After the passing of the Frontal System yesterday afternoon, the wind slowly but steadily turned to the North East and by this morning it had created a perfect weather situation for Half Moon Cay. North Easterly Winds from 3 to a (small) 4 and sunny skies. The Eurodam dropped anchor and 2 hrs. later, the ship was nearly empty, apart from a few repeat guests who said that they had already seen everything (and bought the T shirt) and were staying on board.

Children and ship wrecks always go well together. Playing Captain Hook and getting soaking wet will lay the foundation of future Holland America Cruise adults.

Normally that might be correct but the company keeps tinkering with the facilities at Half Moon Cay, although tinkering is maybe the wrong word where it concerns improvement and expansion. And we have just opened a new Half Moon Lagoon as recently as this week. It is basically a kiddies place where un-expected water jets spout up out of the wooden deck. 3900 sq. feet and 266 water nozzles to get all the kids squeaking and screaming.  For the children; but what I remember from my youth when we went on the yearly school outing and to a Fun park where they had one as well, then it was always full of adults. Often under the excuse of looking after little Johnny, they would be jumping all over the place. So I would not be surprised if this new attraction (which replaces an older and much smaller one) is going to be as popular with the adults as it will be with the children. The water is sea water and is freshly pumped on continuous rotation from the bay and will be the same as swimming in the sea itself.

The (sea) water is this time not only coming from the deck but also from lantern tops.

We were the only ship today and that makes the officers and sailors very happy as we do not have to use our own tenders then. Nothing wrong with those but it takes a lot of time and hard work and the capacity is only 90 per boat while the large shore tenders take up to 300 and are much easier to walk onto and off again. When we are with two ships, there is the pecking order that the largest ship gets the largest shore tenders and the smaller ship the smaller shore tenders and then has to run some of its own tenders to provide a continuous and adequate service. We have a lot of discussions going on, if more shore tenders would be feasible, but they would also need space to dock in the Marina and with the tours going on during the day (Glass Bottom, para sailing, etc.) the place is quite full. We always manage very well but a Holland America Line crew member does care about his/her guests, so we are always looking at a routine to see where we can be better.

We sailed at 15.00 hrs. and this always looks like a too early a time but we have to make Fort Lauderdale on schedule so the guests can disembark on time and make their flights. Also staying not much longer might have saved some guests from really getting sunburned as the gentle breeze today caused a very treacherous situation as it did not feel as warm as it really was.

We have to be on time for another reason as it will be rush hour with a traffic jam tomorrow. All the docks are full except 23 and 24 as they are still under construction. The harbor master has assigned a pecking order to make sure we all fit in and the parade will be led by the Carnival Conquest, followed by the Freedom of the Seas, followed by the Island Princess, followed by the Allure of the Seas, followed by the Eurodam and finally the Celebrity Silhouette. Especially the I.P has to get in first as she goes to 19, and the moment she is docked she will be blocked in by the Allure at the stern and the Eurodam at her bow.

The weather tomorrow is regulated by yet another cold front but this time it works in our favor as we will be in port the moment it goes from one dominant wind direction to another and as a result we will not have any wind at all. It will call for a cool day by Florida standards with the temperatures not climbing above the 73oF / 23oC. Perfect travel weather to come and go and that might make a very busy Ft. Lauderdale airport a bit more bearable hopefully.