Half Moon Cay, Bahamas (Photo Cred: Stephen Brown)

A true vacation is a retreat. A period of sustained isolation from the madness of life. It is my first time in almost two years that I have ventured beyond national borders, far too long to be separated from my love of world exploration.

We departed Fort Lauderdale’s Everglades Port on the Rotterdam Ship of Holland America Cruise lines in the evening. I could not help but think of my father who grew up in the Dutch down that the vessel commemorates. Bad wife and daughter! We left him not only for the all-American holiday of Thanksgiving as well as his birthday. We will miss him greatly, and I know he shares my dream of visiting Machu Picchu in the mountains of Peru, a destination that will serve as our grand finale.

Our first stop was Half Moon Cay, although the familiarized seem to pronounce it “key,” which is a private resort owned by the cruise line on Little San Salvador Island. It is located less than 100 miles southeast of the popular city of Nassau, between Cat Island and Eleuthera. I found that it looked almost exactly like the hundreds of pictures of the Bahamas. It was as if I landed in the middle of a Corona commercial when I saw the powder white sands and turquoise blue water, our country’s staple image of paradise. The island itself was tiny, yet ideal for our one day excursion ashore. Small enough to feel secluded, while not giving off the sometimes overwhelming feeling of rushing to see everything possible in a limited time frame.

Horseback Riding in Half Moon Cay

One of my goals for the trip was fulfilled early when I visited the stables to go horseback riding by land and sea. My land horse was named Mutt, he was a beautifully gentle, dark brown steed that seemed to like his hooves in the water as we rode along the shore. We trotted to the highest point on the island, which could not have been more than 50 feet or so, that gave us a nice view of the resort. After changing our horses for a water adventure, we galloped through the crystal ocean so that only the arch of their back and heads were above water. I was immersed from the waist down as we splashed along in unison, with the lush tropics of palms on one side and the ocean as far as you could see on the other.

We had two land events booked but unfortunately the second, snorkeling by boat, was cancelled because the tide was a bit rough to manage. You could not tell by the weather though, it was everything you would imagine for a trip to the isles, around 75 degrees, clear blue skies with the fluffy accent of a few scattered clouds on the horizon. Our ship was a perfect backdrop to the scenery, sitting like an ornament on the sea. Although it would have been great to explore beneath the surface, I was not all that upset since I got my ride in, rested on the beach, swam in the gorgeous water and truly spent my time exactly as I had imagined it, retreating from the world.