our second day at Castaway Cay, we DID have relatively early morning plans, so we ate and headed on our way...this time, rather than walk the boardwalk to the beach, we opted for one of disney's famous trams :)
we proceeded to Castaway Ray's Stingray Adventure (the same structure we took cover in during the short storm the last time we were here...) we got some great introduction and education from one of the ray's caretakers (who lives full time on this little island)...
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| you see the backs (l to r) of lilly, porter, maya and celia |
after our intro, we made our way to the stingray lagoon, where we met with our small group and a trainer (there were 9 of us...6 bakers and my brother and his 2 kids...i love that we could experience this with just the family!)
our trainer has a floating stingray buffet...the stingrays are 'trained' to come up the right side, swim thru and exit the left side...when they come across a mickey head silhouette, they know that is their 'plate' and they stop to slurp up whatever is being offered there from the hand of the unsuspecting tourist (except, we weren't totally unsuspecting, as jason, andy and i have all done stringray adventures/feedings on other cruise ship excursions...) but the children were (insert slightly maniacal laugh here...)
so we practice putting our hands on the flat surface, as the trainer instructs you to put food in-between your fingers and hold your hand flat on the mickey head...the ray will swim over your hand and suck up the food...
and then we all take turns feeding the rays, either a shrimp, squid, or 'stingray jello' - a greenish/brown concoction of vitamins and nutrients.. we each got 3 or 4 opportunities to feed them, which was great!
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| lilly feeds the ray |
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| you can see molly laughing here...she pulled her hand away :) |
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| jason makes his menu selection while jared feeds |
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| andy's turn...and you can see a piece of stringray jello in jared's hand |
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| maya feeds another girl... |
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| i love my face here...it think it says it all! |
after the feeding session we got to snorkel in the ray lagoon for half an hour or so...there are 58 rays in the lagoon, only 1 male, and as you can see from the gratuitous pictures i have included here, they are EVERYWHERE.
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| molly and jason headed out for a snorkel |
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| lilly |
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| andy, jared and maya...with, you know, just our little cruise ship in the background...paradise? probably... |
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| porter |
i was thankful, particularly for the children and their swimming abilities and endurance, that the entire lagoon is shallow, so when you need to, you simply put your feet down and stand. you do, however, always have to be on the lookout for a ray that is attempting to go incognito...
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| can you see the ray? |
after our incredible stingray adventure, the littles wanted to head to the kids club on the island, so jason checked them in, while i took lilly, maya and celia snorkeling...but before we separated, i found a photographer on the beach. in the photo gallery on the ship i had seen several pictures of families on the beach, and since we'd basically already committed ourselves to purchasing a rather large photo package after the previous night's escapades on the grand staircase, i figured we should take advantage of their photo services whenever available. so i flag the photographer down, and have jason gather the kids...while jason is gathering everyone, the photographer turns to me and says "what happened to that beautiful bun you had in your hair last night?"
WWWHHHAAAA????
(go back to the previous post and see how my hair was done...)
rather than expound on my incredible hair-styling ability, i'm going to remark, rather, on the incredible disney cast member that can remember one of 4,000+ guests and how they had their hair the night before (when i'm in completely different context)
and in addition to her unbelievable memory and great taste in hair, she took this great pict of us with the kids!
so then we get to the snorkeling...castaway cay has a snorkeling lagoon as well, with 'sunken treasures' marked by floating buoys, so you know where to head to see the action...again, not near as much action and old, established reefs that i've snorkeled in other areas, but a great starter for the girls...
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| maya and a sunken boat |
not wanting to have another castaway cay lunch, and being worn out from stingray and snorkeling adventures, we headed back to the ship for the rest of the day for lunch, and to take advantage of some of the ship's offerings that we hadn't done yet!
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| another great lunch at cabanas...where the kids had figured out how to make their own drink mix of mango juice and sprite |
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| the view of castaway cay from cabanas |
our afternoon activities finally involved taking in the aquaduck - the famous slide that caught the girls' attention in the disney cruise line commercials. with so many folks off the boat at castaway cay, the line was reasonable, so we headed aboard! our first trip through we all went...and, like i had read might happen (because apparently it happens with some regularity!) someone got stuck during the ride (they don't quite weigh enough to keep their float moving...) and the ride shut down for about 15 minutes...other than that delay, our wait wasn't long (i had read stories of REALLY long waits, etc, so we were glad we had really no trouble at all!) everyone else went for a second trip, while i snapped some pictures from below...
the very beginning of the ride starts in the funnel and then shoots out over the edge of the ship and that turns back around and down a hill that keeps you going on your loop around the deck...it certainly was not as face-paced and thrilling as the rides at atlantis, but it's not designed to be...it's a waterslide on the top of a cruise ship....that, in itself, is enough.
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| lilly and jared |
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| jason and molly |
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| maya and celia |
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| porter...i rode with him the first time, and he went solo the second! |
then came some other pool deck dance party, and the girls got up on stage and danced around...i found it amusing, and they were having a blast...
before dinner there was another character meet-n-greet, so jason took the kids, once again, for photos in the main lobby...again, not just photos, but great interactions were had by all...
by now, it seemed like nearly every girl and many women on the ship had had their hair braided (there were braiders on the ship....for those that didn't have a 'certified hair braider' do their hair in bahamas..."mama, you get the girls hair done?? my name is beverly...beverly hills...you remember me..."...um, no thanks, "
beverly"....) the girls were interested, so before dinner, we sent them up to get braids...and here they are with braids and smiling faces...
after molly saw the other girls' braids, she decided she'd like a few, too...so
during dinner, jason ran her up to the pool deck, and the braider was so fast, that molly was back before the crew left for 'dine and play'....dinner was back in the royal palace, but another 'common' menu for each restaurant...mickey mouse doesn't say 'good-bye' - he says "see ya' real soon" - so that was the theme of the last dinner...
sesame seared tuna for my appetizer...
and our final turndown service....a now infamous, towel elephant....
