Our Day At Castaway Cay

Our day at Castaway Cay began with a parasailing expedition for Ed and I. I must admit...I wasn't nervous at all. I mean that...after this experience I think I could skydive. Lol...anyway, Anthony made his way down to the Flounder's Nursery Reef to play with all his little friends until noon. Ed and I had an 11:00a.m. appointment on Marge's Barge for our parasailing expedition. There were 10 other crazy people doing this with us. They take you out beyond the lagoon and let you sail up above 600 feet. It was truely amazing. We saw other Bahamian Islands that were about 25-30 minutes away. How do we know this...well the two workers on our parasailing boat travel to Castaway Cay for employment everyday. It takes them 25-30 minutes by boat on a good day and about an hour when weather is not so good. Anyway, we are about 600 feet above the water and you can see everything. On our way down, we were "dipped" into the water about chest high. It was really cool. We are thrusted back up to about 400 feet and we drifted down onto the platform of the boat for a safe landing. As we enter the boat, we look down and there were two barracudas. Yeah! Well thank goodness we were back in the boat and no one else was going back up. The Bahamians were not shocked to see them. I was:) Lol   We headed back onto Marge's Barge and off the boat we went. We headed right back to the ship to get Anthony and off to the shoreline we headed. The Fernando family was waiting for us there for the boys to play in the water. The water was crystal clear. Little silver fish and small jellyfish swam along not bothering anyone. Along the shoreline, the Pirate of the Caribbean Ship lies there abandoned.So let's talk about the fun we had on Castaway Cay. They have tons of activities for all ages. Cookie's BBQ served up an outstanding lunch for everyone. They had hot dogs, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, BBQ ribs, fresh salads, fresh cut fruit, ice cream machines, cookies, chips and all the trimmings. They had a beverage station for all your soft drinks and a few bars that served adult beverages (NA beverages too). They had a special...buy one get one free so a banana colada was our drink of the day. Anthony enjoyed his own banana smoothie. It was so relaxing. You grab a tube and just float away. The whole lagoon was ours. They had rafts, tubes, and any other flotation device one might need. For us, we enjoyed our time in the water on a huge clear tube and a big blue raft. It was priceless just to sit back and watch the kids play. Anthony was swimming like a fish...no flotation device and face in the water. The salt water was beating him up but he did not care. They had a "Pelican Plunge" slide, "Scuttle's Cove" and a place to dig up treasures in and out of the water. All along the shoreline they had activities going, music blasting, servers bringing you drinks, and lots of fun memories.On the island, you can search for the hidden mickey treasures using snorkeling gear...yea I wasn't doing that. I wanted to have one trip that I didn't come back from with a swollen face. You can snorkel, you can swim with the stingrays, you can jet ski, you can rent sailboats or water boats, you can just sit back and enjoy the family...that's what we did! There are no complaints. It is by far one of the most amazing cruise experiences of my life. I look forward to my next cruise in November 2011. Who can go on a cruise and see fireworks at sea, have parties, enjoy broadway shows, and meet nice families each and every night.

All aboard was 5:00p.m. so we headed back to the ship at 3:30p.m. Anthony got his picture with Stitch. Then off to dinner we went. We all took showers and got ready for our last formal dinner on the ship. On our way down to the Triton Dining Room, Anthony grabbed a picture with Pluto. That was our last character visit...Boo Hoo! Our bags had to be out by 10:30p.m. so back to the room to pack and off to bed we went. We had to be up by 6:00a.m. for a 7:00a.m. breakfast and a 9:00a.m. Disembarkment. All MUST be off the ship by 9:00a.m. So to all...good night. There is so much more to share:) Love ya all!