Today we are at Holland America's private island, Half Moon Cay. It's a short stay, only 8am- 3pm but that's fine for us. We've been here before, back in 2012 when I rode the horses and Karen and I played with the stingrays. Today our plan is just to relax on the beach and enjoy the sunshine. We have reserved a clamshell, a place of refuse from the sun and the kooks where we have two lounge chairs and somewhere to keep our stuff together. Just $20 and it's reserved for us all day so no racing to the beach to find an empty chair. Adding to that challenge is the presence of another Holland America ship today, the Nieuw Amsterdam, with 2000 additional passengers, moored right behind us.

Half Moon Cay is one of about 700 islands that make up the archipelago of the Bahamas. It is a private island, owned by Holland America Line which uses it as a port of call for the cruise ships it operates in the region. Prior to being owned by HAL, Little San Salvador was the private island of Norwegian Cruise Line. Holland America Line purchased the island in December, 1996 for a price of $6 million USD.

The island does not have deep water docking, requiring the use of tenders for cruise ship passengers to disembark and embark. Activities offered on the island include swimming, sunbathing, scuba diving, jet-skiing, cycling, snorkeling, parasailing, glass-bottom boat rides and nature walks. A variety of water toys are available for rent, including Hobie catamarans, Sunfish sailboats, windsurfing sailboards and kayaks. There are basketball courts, horseshoes, shuffleboard, a fitness trail with exercise stations, horseback riding and nature trails for hiking.

After a light breakfast, we went to the future cruise desk and made some arrangements for several cruises for us next year. Booking while onboard doubles the onboard credit amount for the upcoming cruise, your travel agent can still handle all the details and, for $200 down per cruise, no additional payments are necessary until the final payment several months before sailing. Of course, it can be canceled before final payment with no penalty. We choose several in the Caribbean and one in Alaska, all for 2018. With that out of the way, we board the tender about 11am for our trip to the island as there is no pier big enough to dock the Koningsdam. The attendant shows us to our private clamshell, Karen tries out the lounger and she's out, snoozing away. It's a little cloudy and about 80°F.

We hang out there until 12:30 when we decide to check out the BBQ. I have the mahi mahi, corn on the cob and fruit salad. Karen has the same plus mango slaw. It's all good. We return to our shell until 2 when we feel it best to start boarding. We take the tender back to the ship and Karen begins her packing. It's pretty easy as we just need to get our stuff from one ship to another. We need to have our three checked suitcases outside of our room in the hallway for pickup by 11pm. As always, this is where she tells me, "I packed too much stuff. We could get by with just one suitcase between us". While I certainly agree, these are words that she'll never recall the next time we vacation.

I'm able to send out another blog, with only this one to send later tonight. Somehow, yesterday's writings have disappeared, not the first time this has happened. Usually I'll compose my great work later in the evening before bedtime and I've found myself sometimes right before sleep, just closing the IPad without saving my work. Without continuous WiFi, it won't save automatically and sometime during the night, all my written wit is whisked off to some recycle bin far off in the universe and I'm left to recreate it, if that's possible.  I'll check my email, using valuable minutes.  Often TravelPod sends a copy there when I fail to save it. 

We feel lazy tonight and eat late at the Lido buffet. Prime rib, wild mushroom soup, and mixed berry pie for me. Karen tries the potato and kale soup and half my pie. Our new Mariner pins arrived. Karen gets 4 stars and I get 2. Huh? It's a slight mixup that gets sorted out at the front desk while on our way to see tonight's show, two comedians and a singer, all of them having appeared on earlier shows and we've seen only one. On our way back Karen stops for a tea and we return to our room, turning our clocks back one hour tonight which is nice.

While I've attempted to record the events of our week long journey in a most factual manner without resorting to so called "fake news", I understand that this week's activities have often seemed mundane and routine. While they may appear to be, this has been just a respite from the coming week starting tomorrow, Queenie will be joining us for the next cruise on the Allure of the Seas. We will be leaving the safety of our floating rest home where all is in order and entering a world no sane person would ever attempt to cross into. Tomorrow we will make that journey, a journey of mind and soul, life and death, a path that leads directly into "The Twilight Zone".

Whoa! I lost it for a minute. OK, I don't think it will be quite like that, although, on her last message, she said, "Woo Hoo! Miami here we come!"

Our ship is leaving from Ft Lauderdale. We'll find out tomorrow. For now, one more peaceful night's sleep.