"That wasn't as annoying as I thought it would be", Dream/Bahamas/2.7.13

[nunzia]

Let's see if that picture of me works now.

You look great! And totally different from the first picture I saw of you with your then little boy.

 

[bumbershoot]

Liking the trip report, good job. As for the picture of the submarine tower in the ground at Port Canaveral, the Navy has a sub testing base at Port Canaveral. On my last cruise there were two subs docked as we were going out of the port to sea.

Interesting, thank you for the info!

What a great photo!! You look fantastic!

And yes, Mexico instead of the cruise. Not my "Dream Trip" but still will be fun, and a nice change from Disneyland where I will be overthinking every dollar we spend. We will be staying in an all-inclusive, so I don't have to give any thought to paying for food!

Thank you for the tips on POR. I'm looking forward to trying it!

Thanks! I'm glad you're getting to go somewhere great, though! And it's hard to do better than all inclusive.

You look great! And totally different from the first picture I saw of you with your then little boy.

Thanks! How little was the munchkin then? Speaking of him, he just had ANOTHER growth spurt. He walked into the living room after waking up, and I had to tilt my head up a bit more than usual. And he noticed he had to look *down* more than usual as I was sitting on our relatively low couch. We went straight to the wall-o-measurements and it was another quarter-inch or so.


*********
I'm still in the process of putting the pictures in order, so do forgive this delay in the report. I should have waited until I got ALL pictures on the account. Silly moi.

 

[kaoden39]

Molly, E is going to be tall! I noticed in the backpack picture how much he has grown.

 

[bumbershoot]

OK, that (renumbering pictures) involved way too much thinking for someone who spent all last night in a feverish delirium. Well there was no actual fever that we could detect, but delirious I was. I do that, when sick. Even when not horribly sick. Just one more touch of weirdness that makes me ME. At about 4am I said ENOUGH! and drugged myself with Alka Seltzer cold plus. Then I finally got some blissful sleep, though I guess I got pretty loopy as the coldplus hit. More fun than tossing and turning, though!

Robert got to work from home today, thank goodness, and he has taken E away for some errands and whatnot.


And now, as more bits and pieces of the trip come back to my blank mind, I think I am ready. Now I know that I had plans to just add pictures in to previous posts if I found more, but the more I think about it, the less I like that idea. Maybe I'll include links in those past posts to the future posts where I put the pictures?

(no one said it was a GOOD idea for me to post when ill)

 

[bumbershoot]

Animator's Palate, visited for the first time.


Since I had NO pictures of our first dining area, I was glad to remember that Robert had brought his camera. Even more glad when he got them to me. And now I'm even mostest glad to show them here.

A weird shot of me, but more importantly there's our assistant server Ludovic (from France) back behind me.

The important thing here is the knife. They sell those at the shops. You do not have to steal them from the dining room.

Robert and Eamon are both rather artistic, so they really loved this place and all the arty touches.


Since it said "with welcome Eamon" I have a feeling it was written by our French buddy. Odd grammar aside (and I have been known for some odd grammar!), it was neat, and E appreciated it.

Here's a horrid picture of the menu, but you can see the cuteness of it, even if you can't read the items on it.

Keen readers might notice that there's a Vegetarian section on that menu. And on that menu is a stir fry veggie dish. With oyster glaze. Which is not, so much, vegetarian. Leslie and Ludovic both steered me away from it. They don't know why something with oysters is on the "vegetarian" menu, and both said it IS oyster, not "a glaze FOR oysters that happens to be vegetarian".


But I'm reminded that I had the wild mushroom risotto after the tomato salad, and the guys tried the black truffle pasta pursiettes, and Robert had the black bean chipotle cakes which I believe I described earlier. He also had some other stuff, as did E.


Here's a view of the restaurant from afar, the support beams, and the chairs.

Beverage station.

You can see one of the BIG screens in the back of this shot. We loved watching Bruce the shark come swimming by there. I liked it especially b/c I could watch him swimming from big screen to big screen, because of how my chair was situated.

Not the most awesome shot of the kidlet, and he's being a bit rude what with his elbow on the table, but it shows you the not-so-ample serving size of the "pursiettes".

After dinner and after meeting back up with family, I have been able to remember what we did. My aunt went to bed with the 5 year old. Robert took Eamon and the boy-cousin to see Wreck it Ralph (10:30pm showing!). And I was able to wander the ship with my cousin and her hubby.

This is when we visited some shops (though I never got back to buy anything, boooo). We met jewelry designer Rebecca Hook, who was selling her stuff on the ship. She has some neat stuff. AT first I wasn't interested, but as I looked and looked some more, the little details popped out and I started liking it. But like I said, I never got back to do any actual shopping.

We visited some clubs just to look around, we found some appetizers sitting around near one of them (tasty dessert goodness for me, while my cousin found joy in jalapeno poppers), we roamed. We found the gallery and roamed some more. Finally we met back up with the movie-watchers and called it a night.


And THAT is how our first evening went.



By the way, who else LOVES that carpet? I don't even know that I noticed it until just now.

 

[kaoden39]

What a cute place to eat! I love the theming! There is so many cute things about it.


Oyster sauce on a vegetarian dish? No that is not cool at all.

 

[bumbershoot]

So here we are, in lovely downtown Nassau. Wait, is it downtown? Is there A downtown? I have no idea. It was just something to say by way of introducing the setting.


Here are Robert's pictures.


I have never wished more for photo-editing software than I have when viewing some of these pictures. I just want to take the people out, and I've never had that urge before. I have a friend who takes any and all unknown people out of her pictures, and now I understand this urge. Anyway, I don't have anything like that, so here's a faaaaaar-away shot of Atlantis, and a closeup random kid. And the side of a dumpster. Ah, ports are so lovely.

Zoomzoom.

Do you know I had NO idea that we could see Atlantis like that? I mean none. I was so focused on Eamon and being there and walking that I didn't have a single clue what Robert was doing or taking pictures of. Again, this is why I need re-dos of every trip I've ever taken.



This might be blurry, but it is my new favorite shot of myself. Oh ego, it's so nice to have you back. Makes up for the years of you being gone as well as the picture Robert took of my backside later in our Nassau day. Backside is not so cute as side-side here.

Robert set the timer on his camera and joined us.

And here's what we saw!

E is 8. We are both wearing athletic shoes with about the same amount of lift. Goodness gracious.

I really wish I had editing software for the original of this shot, because there was a gentleman right in the front of the picture. You can now just see part of his suit. Yes there's another gentleman behind him, but his face is in shadow and all you can really focus on is his shirt. The reason we took this picture, somehow managing to miss the concept that there were two people *right there*, is to show how the ships sort of overtake the city. They are just SO big.

I love this building. I love shutters. I love shutters that are painted bright colors.

Here is the library and museum. In looking back on the map of the walking tour, I see that this was mentioned. And that we could have gone in. Silly me. Would have been interesting!

If memory serves, the mural on the building was Bruce Lee. Robert and I both enjoyed his movies, which is why we took the picture.

After this area, the streets sort of went to pieces and that's when we turned around. Sad but true. Next post will show pictures of ships. Big ships.

 

[bumbershoot]

When we got in to Nassau, it seemed like we were the only ship there. But by the time our relatively short was was over, we were not alone.


Walking back to the ship you're going along a sort of L, once you get through their customs guys. We were at the far end of the short part of the L here, and the ship was coming in perpendicular to our side of the L.

Watching this Carnival ship get closer and closer was a little nervewracking. And this is *before*, remember, the Carnival ship in the Gulf had those problems, so it wasn't a Carnival thing, just a *big huge ship coming at us* thing.

Further along that side of the L there's a small military-type ship you walk past, and you can see that boat to the left, then the Dream, and then you see that an EPIC building has sprung up from nothing!

OK wait, that's not a building, that's the Norwegian Epic.


I hear the Jaws theme as I look at these pictures.

And by the time we hit the long side of the L, the Carnival ship is nearly done coming in.

When I look back at my shots from later, I realized that Carnival had two ships in. That one, which seems to be the Sensation, then on the OTHER side of the Epic, there seemed to be the Ecstasy. Which looked like a tiny boat compared to the Epic.

So there we are, all done with our land-time.

 

[bumbershoot]

Oyster sauce on a vegetarian dish? No that is not cool at all.

Silly, right? There are even omnivores out there who might not want oyster sauce.


Robert and Eamon are currently picking up soup for dinner, and so I must hurry to post! It's so much easier to do this when I'm alone, for some reason.

 

[bumbershoot]

OK just to reacquaint ourselves, Soap-style (even I'm not old enough for that reference)...

Eamon wanted to see his cousin so we got him to the kid's Club asap.
Robert and I wanted some caffeine so we got some from the cafe.
Molly took pictures of her yummy little bit of cake. (helpful budget hint: the treats are included but the coffee drinks cost extra)
Robert&Molly sat, child-free, in a lovely loungey area for as long as they could stand it. Which was about 10 minutes all told.
Then they headed on their way to check out the gallery and see the sights that were seen by Molly, her cousin, and cousin's hubby just the night before!
What will happen next?


Well it's nowhere near as exciting as some of the storylines were on that 70s comedy Soap. And thank goodness.

What happened next was we continued our walk. Part of the "district" on the Dream for those a bit older is a champagne bar called Pink. One of the memories of our honeymoon cruise I have was us sipping a Bellini in Radiance's champagne/wine bar. And it was a nice moment. I had hoped to recreate it on the Dream, but this was as close as we got. Pictures in a closed (but open to walk through) bar.

I don't know how comfy those chairs would be, or how pretty it would look if occupied, but they sure look neat empty!

Living in Chihuly-land as I do (he's from Tacoma, grew up here, and his Glass Museum is in easy walking distance from our condo) this isn't *impressive*, but it's neat.

Here's a more comprehensive picture of Pink, from Robert's camera.

Now, far back there in the back is what looks like a door, but then it looks like a wall when you get closer. Should any of you ever end up on the Dream, walk back there. The door opens when you get close, and you can continue walking along. It opens in a VERY Star Trek-y style, and we (Robert, cousin, her hubby, and I) feel strongly that it could EASILY be turned into a themed bar, should they ever want to do a Star Trek cruise.


Our next club up is Evolutions. This is where I would meet the following day to get ready for the Castaway Cay 5K (spoiler alert!). It's a dance club during the night, and it's also a meeting place as well as a very very quiet place during the day.

The couches look neat. Probably not comfy, because you'd either stick if you were bare-legged or slide off if you had nylons/tights/pants on, but the visual effect is good.

The fiber-optic-type cable up above the bar in that above shot is also on the ceiling as you enter the bar.

I have to unravel a time-mystery here, a "who did what when" thing (I swear I'm bringing a tiny voice-recorder next trip so I can make a brief memo of each thing we do as we do it), and that needs to involve Eamon, so I need to wait for him to get back home.

 

[bumbershoot]

So Robert and I were having a bit of a date, wandering the ship all alone. We realized that hey, we could go sit in the sun, alone! And so we went to make that happen.

I got distracted by the view outside our verandah first. Went out there to breathe in the air...

Oh hey, I saw that lighthouse in pictures. Man, I wish I could go to that lighthouse.

Then I looked to my right and "oh, hello!" There were workers on a lift just off to the side of my verandah. Thank goodness I was dressed and not talking to myself! I didn't get a picture of them (how weird would THAT have been?) but you can see just the boxy edge of the lift in this picture that I took next.

As you can see, we were facing the Epic. And as I've said, there were workers right outside. So be careful if you have a verandah!



Oh it was going to be so lovely, sitting in the sun, soaking up some vitamin D...

Buzz buzz. Buzz buzz. Drat, it's the wave phone. Drat. E wants to be picked up???? AUGH.


We threw clothes on over our bathing suits and headed to the kid's club to figure out what was happening. Was he hurt? Ill? What was going on?


We got there. He and our cousin were standing *just* inside the club, waiting to leave. Cousin looked anxious, Eamon looked miserable. It's taken this whole time to really get as full a story as we can get, but basically it comes down to...they played and played, then suddenly it was decided that there was "boredom", and a plan was made to get the parents and to go to the arcade.

Well, with us, that wasn't going to fly. He was *expected* to be in that club, even if cousins left, until we picked him up. He knew this. And he certainly knew that boredom was not a reason that was going to work with us, and that arcade trips would indeed be part of our trip but NOT as an alternative to the club, especially not when we had laid out the expectations ahead of time!

Ugh. Everyone was miserable. No one had put extra family on the pick-up list for any of the kids, but we couldn't just leave cousin there waiting, so Robert waited there. He was on the outside of the club and cousin was on the inside, but they could talk. Probably wasn't the best thing from the point of view of the club CMs, but they didn't say anything and they weren't trying to draw our cousin in to activities anyway, so...

So I took Eamon off to hug and talk with him, and we walked right into the Detective Agency game kiosk. Well that sounded like a great idea! So we started to play that. At last my aunt and girlie cousin came to pick up the other, and Robert joined us. The cousins went off to play in the arcade (we found out later that they also played mini-golf at some point that day, which would have been a great idea and I wish we had remembered that it was an option!).

The Mid-Ship Detective Agency is a neat way to explore the ship, but we were doing it FAST. We wanted to solve the mystery! We were spending a lot of time going back and forth though. At one point we walked past the DVC desk and remembered that we had had a note from them in our room, inviting us to visit the desk to get the goodies they had for us at the very first DVC meeting we missed. We asked the guy about it, and he handed over some very basic DVC hats. E liked them the most. The guy reminded us of the presentation that day, and we figured we would go. It was starting pretty soon, so we did more of the Detective Agency thing up to the time that we needed to meet at Evolution.

It was a very typical DVC thing. Heartstrings pulled, wallets tugged on, and this one came with a neat fake-leather portfolio. Stocked, of course, with point charts and price charts and a pad of paper to take notes with.


After the presentation was over, we continue with the Agency work, but this time with the clock ticking, we did it smarter. Did it floor by floor, first aft then forward, until the end. Surprise surprise, we solved the mystery!


And then it was time to head back to the room and get ready for the evening.


Again I got distracted by the prettiness.

There's something about the Epic that made me want to take pictures. It just looked pretty to me, even though it's a floating building.

There's the other Carnival ship...

And here's a better view of the lift to the right of our verandah that the employees were on. Oh, and of the ships.

The guys went off to meet family to see the Villains show, and I went off to drink vino with my aunt. After the show E went back to the kid's club in order to take part in something called Anyone Can Cook, where they baked cookies. At the end it was time for dinner, so Robert went off to be seated at Enchanted Garden, and I picked up the boy-o.

 

[bumbershoot]

While I waited in the disorganized chaos that's called the Club/Lab, Robert went to the restaurant.

For a company that does lines/queues SO well, I do NOT understand why it's so weird in there. They have 4 stations that go along in a curve, so you can't see what's going on. The CMs don't engage you or get eye contact with you when you're in the line, so sometimes you'll bypass what turns out to be a line accidentally, and sometimes you'll stand in what you think is a line but is actually just a clump of people waiting for other reasons. At least 2 people cut in front of the next people while I was there, and the CMs say NOTHING.

All they need is a *sign*. That's it. Signs saying "pickups" and "dropoffs". The signs could be mobile, so they can be put at whatever kiosk they are using for whatever need at the moment.


OK that's enough about that.

Oh, in that picture and in a picture at Animator's, you'll see a swirl of something on a plate. The first night, it was a roasted garlic dip. Second night it was something like a tapenade. Those are listed on the menu, which is nice.

And you can also see Ludovic in the above picture.


The bread service and, oh hey, E and me!

On the first night, I didn't feel that our table was in a great position. But tonight, oh yes it was. A booth? I never expected that. And right towards the front of the place? Well that's where the booths are, and again, I never expected that. I read here after our cruise that having concierge will get you better table location. With Enchanted Garden and the following night, I think I might believe it.

This is me, being excited about the booth.

And here is E, being excited about his new light-up cup.

Tonight was the first night of the Indian curry so I didn't want much else, but I figured that this interesting cucumber vegetable roll would be nice.

E got the mac and cheese with a fruit thing for an appetizer and a breaded and fried vegetable dish as well.

I don't recall at all what Robert ordered, because this was served to me and I lost all sense.

OK I know it doesn't look that tasty, but then what Indian food really does? If only we had smell-o-vision. It was just a touch spicy, the rice was *perfection*, and the naan-type bread you see on the plate there was delicious. There was more than enough of everything to share with R&E. Oh I was so happy about my meal. And that's pretty rare, as Robert will tell you, so we were all happy. Leslie was much happier with how much I ate. Which is a funny thing to remember, but there you go.


Again we had NO room for dessert. It was Pirate Night anyway, so we needed to get on to that.


Pirate Night fireworks....ay ay ay. It started off with a big show, which was on a stage on the pool deck and it was broadcast on a HUGE screen up on the funnel. Up. Huge. Broadcast.

And yet, as we stood around waiting for the show to start, we were "down in front"ed. Seriously? Huge screen up in the air.

And I was wearing these tallish heels and a skirt and I was NOT going to sit down on the freakin' ground. Family sat, but I chose to walk to the side instead. I would come back later.

I am short. I am not going to interfere with your vision of the show broadcast on the FUNNEL, nor am I going to interfere with your view of the fireworks. Which are up in the sky. You know what would help you see, mr down in front? Standing up.

Robert, who physically could not have sat down on the ground because of his injuries, went with me. I found a CM and asked if people would be sitting or standing for the show and fireworks. They said that they would be asked to stand, absolutely, it's a fire hazard and a danger to have people sitting during fireworks especially.

Well, exactly!

So the nearly incoherent show starts, and no one is asked to stand up. The show continues on, nearly incoherently, but I know Jack Sparrow was involved, and there were some zombies, and some dancing, and other odd things. And then, the big moment arrived. The fireworks. Only fireworks at sea you know (not for long, another line will be starting soon!).

One firework went off. And people "oooohed". Seriously? One firework? And then the whole show happened. And people were awed.

And I was like "what?" And Robert was like "what?" Seriously, we were looking at each other, saying "like, um, what?"

I think maybe we have been forever-spoiled by Tacoma's 4th of July fireworks, which are pretty spectacular, and the fireworks show at the Space Needle (I was there on site for one of their anniversaries, and we watch it on TV for New years), and shall I mention a little place in Anaheim? But we were incredibly UNimpressed by the Disney Cruise fireworks.

We were really sad to be unimpressed. We didn't set out to be like that. We wanted to be wowed.

Oh, and by the way? No one was ever asked to stand. So all that was needed was for a firework to fall wrong and start a fire, and there would have been a mass trampling. Awesome. You go, Disney Cruise. Way to do it safely.

Dagnabit, I meant to put in a comment about that, and I forgot to do so.


So that was that.

Now what was FUN was the dance party after, because people *stood up*, and because Eamon was a dancing fiend.

This is a long video, and there is no reason to watch it ALL, but here's E, after taking off all of his piratey accessories. Anyone who read my October disneyland report has a chance at recognizing his shirt, because he recycled the pirate costume. It worked WAY better with the Pirate's League makeup, and I regret not doing that. Anyway, for anyone who is not over Gangnam Style, here you go.




He danced and danced and danced. I grew weary and sat at a table off of the dance floor. Family snagged food from the buffet. I was still stuffed from the Indian food and did not partake. Family went to bed, we went towards bed but R&E got sidetracked and went to the arcade for a wee bit then rejoined me in the stateroom.


And so our day in the vicinity of Nassau ended.

 

[Linda67]

Great updates and more great photos

It's nice to put a face to your name as well

That Carnival ship approaching would have totally freaked me out

 

[nunzia]

Interesting, thank you for the info!




Thanks! I'm glad you're getting to go somewhere great, though! And it's hard to do better than all inclusive.




Thanks! How little was the munchkin then? Speaking of him, he just had ANOTHER growth spurt. He walked into the living room after waking up, and I had to tilt my head up a bit more than usual. And he noticed he had to look *down* more than usual as I was sitting on our relatively low couch. We went straight to the wall-o-measurements and it was another quarter-inch or so.


*********
I'm still in the process of putting the pictures in order, so do forgive this delay in the report. I should have waited until I got ALL pictures on the account. Silly moi.

I joined DIS in 2007 and remember you from way back, so I guess he was about 4?!

 

[bumbershoot]

Great updates and more great photos

It's nice to put a face to your name as well

That Carnival ship approaching would have totally freaked me out

Thanks!

I joined DIS in 2007 and remember you from way back, so I guess he was about 4?!

Awww. I keep losing track of people who knew me pre-or-early-Dis. I should make up a chart.



My cold is lifting, thank goodness. Didn't mean I had good sleep last night, far from it, but it's definitely lifting. I have more of my hearing and more sense of taste and smell. And I'm becoming more human (rather than feeling beastly, wondering "what is wrong with me?" and feeling sorry for myself) minute by minute.

 

[kaoden39]

I love the pink buildings. I wish that businesses would use colors like this here. Everything is always white, off white or gray. Boo! Pink is so much more fun.

I love Eamon's shirt!!

No you aren't alone long. Cruises are their big business for sure. The ships are so big it would unnerve me too.

Wow! The Norwegian Epic looks like a building! What a blocky design.

Okay now I am hearing the Jaws theme when I see them too! Hahahaha!

When I write it is so much easier to do it alone. Scotty just interferes. If I don't get my creative process done he just gets me off track.

Pink is kind of pretty in am old fashioned sort of way.

Too funny I was thinking that was a Star Trekky look to it! It looks like the bar from Star Trek Next Generation.

No those couchs would not be fun on bare legs but they fit with the look for sure.

I like light houses. I think that they are a nice old fashioned thing.

When kid get together and start plotting it never goes well. Poor E. I think he got caught up by the cousins. Majority rules type of thing. The Epic is so big it dwarves the other ships.

Cool cup!

Between us.....and well everyone else I am not a fan of fireworks. To me they are noisy and they stink.

Yay for E! He is great!

I am glad that your cold is lifting. Hopefully tonight will be good sleep!

 

[bumbershoot]

For those who haven't been on a cruise, every day they have info and itineraries printed for you. They have just about all the info you could need to know for each day, all on these pages. On DCL (and I think RCCL and probably all mainstream lines) they give them to you the evening before, so you can read them, study them, scour them, and figure out a plan for the next day. That is, if you have the brain power.

For the 9th we would be at Castaway Cay. I knew that the 5K was in my future, so I focused on the info for that. I had also found out on the 8th, when trying to figure out if DS needed to squeeze in a meet&greet with Jack Sparrow that day, that there would be M&Gs with him on the island the following day. Whew, we didn't have to squeeze it into the 8th, and once we got the Navigator (what they call it on DCL) for the 9th I had the times, too.

I had to go to Evolution at 8:15am. I had figured out that JS's first appearance on the island was at 9:30 then at 10:45, so I let the guys know this and did as much as I possibly could to help them be able to just "grab and go" in the morning, since I wouldn't be there. That morning I got ready and snuck out, trying to not wake them. Went to the meeting, got my bib number, listened to the instructions, followed everyone on out!

Not sure that there's much to say about the 5K. It was hard because it was hot and on the ground, and I'm a treadmill runner and the Y has air conditioning. My lungs were a bit tight, which wasn't all that fun. I did have to walk for a little bit, but that's OK. Honestly I probably walk faster than I jog.

I was one of the last people to finish, but they still had the clock running and there was a CM there (handing out medals!), and there were people loitering around who clapped for people as they crossed...it was lovely. It ends right near where the tram lets off, and it just so happened that R&E were making their way in on the tram as I was finishing. We met up shortly after.


So their morning had been spent in a rush, because Robert had remembered 9am instead of 9:30 as the Jack Sparrow appearance. But what that meant was that they were off the ship early and in the line FIRST. Which is actually pretty cool!

Goofing around...

He's rubbing his hands together greedily in anticipation of the treasure, in case it looks strange.

This video is long-ish and a bit inaudible, and I could have edited it, but I think that it's worth seeing if you have plans to visit the Cay and have kids who have plans to meet Jack.

1. You see where he comes from.
2. You see that there's a CM who will enforce a line especially if you've gotten to know her over the last 20 minutes because you got there so early.
3. You see that JS is flexible enough to say hi to other kids, but will then go to the proper line.
4. Hopefully that's the same for all JS meet&greets.

It might also let people know that, you know, there's a line.





What the Captain said to Eamon...after being asked by the CM if he remembered meeting E a few years back (the CM and Robert had been chatting) he said yes but E was a lot shorter and a lot less smelly. And I am fairly sure you can hear him tell E to "shove off".

If you do not appreciate people speaking to your children in that way, meeting Captain Jack is not for you. We thought it was hilarious. OK they thought it was hilarious at the time, and I thought it was hilarious when told about it.



So we met on up, went to the restrooms to change (this was difficult for me after running, and I almost wish I had gone quickly back to the ship to do it), and went to go find some chairs. Family had, apparently, gotten off the ship and passed by R&E waiting for Jack, and we didn't know where they had gone. Once we got settled we let them know where we were, and they eventually left their very crowded spot close to the ship and came down to us around the Pelican Point area. But that was a bit later.

In the meantime, we sampled the water. It was cold. It was SALTY. Wowza had I forgotten what ocean water tastes like!

Here is E, entering tropical ocean water for the first time in his life!

Eamon is unhappy with my edit of the above picture because you can still see the stranger in the picture. I edited it so you could still see the person so you can see that people bring their chairs down to the edge of the water, which is kind of decadent and lovely. I did it too, much later.


I spent the rest of the day lounging. Swam or at least got in the water every so often. Thought about snorkeling. Watched, from afar, a wedding (awww). Watched the kids. Took pictures from my lounge chair. Chatted with people, both strangers and relatives. Lounged some more.

Eamon finally complained about the hard sand (lots of shells in the sand) and since he and Robert had declined to let me buy them water shoes ahead of time, E and I took a field trip to one of the island's stores to find some. They didn't have *children's* sizes. They had infant and toddler sizes, and then they started with Women's size 5. Nothing in between. At least by the time I got there (but they didn't have *room* for other sizes, and nothing in the back either). So E got a floppy Women's 5.

After buying those (and a pirate mickey themed towel for him) I bought a drinkie. Mai tai, I think. E got a plastic coconut cup. And I marveled at these odd Corona bottles.

This picture (near the restrooms, looking down on the beach where we spent time) looks so much like a picture I took in 1989 at Key West it's weird.

Robert, too, ended up buying water shoes. Oh those silly boys. [I already had water shoes thanks to a Budget Board "there are cheap shoes on Land's End" post a couple years back] Well, they weren't horribly expensive (you know you have Disney-brain when 19.95 for simple water shoes isn't expensive) and they WILL have them for a LONG time to come. Robert also rented an innertube and a mat. You can see examples of both in this picture.

***********

So I spent the day lounging. I was "high" off of having jogged that morning and kept sneaking peeks at my bib number (that's more important to me than a medal, especially a plastic mickey-ear medal), and I just felt that I had the right to not do ANYTHING that day.

Robert had a nice day for the most part, but he took up my slack and took on more, which was totally his choice but he did end up getting a little exhausted from it all. He's such a good dad and cousin-in-law, and wanted to make sure all the kids were having a great day, and because of that he wasn't AS relaxed as I was. "If' we go again in the future, he's going to laze around just like I did.

One of the awesome things he did for us was get us lunch. There are two lunch spots on the island, and honestly I have NO idea where either of them are, because, as I've mentioned, I was lounging. Robert went off with the other grownups to get lunch, and I moved a bit closer to the kids (who were in the water) to keep a loungey eye on them.

Lo and behold, Robert came back with this plate of delight for me!

Veggie burger to die for, couscous dish that was scrumptious, amazing vegetarian beans, delicious cole slaw...it was all really REALLY good. That little thing in the middle was some sort of carrot cake that Robert said wasn't good, but I thought it was, and that MIGHT mean that my feelings about the rest of the meal were fueled by the 5K and the loungeyness and my feelings of everything just being right in the world. He brought me a gigantor cookie too, and everyone says they are the best cookies on earth, but I found it burned, dried out, and icky. So there you go.


So he brought me my food (and E too), and the other kids started clamoring for food, even though they had just told their parents they weren't hungry. So Robert took their orders and went back and got them food, too. So nice of him! They ate it ALL up. Once he had served the 4 of us, he went back to eat his food with the grownups.


And then he tried to spend the rest of the day being loungey like me.




continuing in a moment

 

[bumbershoot]

If you look in the following picture and see where the land curves around on the right, and you see the two bright red umbrellas on the right, then some light blue umbrellas, then an open space with palm trees before you see buildings towards the left of that bit of land...that open bit is where the wedding had been earlier. Not a bad spot, in my opinion!

A closeup.

This sign could have undone months of work with Eamon convincing him that it was safe for him to go into the water on the Cay.

Then again, seeing any of those creatures would have undone it faster and better! I had NO idea there could be anything but little innocent fish and "sea lice" (which I have read are the larvae of a certain sort of jellyfish) there. I've since read that there really can be anything from that sign in there.




The store where I bought the shoes. I guess there's another store on the island. I didn't notice it. Too busy briskly walking with the 5K group to the start line, then too busy lazing on the beach later!

**************************************************************************

Alas, the end of a Castaway Cay day comes far too soon.

Family packed up first. I wanted to stay to the very last minute. I was having weird self-revelations while lazing around there. I was strangely quiet most of the day, too.

Way back when as Robert and I chose our honeymoon destination (Alaska cruise), a lot of it was because we didn't want to laze around sweating in the sun. Now, if the money for Fiji had been there I would have changed my tune, but it wasn't. And since then I've thought "I'm not a lazing on the beach person".

But in my earlier life, I was. I grew up halfway in Santa Cruz, CA. I loved "laying out" in our backyard. I adored the sun. What I don't like, I realized that day, was sweating and feeling gross, which *for me*, for my own self, goes back to how I feel about myself and about my body. Well I felt GREAT that day. I've lost this weight, I was wearing a two piece and feeling almost completely OK with it, I ate well that day, I had already jogged...I felt really really good about myself and with myself, and therefore I didn't mind being sweaty or too warm, because, after all, I was on a tropical island with sun out!

It turns out I quite liked lazing on a beach all day (as long as I did that workout earlier).

And I didn't want that feeling to end.



Somehow, Robert was on my wavelength that day, and wasn't urging me to go or anything. Nor did he take E away, even when family was packing to go. He just stayed with me, almost reading my mind (or probably my body language) that I did NOT want to go. Towards the end, the kids lost a bucket family had brought, and we were kicking around in the water to see if it was there. Early in the day the water was crystal clear and gorgeous, and we could see all sorts of crazy little (and not so little) fish in there (some white!). But by 3pm the water is hazy with sand and grit, and we had to feel around. A woman from another country found the bucket for us, and after that, family got all ready to go. I was standing in the surf, in my coverup, just not not not wanting to go.


And suddenly without thinking about it, I took the coverup off, handed it to Robert, and nearly dove into the water. I went out to where I could swim, and splashed around for a little bit. Not too long, but long enough. I really needed to be in that water again, to really experience it, to know that I had been there. Family left, but Robert stayed there at the water's edge, just waiting for me. E was getting his things together. They simply waited for me.

I did get out of the water, of course. And then we got rinsed off at the showers and got a bit more decent and into proper shoes, and slowly headed back to the ship. I was both sad and happy. The day was ending, but the day had happened, and I had enjoyed it.

It was a good day.

 

[bumbershoot]

I hadn't taken the tram "to" the island, but we took it back to the ship. I think I preferred walking, but Robert was tired out from the running around he had done for us kids, and it was probably a good idea.

You still have to walk from the tram stop though.

As we got into the shadow of the ship, I noticed that the Aqua Duck was dry. Turns out a raft had gotten stuck, and when that happens they turn off the water, send a CM up, and evacuate the stuck people. Which means walking on the off-the-ship part of the slide. EEK.

You can just barely see two people on foot on the left side of the tube here. The CM was leading a child behind the CM, with the CM's arms stretched backwards and holding on to the child. I'm SURE the child was being counseled to keep his/her eyes closed.

Last minute pictures.

And then we were onboard.


So there it was, not quite 4, and it was "optional dress-up night", it was the Believe show, and our dining rotation was in Royal Palace, which is the fanciest-feeling restaurant for most (though I actually felt like Enchanted Garden was fancier, but maybe that's b/c my seat for RP was facing the entrance, which means I had a view of the atrium area of the ship, not the interior of the restaurant). E had managed to get a bit of a sunburn (bad me, bad me!), I didn't know where family was, and I kept wanting to jump off the ship and hide on the island forever.

What to do, what to do...I'll take pictures!


This is the *not* Castaway Cay view.

Obviously I was zooming in further and further in hopes of seeing something interesting under the water.

Then I crossed over to the other side of the ship.

 

[silence]

I hope our CC day is like yours! Question...do the island stores carry diff merchandise that you can't get on the ship? I need to know if I need to allow time for shopping