Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
HURRAH!!! IT'S SUNNY!!! Today was amazing, my favourite day of the trip so far. One reason being there was not one drop of rain all day! It was a typically beautiful postcard day in the Bahamas. The sky was blue, the sea was clear and turquoise and sand was white.
The day started at about 9am for me when we had just docked in Castaway Cay. This is Disney's private island in the Bahamas, and is split into several different areas. The actual boat used as the Flying Ducthman in the Pirates of the Caribbean film has recently been added to the Cay, so Jack Sparrow was wondering around most of the morning - the ship was very impressive though, hence there's quite a few photos of it!
I headed straight to the far side of the island which is called Serenity Bay, and is exclusively for 18+. Aahhh, bliss. I spent about 3 hours here, sat and read my book, had a daquiri and generally got started on the tanning which is always a priority on my holidays! (I plan to come back a shade similar to that of Whoppi Goldberg, but after the slight setback of the last week, still a bit to go!) I was slightly worried when one of the barmen from the bar I'd be in the night before said "Hey London! How's it going?!".I'm now known…by the barstaff….what does that say? The staff were all slightly struggling in the heat after their late night out on the town in Nassau the previous night, and some said they'd only had 2 hours sleep but had a 14 hour day in the sun to work through…I'm sure they felt it was worth it to be able to let their hair down for once though. The staff are so amazing, friendly and kind though, that I couldn't help but want them to have fun too. Brian, our waiter at dinner, was definitely looking to his night out last night!
After having my r&r time, I came back to the main area of the island for the crab racing. When I was younger I remember crab racing on Sanibel island (I think!) with my Dad…he had a crab called Rockefeller that won! So my plan was take part and call one Rockefeller again, sure of victory. But, being in the main part of the island, the kids beat me to it! How dare they, what is this?! Disney?! …Oh. There's a video of one of the "heats" (oh yes, there were heats!) and I chose to support the cutest little girl who's crab was called "Sparkle". When I was her age that's probably what I would have called a crab. Anyway, unknown to me at the time that I picked my allegiences, Sparkle was the smallest of the crabs so pretty much came last in every heat. She was no Rockefeller! It was good fun to watch though.
Next, I headed to the snorkel lagoon to pick up my snorkel and fins that I'd reserved for the day and headed out into the water. Disney being Disney, they'd put loads of things at the bottom to make it a bit more interesting than just seeing sand. (One thing in this lagoon was a stingray which scared the living daylights out of me!! I think it had escaped from the Rays lagoon where they have an interactive session with Raysas there was no mention of this when I got it.)Swimming around with my snorkel, fins and hi-vis jacket (oh yes I looked very cool) I saw lots of beautifu,l bright coloured fish who were going in and out of the items on the seabed, which were meant to be from a shipwreck. At the far side of the 12-acre lagoon there is, surprise surprise, a big Mickey Mouse image on the seabed.
Well after my bit of activity for the day, I went back to sunbathing, wrote my postcards, posted them at the tiniest post office that exists I'm sure, and headed back to the boat and went to the Quiet Cove pool (just for the 18+ again). This was about 2.30/3pm, and with the on-board time being 5pm it meant it was nice and quiet. Some of the cast from the shows from the previous two nights were also in the pool, and I think something is going on with Woody and Sleeping Beauty. Never thought I'd say that! Tarzan was also there (minus wig) so I was quite happy here for obvious reasons!
After the sun went down I headed to the theatre to watch the film "Earth" by Disney Nature. It was essentially a wildlife documentary, but an amazing production. I highly recommend you watch it if you ever get the chance to. After this, a quick drink in the sports bar while I check the baseball scores (Tampa not doing quite so well as I'd like!) before heading up to the main deck where I met the guys from dinner, for the Pirates IN the Caribbean party. Some people really made an effort with getting dressed up for this, and the atmosphere was really fun! We had a bit of a boogie with the pirates, then in Disney-esque style, the bad pirates take over so we have a bit of rock music, then guess who comes to the rescue?? If you're not thinking Mickey you need educating in Disney….he flies in from the top of the chimney, saves the day, and starts the fireworks….in a nutshell.
The fireworks were stunning, and I'm so happy it wasn't raining for this. The Disney Cruise is apparently the only boat at sea that is allowed to set of fireworks, and in true style set to music. There was another boat in the far distance that we could see because of its light, on the horizon, and couldn't help but think "we are having so much more fun than them"! Where else can you do the hand jive, followed by a bit of pirate-ry (?) and a firework display!?
The end the night, I decided to have a relax by the adult pool and dunk my feet whilst listening to the live guitar music. (The other option was karaoke….so you see I picked the wise option!) A nice relaxing end to a brilliant day.
- comments