Half Moon Cay, The Bahamas
Before I start talking about our amazing day at Half Moon Cay, I must say that this island is a stranded, private island in the Bahamas owned by Carnival. No one lives on the island, there is no town/city, and the only time there are people on the island is when a Carnival ship docks. The bartenders who bartend on the ship go to bartend on the island, the servers who serve on the ship go to serve on the island, etc.
Half Moon Cay was paradise. Absolutely paradise. At one point, Matt and I considered running off in the trails and letting the ship sail away. The island was untouched, natural, and stunning. I remember standing waist deep in the ocean and seeing my pedicured toes perfectly. I know no other beach will ever compare to Half Moon, and I would book a cruise with Carnival in a heartbeat just to go back for even half a day.
We woke up early in the morning to watch the boat sail to the island.
From our balcony
My "King of the World" shot.
The water was too shallow to dock the ship, so we had to take tender boats from the ship to the shoreline.
Our first stop on the island was the "I wish I could stay here forever" bar. Perfect Name. It was a little hut and they made amazing Pina Coladas.
We purchased an excursion to swim with stingrays (eeeek!) and our scheduled time was 10:30 AM. We had a few hours to explore, drink, and relax.
At 10:30, we got on a bus and rode five minutes down the road to the stingray pond.
At this point, I was freaking out.
I mean, isn't this....
how this guy...
DIED?!?!?!!
Before we went into the "pond of death" the locals gave us a safety briefing. Someone was forward enough to ask, "Have the stingray's stingers been removed, or could they sting us?" and the stingray woman answered, "Just don't threaten them"
My only questions after that were....
What in the hell threatens a stingray? And how do I make sure I DON'T do it?!
I never got the answers. Instead, I just shuffled my feet in the water back and forth (like they told us) and whined the entire time. Here is a picture of me attempting to not look scared shitless.
Matt was a lot less worried.
He even snapped some good under water pictures.
The creepiest thing about it was that these stingrays did not avoid us. They would swim so close to me that their bodies would brush against my legs. They were so slimy. And I screamed everytime.
After about fifteen minutes of me freaking out and everyone else snorkeling with the stingrays, everyone gathered in a circle and passed around different sea creature things.
Then, we were able to pet the slimy stingrays and feed them squid.
Me petting a stingray.
Matt petting a stingray.
Matt feeding the stingray. (I did, too, but Matt didn't take a picture, so I have no proof).
After our stingray adventure, we went back to the beach and ate the Island BBQ.
After lunch, we went to the coolest bar ever.
THAT'S THE BAR!
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After lunch and drinks, we went back out to the beach to enjoy th rest of our day.
By the end of the day, Matt was burnt - I was burnt. And we were exhausted.
^ Sums it up pretty well.
Someone in Chicago recommended watching the sunset over the ocean, so Matt and I dedicated the rest of our night to capturing the beauty on camera.
After the sunset, we ordered in room service spent the night enjoying each other's company and chocolate cake.
Our next and last stop was Nassau and we would dock by 7am Friday morning.
I will cover Nassau and Miami in my next "Honeymoon" posts.
To end this one: I would like to share my favorite picture of Matt (taken at Half Moon). I have the most amazingly handsome husband in the world and I'm so proud to be his.
Isn't he beautiful?
(sigh)
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