Half Moon Cay, The Bahamas

Lisa

"The most anticipated day of them all arrived for me. More than any other island or excursion I wanted this one. A glorious day with our own beach house. Frankly it was as wonderful as I imagined. Our very own little beach house complete with two decks, lounge chairs, ocean toys, hot tub, bathroom, dinning area, and a kitchen stocked with snacks. The water was so clear that even at its deepest I could clearly see the beautiful sand lying placidly below. A school of silver fish kept swimming around us like it was a Disney cartoon. The water was perfectly warm and amazing. The only thing I can say is that there wasn't much to see when you snorkeled. The gorgeous sandy beaches and clear waters meant there weren't really any coral reefs and therefore not many fish to see when you snorkeled. I didn't care. I dream about those pristine waters and perfect beaches." 

Liam

“That’s a beach, the ocean, with Maga. I rode the boat bike with Maga. I got sun burnt.  I went in the bathtub. I liked it. It was in the beach house. I like this beach.”

Miles

 “The next day we went to Half Moon Cay. And we had fun swimming and we rented a beach house with snacks. The beach house had a tub; a hot tub. Whenever I got covered in sand I got in the hot tub to wash the sand off. I liked the hot tub. The beach house had an upstairs. And we rode on water bikes when we went into the ocean. There were chairs there. And I found sand stones. The sand stones were fresh from the ocean. The sand stones were different shapes and sizes.”

Ian

“The next day came and we were pretty much off and going to Half Moon Cay. Which was a beach. Once we got there I loved everything there. There was a hot tub and pretty much everything I liked there. The problem is that was before I realized there was a giant spider that gave me a giant fright. I wasn’t really scared of it because I was really far away from it and my siblings were here. Pretty much all my siblings were going on the beach. I started to follow them because I didn’t want to stick around with Mr. Spider here. My worst fear is spiders, but before I can talk about that I have to talk about this. I went snorkeling and saw some angel fish. These are grey fish. I couldn’t keep up with them because they were faster swimmers than I was with my webbed feet and snorkel gear. Later on, I was snorkeling with mom. She was able to find a big school of fish; while I was not. When I went back I went to eat snacks."

Lisa

"At one point I went snorkeling all around with Ian. We did have a little Sergeant Major fish who attempted to swim down my shirt. When we got back Matt plucked a small crab off of my swim shirt I didn't realize that I had picked up. We put him in a small Tupperware with sand and water and kept him as a pet for the duration of our day. At the end of the day we returned him to the ocean. Each time we took a break we could climb into the hot tub and relax. We had sodas, chips, salsa, and fruit. At lunch you could walk over to a great big pavilion and getting some hamburgers hot dogs, and side dishes. Every chance I got I was in that glorious ocean water. At the end of the day when I looked back at our beach from the cruise ship all I could think was...It's not that far I could swim there and make it and live forever in that little beach villa. 

Ian

I went riding on a giant water bike with Maga. I got hungry. Pa, I, and mom went to get something to eat. There was a lobster shack which Dad would have loved if he were there. If he were there he would probably say, ‘I want to go to the lobster shack and get something’. I went to this restaurant where they had hot dogs and hamburgers. I like hamburgers more than hot dogs. So, it is pretty obvious that I went to the hamburger side. There was no bacon there (my favorite is with bacon). I enjoyed a plain cheese burger. We got some mayonnaise and ketchup. Once we went there we opened our packets of ketchup, but the problem is we realized it wasn’t ketchup it was French dressing that we didn’t even want to eat. Luckily Pa shared some ketchup with us. Looks like next time if we go get some ketchup we need to remember this ‘follow Pa and see where he gets his ketchup’. I did enjoy my cheeseburger. It seemed to me the rest of us were hungry and wanted to eat. We told them about the restaurant." 

Ian

"I went to go play at the beach. Sometimes I went to our hot tub. I actually loved the hot tub. It was so relaxing. When I first got in there it seemed pretty hot (the air here is really hot), but I got used to it and enjoyed the hot tub and the hot air. But the problem was we used the hot tub like a bath so there was lots of sand in it. The problem is my mom and dad won’t like this but…I peed in it. They had no idea what they were stepping in. I didn’t bother to tell them; it was gross. That’s when I saw the rules about not peeing in the hot tub, but I decided to ignore it because there were no security guards to protect it. I decided to be a rule breaker. I’m just glad my parents took a shower since they had no idea what they were stepping in. I relaxed. Mom went snorkeling more. When she came back she had no idea what was on her swim suit…a crab. It was a pretty cool find. Anyway, we went back to the Carnival Conquest. I did take a shower because I don’t want to have salt on me but I think I realized that Miles and Ellie also peed in there. I think it was pretty gross in there.”

Matt

The morning dawned clear and beautiful despite previous warnings of bad weather. Our first picture on this post is compliments of Liam. He got up early and sat in the window well to watch our approach to Half Moon Cay. He snapped a picture with the camera of the island. We ate a hurried breakfast at the buffet and then went down to the stage arena by 7:30 and were soon ushered onto a boat. (Unlike our other stops that came right up to the dock, we had to be ferried to the dock with a boat.)

Half Moon Cay is a rather unique place. It is part of the Bahamas and forms a kind of crescent shape. It is owned by various Cruise companies to be used exclusively by their customers. In the past, it was used as a hideout for pirates and a bar was constructed by the Cruise lines as a kind of tribute to that. When we all piled into the boat we brought our snorkel gear that Jamie had bought the kids for Christmas and the play doh cups to fill with sand for sand castle construction and to fill with sand for souvenirs for the kids. The water was beautiful and the boat ferried us through a man made channel that had replica cannons on the tops of the banks. The dock was positioned at the base of a replica fort that had picnic tables with umbrellas, bathrooms and ticket booths for excursionists. We got our tickets for the villa and hopped in an open air truck that took us to our Villa. 

Matt

We were assigned to Villa B, and Lisa had high expectations. All of those expectations were met or exceeded. Reminiscent of the characters from Elizabeth von Arnim's Enchanted April upon seeing the fictional San Salvatore, we looked upon Villa B as the closest thing to paradise on earth. The villa was landscaped with Australian pine and plumeria and had white sand all around. It had a gated porch on the first floor with deck chairs and the second floor also had deck chairs. The first floor had an open view of the ocean with a spacious hot tub the kids called "the big bath tub," and a bathroom with shower off to the side. The second floor had a table and chairs and a fridge with fruit, chips and salsa and soda. It was an easy stroll to the dining area where they had a grilled lunch available in the afternoon. The only downside was that from the pirate bar loud music was playing and an announcer giving updates on the various competitions they had going on.

Matt

The morning started clear and cool with the water devoid of much coral, sea plants or rocks enabling you to see right down to the sandy bottom even when it was fifteen feet deep (or deeper) in some areas. There were lots of Sargent Major fish and angel fish to see and they came right up to us, scaring the kids at first but then the kids got accustomed to them. Lisa went snorkeling with Ian and came back with a crab we put in a Tupperware. Ian and Miles helped me build a sand fortress with a long wall and a central keep. There were plenty of beach floats and toys to have fun with. Miles and I paddled around on one of the floats and went to the opposite end of the beach on it talking about everything we had seen.

Matt

Everyone had a blast. The beach was beautiful and the water refreshing. Maga rented a beach bike for everyone to try. She went out first with Liam and then took Miles out. Then she let Jamie and Ian go out because she was doing most of the pedaling and going out with each kid took a lot of energy. 

Matt

Liam had a great time. After the meltdown of last night he was in sensory heaven. Snorkeling helped him succeed in auditory avoidance and blocking out all the noise and playing in the sand with his toys helped fulfill his tactile sensory needs. More than anything, he finally got private downtime to do what he wanted without an adult micromanaging his every move. I saw some genuine smiles from Liam on this beach that had been sorely lacking prior to this experience.

Matt

For those that know me, I am a terrible tease, and there is no one I like to tease more than those I love, especially my mother. (It's to make up for all those years she used to tease when I was a teenager.) There are five villas on this beach and the ones next to ours look identical to the one we rented. At one point I was on the second floor and I saw my mom start climbing the stairs of the one next door. Now, most people would realize she made a mistake and call down that she was going into the wrong villa. My teasing streak decided to wait until she was on the top floor before I said conversationally, "Hey Mom." As predicted, mom jumped and a look of horror filled her face as she realized she was in the wrong villa. (Walking into someone else's house is one of those things that would mortify my socially conscious mother even if it was an accident.) She quickly turned around and ran down the stairs only to meet the renter of the villa waiting for her with her hands on her hip. To add to her embarrassment someone from the cruise line was walking around checking on everyone. Mom's apologies were so profuse the lady just waved it off and she quickly came over to our villa. I told her not to worry about it (after I stopped laughing) and that it was a mistake anyone could make.

Matt

About midday our group started migrating over to get something substantial for lunch. I had Ellie duty and we walked by a bunch of chickens on the way. Ellie was delighted to see them and said they look like our chickens and that we "need to take them home with us." I told her that our chickens would like to be here with them, not the other way around. She tried catching them anyway. These ones were a little more skittish than ours back home.

Matt

The rest of the day was spent idly swimming, rebuilding the sand castle, playing in the water, snorkeling, grazing on the snacks, or hopping in and out of the hot tub. It was a perfect day, one that we had saved for and enjoyed with some of the best people. My mom was in her element and loads of fun. Jamie and Duane played with the kids and chatted pleasantly. I couldn't have asked for a better time than what we had at Half Moon Cay. So, it was with great reluctance we gathered our snorkel gear and towels for the return trip. We released our pet crab back into the water and gathered some sand in the play doh containers we brought. They filed us onto the boat that took us back to the Carnival Conquest. Dinner was delicious and had some exotic items on the menu. We all went back to our cabins after dinner and went to bed early so we would be ready for the next day's adventure in the Grand Turks.