December 2, 2013: Half Moon Cay
Aside from a few minor changes, it’s almost as if I never left! Of course, I still had to attend the normal “newly embarked” crew meetings (which I’ve heard at least 7 times now). The last one was this morning. Sadly, that meant that I was unable to go directly ashore in the morning. I sat through the meeting, then changed and made my way to the gangway. I waited there for 45 minutes, not because there were a lot of people to get off (at least not to start off with), or because there was no tender there, but because the tender was rocking too much for anyone to safely get on or get off of it. It was a bit crazy, I was near the front of the line so I knew some of what was going on, but as the waiting crowd got bigger, the people in the back weren’t being told what was going on. We finally got on the tender though, with very few problems once we started. I made it to shore with about 2 hours to spend as I wished before I figured I should head back (an hour before the last crew tender, but I knew it’d take a while again to get people on and off). I walked down the beach, looking for Emily (my YPC) but didn’t find her, so I found a chair, set my stuff down and jumped in the water. It was lovely, I really missed the Caribbean, the perfect level of saltiness, the brilliant blue color, the relaxation! I didn’t get out of the water for 30 minutes, which is when I finally saw Emily walking down the beach, we talked for a bit until I decided to get back in the water and she continued her walk. Suddenly, the ship’s horn blasted 3 somewhat long blasts. In a moment, it seemed all movement on the beach stopped, even the waves seemed to be waiting, wondering what to expect. The next few minutes consisted of many people checking watches, asking each other what that meant, and generally a great deal of confusion. That signal usually means all aboard time is right about… NOW. So, I decided my water time was over and got out to dry off and possibly head back to the ship. I saw Emily down the beach talking to one of the lifeguards, and she came back to let me know that a big storm was coming and they want everyone to get on tenders to get back to the ship as soon as possible. Not good news when there’s supposed to be 2.5 more hours ashore for the guests. But, we all cooperated, and I heard no guests complain as I quickly made my way to the tenders. Not too much of a crowd was there yet, word was still spreading, so I made it onto the tender with no problems, but it quickly filled up and they tried to get as many of us on as possible. I seem to always ride back on the tender usually used for “glass-bottom boat” tours, and this time I ended up with a seat right about the glass, so I got to watch underneath us as we pulled out, lots of sand, designs in the sand, seaweed, and the constantly changing blue of the water. We had to wait a few minutes when we got closer to the ship because the other tender was having a difficult time getting the last few people off, so I watched beneath us as we rocked and waited. I alternated between watching rain come towards us and watching below to see if any fish went by. Lots of bubbles there, but no fish, but it was still beautiful. The water where we were waiting was my favorite blue, but even more so, it was a brilliant clear blue that seemed to glow and reflected off all the surfaces near the underwater ‘window.’ God’s creation really is indescribable!
Once we drew alongside the ship, we had no problems getting us all off, a few officers were there to make sure we ducked our heads as the ramp from the tneder to the platform on the ship was steep, and even I was too tall to make it through the archway door to the safety of the ship. I figured Natalie would have a few kids by now, after all everyone was being sent by, so I had a few slices of pizza before running by Club HAL. Surprisingly, no one was there, so I went outside to enjoy the sun while I could and to watch the last few tenders unload. They were having lots of issues, only getting one or two people down the ramp every few minutes, and there was still another whole tender of people to arrive! After about 20 minutes of unloading maybe 10 people, someone apparently called the bridge because the tenders drove a safe distance away and the ship began to turn and turn and turn. Finally it turned to where the waves were mostly blocked by the ship, and the tenders were able to have somewhat calm waters so they could unload. I think everyone was onboard by 2:45 or so (the last crew tender was originally supposed to arrive at the ship around 3:30). We are good.
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