2017-12-29: Sun, Sand, and Sea – Castaway Cay Revisited

It was a slow start this morning with no rush to be anywhere.  We were docked by 7:45 a.m. and the gangway was open by 8:30 a.m.  For those who chose to participate there was a 5k run on the island early this morning.  No one is our group felt the need to run.  By the time our family was getting off the ship at 10 a.m.  many of the racers were returning to the ship to shower and change for the beach.

We caught the tram and headed over to Pelican point this time to check out the water slides on the other side of the bay.  We found a spot to settle down in and the kids were off to the water.  It wasn’t long before Amanda was calling Patrick to go catch the tram and head back to Marge’s Barges for their parasailing trip!  Both were a little nervous and very excited.  After a short wait on the pier and a nice visit with a mother and two daughters from Texas, the boats returned, and it was time to go.  The big group was separated out into groups of 6.  Amanda and Patrick were second in que, after a mom and daughter, about the same age as Patrick.  What an amazing ride!  The boat crew had them harnessed and ready for departure in no time and almost before they were hooked in the parachute was ready to start lifting them off the deck.  What a view.  Patrick was in awe of how far he could see and how blue the water was.   They had a view of the whole island and flew higher than the top of the cruise ship.  After returning to the boat and watching the last couple fly into the sky we sped back to the pier and our adventure was over.  A quick tram ride had us back to the family in no time flat.

While Patrick and Amanda were parasailing, the rest of the family hung out on the beach. They splashed around in the water until Patrick and Amanda returned. This beach is much shallower than the one we hung out at the first day we were here. It was only chest height to the edge of the swimming area. Once Patrick and Amanda returned, Amanda and the kids decided to go play on the waterslides.  Darrell, Jim and Linda took some time to relax on the beach.  Eventually Amanda and the kids returned to the beach and off to Cookies 2 for lunch we went.

After lunch we all went into the water for a bit, the tide had started coming in and the water level was much higher than it had been earlier in the morning.   We all paddled around in the water for a bit.  Eventually Darrell and his parents took to some beach chairs and Michael went up to play in the sand.  Patrick and Amanda had fun hunting for shells under water, eventually Michael returned to help them.  They managed to get a good size collection with some good variety!

By 3:30p.m. everyone was ready to head back to the ship.  The kids stopped at a souvenir shop along the way and picked out a little bottle with some sand and shells in it as a memento.

After we were back on board and all cleaned up the kids took advantage of the Oceaneers Lab for an hour before dinner.  We sadly waved goodbye to the island staff and turned our attention to packing up our rooms.

Jim ended up on another conference call, so we collected the boys and went to dinner.  We enjoyed our dinner and we were happy to have Isabel back.   Jim arrived just in time for dessert and Saul’s final magic trick.  Pushing a pen through a plastic window and a card without puncturing the plastic, only the card.  This one really had Michael scratching his head…

We returned to our rooms to finish packing before the evening show.  Jim and Linda decided to stay in, the boys ended up back in the kid’s club for one last time and Darrell and Amanda took in the last show entitled “Believe.” It was well done with Genie making a return appearance and leading a dad on a journey to gain a belief in magic and strength his relationship with his daughter. So many characters popped in on this one… Merlin, Mary Poppins and Gus, Raffiki, Princess Tatiana, Princess Aurora, Cinderella, Baloo… a really fun production to watch!

After picking up the kids and a little last-minute packing we had our suitcases out with 15 minutes to spare and it was bedtime.  Tomorrow is going to be early!