Seattle to Florida 2021

Today was our last full day on this cruise.  Overnight the ship had cruised at low speed and by 8am was back in an anchorage position.  In reality, once again we were held in place by the rear azipods and the front bow thrusters which are coupled to a GPS.  We got up at our customary time and had a good breakfast.  Today there would be a BBQ on the island, but first, we needed to find the new snorkeling area.    We caught a tender to shore and then started walking north towards the horse corrals.  We had previously been up  here on a previous visit, so it wasn't unfamiliar territory.  Once we reached the horse corrals, we turned left and walked down to the beach.  At the beach we turned right and headed up the beach towards what looked like a favorable snorkeling site.  The sand here is white and extremely fine.  It was also very sunny and warm.  It was, therefore, very important to walk in the firm sand near the water's e...

Today would be a short 1/2 day at sea before we reached the anchoring point at Half Moon Cay (HMC).  We arose at our customary time of 8am so we could attend the coffee chat.  I ate my customary breakfast of 2 eggs over broken, a sausage patty, one potato cake, and lox with a small glass of cranberry juice.  Afterwards, I obtained a couple of sticky cinnamon rolls along with a cup of green tea and went down to the BB King area for the coffee chat where I shared one of the rolls with Angela.  Tricia Kelly, the vocal impressionist, was the guest and she was also a hoot with lots of stories about her life and career.  We had our last COVID 19 test immediately after the end of the coffee chat.  They are performed quickly and the chocolate reward at the end was a nice touch.   Afterwards, I went out to try more photography but it continued to be poor conditions.  With our projected arrival at HMC at 1pm, we ate our customary lunch in the LIDO and then ...

After a very pleasant short stay in Aruba with our friends, it was a smooth night sailing towards our next destination at Half Moon Cay, which is Holland America's private island in the Bahama's.  While some might consider it a cheesy destination, we rather like it because it doesn't have all of the glitz of, say, Coco Cay or Labadee which are theme park type destinations the Royal Caribbean owns.  We woke up around 8am to get ready for this last full day at sea on this voyage.  The coffee chat was with Hyperion Knight, the piano virtuoso.  He was really engaging and we learned that he's studying to be on the TV show Jeopardy.  He's got an excellent grasp of musical history and was a delight to listen to.     Parallel with the coffee chat was the Holland America charity walk, "On Deck for a Cause".  Because we were in the coffee chat, we couldn't do the walk this cruise, although we typically do participate in it.   The 10am EXC tal...