Half Moon Cay 2.0

 Sunday, March 2, 2025

When I opened my eyes around 6:30 am Bob announced that it was lightning outside. I pulled back the curtains and the skies were dark, but I could see the sun coming up in just a tiny sliver of clear sky at the horizon. I got a photo of the sun shining through the lifeboat window before the whole sky turned dark.

Sunrise through the lifeboat.

When we met Jon and Michelle for breakfast it was raining and Michelle and I made the executive decision that we would skip going to Half Moon Cay and stay on the ship instead. Half Moon Cay is one of my very favorite ports...but not in the rain. It was Sunday so we decided the four of us would attend the interdenominational church service together.

Jon and Michelle had attended the service last week but Bob and I hadn't because that was when he was not feeling well. This week the service was held in the Half Moon room which is one of the meeting rooms on Deck 3. At first there were just a handful of people, but by the starting time of 9:00 I counted 26 people in attendance. One gentleman, a retired pastor, volunteered to take charge of the service. Hymnals were available and one lady offered to play the piano, but we discovered it was locked and the crew members setting up the room had no idea who had the key. Instead we sang acapella and I think we sounded pretty good! There was a prayer time and several people shared some scripture passages. 

The sky had started to clear by the time the service was over so Bob and Jon took the tender to shore to do some exploring. Their time on the island would be short since all aboard time was at 2:30 pm. Michelle and I stuck with our decision to stay on the ship and changed into our swimsuits and found loungers by the Sea View Pool. 

The tender taking Bob & Jon to Half Moon Cay. The Eurodam was sharing the beach with the Nieuw Statendam that we had watched sail from Port Everglades the day before.

At lunchtime, Michelle got a bratwurst from the Dive Inn. She was so excited to see they had curry ketchup, something they had loved when living in Germany! I went to the Asian station and sampled a few of the Indian dishes. We were just finishing up when Bob and Jon got back. They had eaten at the island BBQ on Half Moon Cay. Since we were all still wearing swimsuits, we convinced the guys that we should all go swimming. We went back to the pool but I was the only one that actually got into the water. The others just sat along the edge. (They thought the water was too cold...wimps!!) We did all get into the hot tub for a short time though.

Bob and I came back to our cabin where he watched a little TV while I showered and messed around the room. The lifeboat in front of our window had been lowered so we actually had a nice view, but we didn't even get to enjoy it because a worker was right outside the window! Time to close the curtains!!

Bob went and played a couple of games of pickleball and then went to walk on the promenade deck while I updated my blog notes. When he returned the two of us dressed early for dinner and then went to the 4:30 watercolor class. Instead of painting the jellyfish that the instructor, Ian, was demonstrating, I painted some flowers. The quality of the paper and brushes was not great which was frustrating but I still loved getting to paint. The class was totally full and Bob and I sat with two Canadian ladies...one from Toronto and the other from Nova Scotia. Taking part in the onboard activities is a fun way to meet people from all over!

My masterpiece. 😉 Watercolor painting really needs "drying time" in between sections so attempting to finish a painting in less than 45 minutes wasn't easy. 

A few days ago Bob and I walked past a guy sitting near the lido pool who was doing watercolor. He was painting from a photo of the iconic colored buildings that he had taken near the ship in Curacao...and his work was very nice! If our cruise hadn't been so port intensive I might have considered bringing my painting supplies.

Our dinner reservation was at 5:30 and like most nights we were seated at a table on the upper level of the dining room. This time we were at the very back of the ship and got to experience a beautiful sunset over the wake as we dined.

Each night there was a salmon dish on the menu and that was what I ordered. It was cooked perfectly and not at all dry, but eating it just reinforced the fact that salmon really isn't a favorite. I'm glad I at least tried it once.

My salmon.

Bob's shrimp.

The evening show was Juan Pablo, the pianist/comedian whom we had already seen and didn't particularly enjoy. We skipped going to the main theater and went to the Crow's Nest and finished the card game we had started the previous night. Michelle and I were partners and after a strong start in the first two rounds we ended up losing. 😞

That was enough cards for me for one evening so I suggested we go listen to the country music set that the piano players were doing in Billboard Onboard. We arrived five minutes before they started and there were still many empty seats available. We sat through one song and then understood why the place wasn't packed.

We left there and went to the Explorer's Lounge for the Brain Twisters game. The room was full and we were divided into 5 groups to compete. Our group did very well so we were a little surprised when it was announced that we had finished in 2nd place. Even the team that was declared the winners thought we had won. I'm pretty sure the entertainment staff keeping score made a mistake! Oh well...it was fun and I actually surprised myself at how many answers I got! (Much better than I would ever do at trivia!)

Do you know the answer?

The evening ended with us getting hallway seats outside the Rolling Stone Lounge for their country set. The place was packed because unlike the piano guys, this band was great! Clocks had to be set forward overnight so when the set ended at 9:45 we called it a night.

Jon, Michelle and Bob have plans to play pickleball early tomorrow morning before it gets too warm. I'm not sure what I will do yet, but I always love sea days!