Half Moon Cay, The Bahamas, 2002
I was rummaging around in a stack of postcards recently and found this one shared today. Half Moon Cay, previously called Little San Salvador Island, is one of approximately 700 islands in The Bahamas, and was purchased by the cruise ship company Holland America Line (HAL) in 1996 for $6 million USD. HAL has developed 50 acres or about 2% of the 2,400 acre island with the stated goal of keeping as much of the remaining island as possible as a natural habitat for wildlife. For example, Half Moon Cay is home to a significant waterfowl nesting area. Since this island does not have deep water docking for large cruise ships a tender is used to ferry cruise passengers to and from the island.
A number of activities for cruise ship passengers are offered on the island including swimming, sunbathing, scuba diving, jet skiing, cycling and snorkeling. Also available are deep-sea fishing, glass-bottom boat rides, nature walks, parasailing, and rental equipment such as Hobie catamarans, Sunfish sailboats, windsurfing sailboards, and kayaks. The usual cruise entertainment such as volleyball, basketball, horseshoes, shuffleboard, plus a fitness trail with exercise stations, horseback riding, and nature trails for hiking can found as well.
The card is an Astral Graphics product printed in Miami, Florida. Since the 1970s The Bahamas has issued an assortment of colorful stamps printed in limited numbers and aimed at collectors. The stamp on this card has a Spiny Oyster – Spondylus americanus shell stamp, one of nine different shell stamps on the sheet.
Spiny Oyster stamp
My daughter sent the card and penned this cute note especially for those of us who do live near the cold barnacle type beaches alluded to--
“How can this be a beach – it isn’t 40 degrees F and covered with barnacles! Despite all that, this is a “pretty nice” place to spend the day. Hope we don’t get too sunburnt.”
For additional information, see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_San_Salvador_Island
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postage_stamps_and_postal_history_of_the_Bahamas
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