1st Cruise, 1st Trip Report: A Tale of a Little Bit of Sea Sickness (Or A Lot): Cruise Day 7: CASTAWAY CAY! [Part 1]
CRUISE DAY 7: Castaway Cay!! Part 1: Day on Castaway Cay
When we woke up this morning, we could definitely tell it was a much cooler day than the last few we experienced. We got the notice that all the excursions this day, with the exception of the stingray experience, were to be cancelled. This was due to the high winds. The Castaway 5K run was still to happen as well. The sun was still shining, so we didn’t think this was all too bad. We could still do the relaxing beach day. (Again we didn’t book a single excursion. The only thing I wanted to do for sure was snorkel.)
Out of the 4 of us, Theo was the only one who participated in the 5K run. Glendon and I had originally wanted to do it too (prior to our trip we were all for doing the run…) but since my bout of being sick, I really wasn’t up for it. And Glendon being the gentleman he is, chose to hang out with me instead of running as well. Sam didn’t want to do the run at all haha. SO Theo went ahead and left the boat early for the 5K. Sam went to Cabanas for breakfast buffet, and Glendon decided to take me down to Enchanted Garden for breakfast.
We requested to sit in the round booths haha. It was plenty of space for the two of us.
On our way out we got a photo with the cupid Mickey fountain! He’s so cute.
Breakfast was very empty. It was a slightly later start to our day, so I believe most people were already on their way off the ship. Our breakfast also took a little bit longer because I requested some dairy free Mickey waffles =)
After breakfast we left the ship. Met up with Sam, then met up with Theo. We decided to catch a tram to Serenity Bay (in all honesty we were going to walk there… but it was sunny and we were lazy)
Ahh what relaxation. Very quiet on Serenity Bay. We took some chairs and just sat in the water. (The water was a bit cold so we decided not to swim, but just soak in the sun)
After sitting in the chairs for a bit with some drinks, we decided it was time for lunch so we walked to the lunch being served at the Serenity Bay BBQ. It was great!!! All the usual BBQ meats type thing. I went and had both a hot dog AND a hamburger! Other options included steaks, ribs, chicken and mahi mahi. There was also a great selection of desserts and snacks as well. I think most exciting thing about all this is that… the food was all FREE!
After lunch, since we all ate a bit more than we wanted to, we chose not to catch a tram and walk down the runway over to the family beaches. We wanted to check out Pelican Plunge!
If you can’t tell already from Glen’s face… water was FREEZING haha.
We made the swim over to the platform and waited the line to ride the slides. Two of us went and on and two on the other. I think the slides surprised each of us, it was actually faster than we had anticipated! The line up was probably about a ten minute wait. We chose not to line up again to switch to ride the other slide, because the water was freezing and waiting in line in the wind made it even colder.
SO we walked along the beach some more and just sunbathed.
I was determined to snorkel though, but no one else wanted to go back into the cold water. (I brought with me some snorkel gear, so in my mind since I brought it, I HAD to use it. Plus I wanted to find the hidden Mickey and Minnie underwater.)
Lonesome self in the ocean.
Here are some of my random underwater shots I tried to get with my GoPro while I was on my snorkelling adventure:
I think I spent about an hour floating around in the water. You are required to wear those inflatable vest things… I really should have spent more time blowing mine up or switching to one that blew up easier… but I was eager to get into the water and believed I am a strong enough swimmer that it didn’t matter to have it fully inflated. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS! Despite being a strong swimmer, I could feel my body getting exhausted pretty early on. The wind was strong and the water was cold. I am pretty sure I spent too much of my time swimming around aimlessly in the same area for a long long time. I never made it all the way to the Mickey and Minnie… I got too tired and too cold. I had never felt so disappointed.
Met back up with the guys, dried off and warmed up in the shining sun a bit more. Mostly we just lazied out all day. Looked around at some of the shops, had a couple of drinks, and that was it.
I got laughed at when I passed out.
Eventually the wind started to pick up and the sun was starting to get covered by clouds, and we decided we were starting to get cold and hungry so we decided to head back to the ship.
Here are the random photos we took on our way back!
We had very few group shots of all four of us together
I feel like this is such an iconic spot on Castaway Cay for photos.
Beach has basically emptied out
I have bad photography skills but I think the water and rocks looked so good
Fantasy butt
Oh Fantasy, what a large ship you are! [And just look at the AquaDuck over the edge of the boat]
Closer look under the AquaDuck! [Excuse my finger]
Heading back onto the boat
The front of the Fantasy! Sort of! We had one of those circular porthole rooms at the front of the ship
To come... rest of the night!