Day 2 & 3: The Fun Begins

The first stop on our trip was Carnival's private island, Half Moon Cay, in the Bahamas. In the words of our Cruise Director, Noonan, this private paradise was ours to enjoy. We took advantage of the time to just relax and recover more from our busy travel day the day prior, while we enjoyed the sun, and the water...



Or both at the same time.

The water was clear and a bit cool to the point that we eased our way in the water inch by inch as our bodies adjusted to the "refreshing temperature." Once we got into the water and away from the shore we had the perfect spot to people watch. From our vantage point, Nate gathered more empirical evidence for his increasingly accurate hypothesis that there are only two groups of people who do not look ridiculous dancing...women and minorities. The beach at Half Moon Cay seemed to be no different.

Shortly thereafter as I was enjoying floating in the water, Nate decided to embark on some impromptu treasure hunting. (FLASHBACK) Earlier that morning as we got ready to leave the ship for the day, I decided it would be best if I left my wedding ring in our room safe. I asked Nate if he wanted to do the same, and he told me, "No, it's not going to come off, and even IF it happened to, it wouldn't be as big a loss as if we were to loose yours." (FlASHFORWARD) I heard Nate call my name and I looked over to see him motioning me to come to him. "I feel like such an idiot," he said when I stopped next to him. "I lost my ring. I went down to do a handstand and it just slipped off my finger here in the sand." As panicked thoughts of "I warned you," swirled through my head, we scanned the beach for kind people with idle snorkel gear. Luckily old married couples are sympathetic to a panicked wife concerned with her husband's wedding ring becoming buried treasure. The old guy even came out to help search. Even more luckily, with the mask Nate was able to find his ring on the first dive, or this could have been the first and last happy picture of us that day.

Later we waved goodbye to Halfmoon Cay and wouldn't step foot on land again for another 41 hours as the next day we were sailing the open ocean.

During our day at sea we played Scattergories, and watched the ice carving demonstration for the ice sculpture that would be displayed at the infamous late night buffet.


We also watched "The Game of Love," which was basically a spin off of the Newlywed game as Noonan pulled a couple of newlyweds (married less than 24 hours), some oldie weds (celebrating their 50th anniversary), and a couple smack dab in the middle. From this game we learned that A) the wife is always right even when the husband has a different answer and witnesses to back up his claim, and B) you can always embarrass your kids/grandchildren/parents by making out on stage and confessing the craziest place you ever "got down to business time" (wink, wink) in front of a theater of strangers.

That night the sea rocked us in our seats and in our sleep as we sailed on towards St. Thomas.