almost a quiet day

Pat had to go to Macys Kings Plaza to return something..more of a zoo..Mary tagged along ..I was smart and stayed away going next door to the mall into Lowes..nice and quiet..almost human for this area

 

 

out to Long Island

the 50 mile 1+hour trek from Brooklyn out to Long Island in the heavy rain was just a delightful drive..suxxx...after arriving at my BIL's in Ronkonkoma we all went shopping to Costco..a zoo

for dinner we had take-out at Momma Lombardi's in Holbrook.. by 830pm we were heading on the long drive back to Sheepshead Bay

two more days to go

heading north to Brooklyn

left at 545am for the 700 mile drive north to Brooklyn..arrived 630pm after heavy stop n go traffic on nj tpke ex 7 thru ex 9 construction zone..uglee..this place is a friggin zoo

Disembarkation..Ft Lauderdale.. the end

we arrived early this morning in Port Everglades, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.. we were off the ship and thru customs and immigration by 9am.. our Hertz pickup shuttle was at curbside.. we had so much luggage for the four of us had to wait for a second shuttle just to take us all ..  by 10am we were 'on the road' in our rental mini van loaded to the hilt and on our drive back home northbound on I-95..  after a couple of food stops along the way including an hilarious stop in Pawley's Island KFC that was just wild... we were home just after 10pm dropping off Tom and Denise then on to our house..    a great cruise once again... can't wait to go on our next one..always an adventure  :)

Day 42 Half Moon Cay, Bahamas

arrived at 8am on this one of a kind fantastically beautiful private island...we've been here over 35 times before but it never gets old... a beautiful pretty 82* day with sunny skies..two Holland America ships in port today..our ship, the Maasdam and the Noordam... looked up an old friend, Captain Jolly who I've charter fished with on many occasions before... HAL suddenly stopped all fishing here and the good Captain was doing guided tours of the island...  after eating at the BBQ  we walked back to our spot on the beach.. as I was walking along I  looked up and saw some old friends Peter and Margaret Oakley from Devon, England  who we've sailed with many times before and were also in port on the Noordam returning from a 20 day Caribbean cruise... what a surprise.. you just never know who you'll meet and run into on this island...  after talking some good times with them we all went back in the water for a last dip before returning to the ship... the sailaway was magnificent as we made our way back to Ft Lauderdale and disembarkation--the end of a great cruise once again aboard the Maasdam

approach to Half Moon Cay at Sunrise

first tender bringing staff to island

Noordam was also in port

BBQ

our friend Captian Jolly

Half Moon Cay Rooster

Day 41 Day at Sea

day #7 on the Trans-Atlantic return crossing and we're getting close to our next stopover at Half Moon Cay, Bahamas, Holland America's private island.. a non-sunrise because of low-horizon clouds turned immediately into a pretty and  cloudless sunny sky day with 82* temps..a poolside day looking out over the stern on the Navigation Deck-aft once again.. doesn't get any better..

Day 40 Day at Sea

day #6 on our TransAtlantic crossing started off with a beautiful pre-sunrise turning cloudy with rain in the morning..so they all talked me into playing Dominoes--e-gads!!!!!!.... but a-ha the rain and clouds gave way to beautiful sunny skies and HEAT...and that saved my day....  a seafood lobster--shrimp--crablegs lunch that should have been held in the Lido pool area as they have done many times in the past but was instead set up in the lower Dining Room... not too smart... this happened on one other occasion on a prior cruise... I knew it was gonna be a cluster-----!!!  .. it was back up to the pool on Navigation Deck-aft for the rest of the afternoon to catch up on my Kindle-reading

Day 39 Day at Sea

day #5 at sea as our cruise is slowly approaching its end..  after a brief 10 minute shower earlier in the morning another pretty sunny blue sky day with temps in the high 70's

Day 38 Day at Sea

another day at sea..#4 ..pretty sunny day 78*..had to leave the pool deck to go to a Mariner's luncheon for two hours but was right back poolside afterwards.. another not so good rainbow after a short 2 minute shower at 330pm capped off a great day.. in the showroom were the Unexpected Boys singing Broadway tunes as well as a couple of 4 Seasons hits like their previous show--Joisey Boys-- the other nite.. great group of guys..