On – and In – the Sea

Our 5:00 sailaway was just around sunset. Once we left the port and breakwater behind, we got a good view along the beachfront and our hotel. It’s the low one on the beach with all the trees in front:

 

In the afternoon, once we had settled in on board, we went for a stroll around to see where things are on the ship. None of us, even Renate, had been on Holland America for a few years, and had not seen this newer style of ship. We have to say we’re quite impressed. The public areas are very nicely designed and laid out; the only potential bottleneck as far as crowds go is the usual one – the buffet. We had to go through the Lido Buffet at lunchtime to get to the back deck and pool, and, of course it seemed that there were people everywhere, none of whom knew where they wanted to go…

As far as bars and lounges, there are plenty, each offering something a little different in terms of entertainment before and/or after dinner. We’ll see how many of them we can sample before the end of the week. Keep an eye on the photos!!

Our stateroom is one of the larger suites with a full couch and two chairs in the sitting area, and a very nice verandah  (no, not as big as the one on Allure). Mom and Renate have a room a little smaller, but still a good size; their verandah also has enough room for a table and chairs and a couple of lounge-style wicker chairs.

The sitting area

 

The other view (bathroom is off to the right). The verandah stretches
all the way across the door and the window.

Monday morning we arrived at Half-Moon Cay, Holland America’s private beach area on Little San Salvador Island in the Bahamas. We had decided that we were going to the beach and that Monica and Renate would do a bit of snorkeling, so to make sure we didn’t all burn, we booked a couple of clamshell shades for our lounge chairs. And it was a good thing, too. It was a very warm, sunny day – easy to get a sunburn if you didn’t have sunscreen or other protection. Here are a  few shots from the morning:

The ship from our tender boat

Some of the fish we saw as we snorkeled

 

 

We returned to the ship around 2:00 to laze around for a couple of hours before dinner, and watched the island disappear as we headed off toward Ocho Rios. Pre-dinner cocktails at the Explorer’s Lounge, then dinner and the featured show in the main show lounge, and we were all ready to pack it in for the night. The two ladies seem to be doing this quite a bit:

 

More tomorrow!