Half Moon Cay, Bahamas Tour

 BY SKEETER

It has been some time since I have blogged on a regular basis. I have had many obstacles to overcome in the past couple of years with two major deaths taking my life on a depressing spiral. Death is never easy but a totally unexpected death does not give us much time to plan a mourning process. My Sister in Law and best friend from middle school, Cindy had a massive stroke and slipped into a coma and never woke up again at the age of 51.

I was starting to get myself back on track when an awesome friend's cancer returned and I once again found myself in a state of depression. I did the best I could to be a friend to Bernie during this time, being at his side even when he took his last breath.

I think of myself as a tough person, that when knocked down, I can pick myself back up but these two events, really took a toll on me.

We took our Winter Cruise to the Bahamas this year. We take cruises during the winter to escape the biter cold of winter but I must say, this year, we have not had much of a Winter here in my GEORGIA GARDENS.

During this cruise, I took a lot of time to reflect on the past few years of sadness. I have come to the conclusion, that I can remain sad for the remainder of my life or I can get out from, in front of the TV and Computer games and get my life back on track.

Even though Bernie was not with us during the cruise like he has been for 5 previous ones, he was there with us in spirit. I saw him all over that ship and all those wonderful memories will remain with me until my time comes to say goodbye to this earth.

So today, lets go to Half Moon Cay and see what I saw last week which helped to lift me up. 

 Bright colored cabana's tucked in behind beautiful lush greens. 

 Some of the plants were labeled but not all so I shall just show the pics and name when possible.

 Pretty Sun flower maybe Wedelia but not sure.

 Bougainvillea of different colors.

 Pretty white blooms.

Moving out, you can see the bush of that white bloom. 

 Seven Year Apple. Hum, I do believe the white bloom above to be the apple blossom! It does not take 7 years for the fruit to mature but rather one. Mocking birds and butterflies enjoy this plant in the tropics. 

 The Saint and I stroll about the island finding beautiful scenes such as this. 

 And this. Oh La la...

 Golden grasses along the shoreline.

 Palms, grasses and green leafy bushes along the paved pathway. I do not know if these were planted for tourist or natural. But so pretty and do look natural.

 The walk we took was hunting Geocaches. Can you see the cache hanging in the tree? Center of pic you will barely spot it as it is camouflaged.  

 I loved the texture of the pine or spruce type tree behind the palm.

 And what is an island without a tall palm tree? Not a Tropical Island to me.

 The greens were so lush and happy.

 The sky was a really dark blue that morning but by the time we had finished our walk, the clouds had lifted and we played in the ocean a bit.

 Here is a long view of one of those neat spruce/pine trees. The bottom of it seem to have a bush or is that how it starts out?

 Zooming into the bottom here. I did not want to disturb the ground thus did not get any closer to examine. 

 Here we have a Rock Bush. The Saint felt it and said, Ah, that is why it is called a rock bush. I felt it and it was a stiff as a rock! 

 Seven Year Apple maybe? Not sure but could be at the yellow stage of life. 

 So mad at myself for not making sure these fruits were clear in the camera. When snapping photos in the bright light, it is very difficult to view. Sorry to even post such a blurry photo but these looked like some type of raspberry but who knows without a sign, I do not...

 Backing away, here is the bush to the red berries.

 Another bush filled with yellow blooms.

 Closer view shows the pretty yellow blooms. 

 The Strong Back tree or bush. 

 Sagebrush. 

 Darlin' Plumb 

 Simple garden guiding us to lunch. 

 Hibiscus.

There is a small chapel on this island for guests to enjoy during their day of stay.

 I knew this bird as soon as I spotted it. Mockingbird of the islands looks very similar to the ones I see in my GA gardens.

 The Saint spotted these tracks in the sand. Not the flip flops or tennis shoes but the long trail of the Curly tailed lizard, Corn Lizard or Chameleon Lizard.

 I recognized this from our cruise to Belize a couple of years ago.

The Saint poked it with a stick and sure enough, Termites in the nest.

I bet mama hen and her chicks enjoy eating them! The chickens and roosters begged at the table as we had lunch. We happen to accidently drop some rice for them. hee hee...

Most of these plants I have shown you are used as medicinal herbs and teas.

We ended up on the other side of the island from the beach goers and even ran into another Geocacher! We visited with her a bit then headed for lunch.  

My father told me to be on the look out for Pirates during our cruise. We did find this ship on the island.

But this was the only Pirate we saw the entire week and this guy had nothing on me. I took his sword away from him and had him walking the plank at HALF MOON CAY, BAHAMAS, In the Garden...

Bernie aka: Dragon was a commenter on this blog many moons ago when it first began through my hometown newspaper site. So in his honor, I would like to dedicate this posting to his memory.

Bernie Hopwood Feb 25, 1956 - Nov 19, 2016

Keep Breathing Fire my Dragon Boy until we meet again... 

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Winter Paradise pt 2

By Skeeter
We had a nice warm snap in my Georgia Garden to start the month of January but then back to the cold stuff for the week we had the Saints parents visit. They left Virginia as it was sleeting and arrived to our wonderful 70 plus degrees. Unfortunately, they brought the rain and cold with them to GA. They have since returned to VA and taken that nasty stuff back. Today the weatherman is calling for sunny skies and back into the 60's but come tomorrow, it is back to rain and cold. Gee, this Deep South living is such strange weather but a break is nice during the winter. I just hope it is not too confusing for the flowers this year...

So lets leave the cold today for part two of our Winter Paradise get-away... After Key West, we headed to Nassau, Bahamas. As you can see the blue of the waters were breath taking upon our arrival. We docked then boarded a Glass Bottom Boat ride to a Coral Reef. Along the way, the Captain of the vessel told us of the many famous people and their homes along this stretch. There was the once home of Elvis, the home of Nicholas Cage and other famous people as well. All these homes are surrounded with beautiful plants.
Lush Green is the color of choice on this island.
Yes, I could wake up to this view each morning!
The boat took us by the Atlantis Resort. See the bridge connecting the two structures? Ah, a close up view is so much better. This is the Bridge Penthouse. Michael Jackson was the first to stay in this room. I believe the Captain informed us of a $25,000 a night cost with a one week minimum stay! I could buy a lot of plants for my garden with that!
The High Rollers of the Atlantis Casino (850 slots, 90 tables, race & sports bar, etc) can stay here at the Harbor-side Resort. More on Atlantis later...
Now we finally get to the Coral Reef. This is not an aquarium in the picture but a picture I snapped right though the glass bottom of the boat! Yes, the water is that blue and crystal clear! It was amazing to see life underwater from the coral to the fish!
The cruise took us along the wharf to see the fisherman dockside. They get up early in the morning and catch fish and what ever else is in season and sell it right on the dock. Talk about fresh catch of the day!
As we returned back to our starting point, we had a clear view of our ship and its small size compared to the others docked beside our Carnival Fascination! And we thought we were on a big ship! Ha, the Royal Caribbean to the far right was incredible to say the least.
The Saint wanted to go to the Atlantis Resort so we hailed a cab and off we went. We were reminded of our days spent in England with the driver on the left side of the street. The drive up to the resort from the main street was lined with tall palms trees.
The flying bronze horses in the fountain caught our attention.
The lobby of the resort was as if I had stepped into a massive hotel in Las Vegas! That is where I have seen hotels of this magnitude. I bet the price we paid for 4 nights in Vegas does not even come close to one night here! They have 6 different type buildings to chose from for your stay. 8 Fine dining, 11 Casual dining and 8 Cafes and Quick eats within the Resort! You can swim with the dolphins, snorkel, scuba, golf, tennis, spa, private beach, pool, water park and much more. We were saying it would take us a few days to do all we would want to do!
They have an aquarium in the lobby that tells the story of the City of Atlantis.
Here you can see two of the many aquarium windows in the background. The lobby was full of plants and even palm trees!
We did not spend too much time inside this marble palace as we wanted to be outside and see the grounds.
Water is the theme as with any island resort but this one truly took water to a new level for me! Do you see the fish?
We walked the grounds for quite some time while taking in the beautiful sights.
I like the way the vine was growing on the stone wall.
Down the stairs to the beach area was an inviting walk.
Blooming beauties my eyes have never seen in the wild before.
Interesting plants with every blink of the eye.
Ah, the hibiscus is a must on a Tropical Island.
I can only wonder if these are edible as I have no idea what they could be...
Beauty around every corner of this awesome place.
Fish, sharks, starfish, etc were swimming in the water all around us.
Have you noticed there is no human forms in the pictures? I am so glad we went during the low season as we seem to have the gardens all to our self! Where are all the people? I did see 4 large cruise ships in port right?
Nothing soothes my soul more then the sound of a waterfall.
At this point I was asking the Saint if I could have a water fall.
Yes, that look on his face tells me "it ain't gonna happen". Can't blame a girl for asking. I would so love to have a piece of this WINTER PARADISE, In the Garden...

**Once home, we searched for a Map of Atlantis grounds to find we had only touched the surface of this huge place. There are 14 exhibit lagoons on 140 acres and we only saw a few of them! I just saw on the Internet that it is 75 degrees there today and I so wish I were there. Maybe some day we will go back so I can swim with the dolphins...

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team,

In the Garden