Disney's private island! I had really been looking forward to this, not that I didn't enjoy our previous day.
We left Nassau overnight and by the time we woke up Tuesday morning, we had already docked at Castaway Cay! We ate breakfast at the Parrot Cay that morning before debarking the ship. We threw on our suits, packed a small day bag, just as the day before and headed towards a blissful day on the beach.
This island's population stands at....drum roll, please....10. Ten people live as the island's caretakers on the island throughout the year. Our new friends at our dinner table actually ran into a guy who is one of the island's caretakers and they were surprised to hear how much work actually goes on while there's not a boat docked there. Apparently, they are the ones who set up and take down ALL of the beach chairs...this allows them to rake each beach and comb it nice and smooth. I'm sure there are plenty of responsibilities, but that one struck me as the toughest. It is actually the cruise cast members that serve everyone on the island. They get off only a half hour earlier than the guests to prepare for meals, excursions, etc.
You're handed all of your towels just as you get off the boat. Then you can either walk or take the tram to the family beach. This was where most of the shore excursions were organized. We walked, so we were able to check out the map of the island in their small souvenir district. This is where Dan realized we forgot the tickets for our shore excursion that we booked online before our trip. Fortunately, we didn't have to go all the way back to the ship to get them. They were so nice :) Anyway, our excursion included a bike rental, snorkeling gear and a tube rental for each of us. We thought we should do the bikes first; less people doing that then and it wasn't too hot yet. Dan picked a bike with a kid's seat on the back and strapped our bag and towels in there. The island has two bike trails and one took us to a lookout tower where we got to see the whole island.
Here we are up on the lookout with the ship way behind us in the distance
While we still had the bikes, we stopped at the Adults only beach and ate lunch. They had prepared a yummy large BBQ at numerous places throughout the island, but our waitress had told us that the one set up at the adult beach would be easiest and less crowded. After we returned the bikes, we made our way to the snorkeling beach/family beach. The wind had been picking up and actually some excursions were postponed or canceled. The water at the snorkeling beach started to get foggy and even with Dan's arm around me the entire time, I was just way to nervous! We couldn't see anything until it was right in front of us all of the sudden! We saw fish and sting rays; I wanted to like it....I wouldn't put my legs down, I wouldn't leave Dan's side, I couldn't see behind me, I would get water in my air pipe thing....I wanted to like it, but I got out and ordered a drink from the waitress :)
A good view of the family beach
Me waiting for the tram for Serenity Bay, with the rest of my Caribbean cocktail
The best part of the island was Serenity Bay- The secluded beach reserved just for adults. It was a nice change of pace compared to constantly having something to do, which was great, but I was looking forward to relaxing in the sun. This was perfect! We lounged around in our beach side hammock and then brought our chairs down and sat in the shallow water together (and we started singing the beach boys).
I should make this my background screen at work...Ah, sweet Serenity...I miss you!
These were cute and beforehand Goofy and Pluto, dressed in their beach attire, stood here for pictures
The Flying Dutchman, actually used in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, calls Castaway Cay's bay home! There's the Disney Wonder next to it.
The next and last full day or our cruise was spent entirely at sea. We saw this out our window in the morning! Pretty!
We went up and walked the running track on the 2nd to top deck. It was windy and wore the sweatshirt to keep the sun off of my new sunburn from the beach
The menu inside the Animator's Palate had Lady and the Tramp. As you opened it, they kissed
Our last night with our dinner group! These guys made great company and we were very pleased to get along with them so well. The couple had just spent 10 days hanging around in Disney World and practically were Disney Trivia Champs! The lady sitting next to me was wrapping up her very first cruise with her son, who had just beaten cancer, but didn't want to be in the picture.
The sun setting on our last night on the Disney Wonder
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