Our back-to-back cruise on Holland America’s ms Zuiderdam started in San Diego, cruised many ports in Mexico then stopped in Guatemala, Panama City, transited the Panama Canal, to Cartagena, Columbia , Half Moon Cay, Bahamas and finally finished in Miami, Florida.

Half Moon Cay, also known as Little San Salvador Island is one of about 700 islands that make up the archipelago of The Bahamas. Half Moon Cay is a private island owned by Carnival Corporation & plc hence the reason for our stop there as we were cruising on the Holland America ship ms Zuiderdam, which is part of the Carnival Group. Holland America purchased the island in December 1996 for the price of US$ 6 million.

The island sits about 160 km southeast of Nassau and is a significant nesting area for waterfowl. As the island does not currently have a deep water docking facility we had to use tenders to reach the shore.

We spent a few hours on the island relaxing by the beach, swimming then having a barbecue lunch arranged by the cruise company. The sandy curved beach is spectacular with crystal clear emerald blue waters making it a great place to swim or do a variety of water sports.

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Stuart Taylor of HighlanderImages Photography has been making images for over 40 years focusing on Asia with a documentary/photojournalistic style.

Stuart is available for a variety of assignments in subject areas of photojournalism, commercial, architectural, real estate, industrial, interior design, corporate, urbex, adventure, wilderness, and travel. 

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