Mike in the Wild

Half Moon Cay is popular with cruisers that sail on Holland America Line's ships.  The long beach on Little San Salvador Island in the Bahamas is the beach most people dream of when escaping to the Caribbean: sugary sand, mostly uncrowded, and rum drinks easy to order.  The destination is also private, only hosting passengers from the line's cruise ships, usually just one ship at any given time.  Sometimes an additional ship might stop, as the Rotterdam did when I visited off of the Nieuw Statendam early in April. My ship offered a guided snorkeling excursion off the island, however the tour was cancelled when the boat that was supposed to take passengers experienced some problems.  But there was a solution for many of the disappointed tourists; join me on a mile hike down the beach to the western end of Half Moon Cay.  From this uncrowded corner of the isle, it was an easy swim to where the tour boat was originally headed.     Like most of a ship...