Ocean Cay, Bahamas

December 21^st, 2023

Would we or would we not actually be able to set foot on Ocean Cay?

Ocean Cay is a private island in the Bahamas, owned by Explora Journey’s parent company, MSC Cruises. The MSC large ships get to stop there, but so far the Explora 1 has not been able to dock there on 2 prior attempts due to the weather.

Will it be third time lucky? Captain Diego sounded positive enough this morning when he announced that we will be arriving at Ocean Cay at 11:00 and should be able to go ashore by 11:45. My Apple Weather App showed wind, but no rain. There were dark skies behind us, but it was all sunshine and blue skies ahead.

We sat in the Explora Lounge at the front of the ship, and saw the island come into view. White beaches and palm fringed shores. It was looking good.

Out of nowhere a tug arrived to nudge us along, and we looked like we were definitely on our way between the navigation buoys to the dock. The lighthouse loomed closer and closer. Yay, beach day ahead!

Then someone saw some dolphins off the bow of the ship, so my gaze changed to dolphin watching, and not to our approach to the island. We watched the dolphins for a while, and then I looked up. We were no longer facing the island, but in fact it was quite the opposite. Our stern was facing the island, and we were clearly facing the open sea.

Maybe we were going to back in up the narrow channel, so we could make an easy exit when we headed to Miami after dark. But we were not backing up into the channel, we were turning around again. Next thing we knew we were facing the channel again. Something was wrong. It certainly didn’t look like we were about to dock on the island.

We bobbed around for a while, then the captain announced that we would not be docking at Ocean Cay (oh nooooooo!) but we would stay at anchor and go ashore in the tenders (yay!!!!!). Unfortunately all shore experiences and activities had been cancelled, and the only food that would be available was at the food truck, but the beaches were open and the beach chairs were sitting there waiting for us.

We were strongly advised to eat lunch before going ashore due to the limited amount of food available. We had no problems complying with this suggestion, and after a delicious lunch in the Emporium (fresh pasta), we grabbed our beach basket, and jumped on to the next tender.

I was excited for us, but felt really bad for friends of ours, and others on board who are mobility impaired and cannot use the tenders. The only port on this whole journey where they have been able to go ashore was Puerto Rico. The information we were given about the cruise is that we would be docking at all of the ports, but Spanish Town, Samana, and now Ocean Cay, all turned out to be tender posts, and the other port where we could have docked, St Kitts, was cancelled. Not a nice situation for them.

It turned out to be quite a challenge climbing into the tender as it was bouncing up and down, but with a leap of faith, I was able to jump on board. It was a short ride to the tender dock. Getting off the tender was much easier, but I was a bit put off by a lifeguard standing by, no doubt there to rescue any of us unstable older folks who they must have deemed at risk for ending up in the water.

There are several beaches from which to choose,  and the folks riding in on our tender fanned out all over the island. There was a long golf cart to transport you to your beach of your desires should you chose not to walk.

We chose to walk to the beach near the lighthouse. The food truck was there, and there were 2 bars close by. There wasn’t much shade, the umbrellas kept on blowing over in the wind, but we did find a pleasant spot to settle down into 2 red Adirondack chairs, and dig our toes in the warm soft sand. Finally time to settle down with a novel.

I did decide to swim, but only got so far into the water before declaring that the temperature was not to my liking, and swimming would have to wait until we are back on the ship.

We spent a lazy afternoon on the beach. It was bliss. This is what a Caribbean vacation should be all about. Although there should be less wind and warmer water. Well you can’t have everything.

It was all going so well until the DJ from the ship arrived, and all of a sudden the peace of the beach was fractured by the sound of loud throbbing music. We had probably had enough sun by then, so we packed up our stuff, dusted off the sand, and walked the long way round back to the tender dock in order to explore more of the island.

Along with the bars, beaches and snorkeling coves, there is also a beautiful nature reserve. And then there are all of the water sport toys.

None were in use today due to the waves, it’s a shame as I was hoping to do a bit of paddle boarding. I keep on falling off my paddle board at home, and I was anxious to find out whether the defect was in my paddle board or me.

The ride back to the ship wasn’t quite as bumpy, and climbing back onto the ship was not a challenge at all.

Although you can’t really swim in it (it is easier to swim in the whirlpools), I love the Astern pool. It’s not a true infinity pool as no water goes over the edge at the back, but you really feel at one with the sea.

Floating in the pool and sipping a pina colada was the perfect way to spend the rest of the last day of our cruise.

Then Brian, ever the voice of reality, broke the spell. We had better go and pack. He was right, I got out of the water, dried off, and we returned to our suite. Bring out the champagne and let the packing begin.

The best part of only having 2 suitcases, apart from how easy it is to just have 2 suitcases under the bed, and how much less of a challenge it is to maneuver around the airport, the packing is much quicker. We were done in time to have a shower and then go to watch the light show from the lighthouse. Well I am not sure if they did the light show or not. It was certainly difficult to tell from the ship. We waited out on deck for a few minutes, but then abandoned our search for the lights and went to Sakura to join friends for dinner.

All of the restaurants are great, and it is hard to say which is really the best. They are all so different. However, when it comes to décor, Sakura wins hands down.

I love the way they fold the napkins like little yukatas.

After dinner we walked to the Journey’s Lounge to watch the show. During the time we had been enjoying our meal, a little gingerbread village had popped up in the coffee shop.

Captain Diego came by as we were oohing and aahing at how amazing it was. He proudly announced  that he had spent the day baking all the gingerbread, and icing all of the buildings. However, he did clarify that it actually was the amazingly talented chefs who had done all of the hard work.

The final show was the 2 Explora artistes and the band performing a Swing show. We love swing music,  Lydia did a nice job; we didn’t stay to hear Luke as we had a bit more packing to do as we had to put our suitcases outside out suites by 11:00 and it was already 10:45.

By 11:05 the packing was done; the suitcases were outside the door. We were able to sit and relax for a while, and enjoy the beautiful suite. I felt sad that this journey was coming to an end.

We had met so many wonderful people on board, especially Eliot and Hilary, and Robert and Gail. I do hope we can all stay in touch. I felt sad to be saying goodbye to the staff and friends we had made. But it is time to face reality again tomorrow.