of cans of soda on the island.  It wouldn't have been so bad if they had let people know before leaving the ship that the water was out, then we could have brought some water with us.

 Didn't see any of the yellow bellied birds from before, but did see this hungry guy.

 Then I took a walk along the beach while Ken went back to our loungers.

walking along the beach.

heading back towards the loungers.

Back by our loungers, I went back in to snorkel.  Here I saw some more worms

another new guy to me

 looking back towards shore

 I love how colorful the sea feather worms get.

 a couple different kinds of small wrasses.

a type of gobie, I presume

 a view of a feather worm showing it's "stalk".

 some of the tiny residents of the bay

 Ken standing with fist on his hips willing me to come in so he can head back to the ship---an hour early!  I would stay until the last shuttle if it were up to me.  He's paranoid of being left behind!

 When it was time to shove off, it was announced that a passenger was very ill and we would be staying here for a couple hours while we wait for a Coast Guard helicopter to get there for a medivac.   The helicopter arrived near sunset and the passenger was loaded onto the shuttle and taken back to the island where they met the helicopter.  Seems we always encounter a medivac of some sort while on a cruise.

 A pretty nice sunset---right from our veranda.

Beautiful sunset for our last night of our cruise!