After the ride, we dropped off the bikes and hopped on the tram to Serenity Bay. Upon arriving we picked up our floats. (In hindsight we should have waited until we were on the island to rent these. I only used mine for five minutes. Oh well.) For adults heading to
Castaway Cay, you can also rent bikes directly at Serenity Bay. We chose to rent them from the main stand because it was right there, and there's a bin you can throw your bags into while you ride. (More on that later...)
We claimed some chairs (near a hammock!) and decided to test the water. I am a wuss when it comes to cold weather, especially cold water, so I wasn't sure if I could handle it. It was cold but after being in for awhile it wasn't too bad. The problem was the wind. (More on that later, too.)
We walked out a bit and Brian pushed me around on the float. Fifteen minutes later I decided I was cold and we got out of the water. I ordered a Konk Kooler (because it was my birthday and it's five o'clock somewhere), and then we tried out the still-empty hammock. After falling a few times, we got in and laid there in peaceful bliss. Brian even fell asleep for about ten minutes. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of that.
With some tricky maneuvering, we eventually out of the hammock. It was very windy and I was cold, so I went to get my hoodie in my bag. Except it wasn't there.
This was my precious Star Wars hoodie. I have two of them, but the first is old and I only wear it around the house. They don't sell it anymore. (Do you know how hard it is to find a Star Wars hoodie in women's sizes?) Needless to say I was freaking out because I knew I took it off the ship with me. I remembered taking it off during the walk. Where could it be???
Brian asked if I wanted to go back to the room to look for it. I said okay, but felt really bad about taking away from our beach time. He said he didn't care. So we gathered up our stuff and took the tram back to the family beach. While there we were discussing where I could've left the hoodie. I was certain I'd had it with me on the beach, and Brian said he thought I left it in the room. Then he asked if it could be in the bin near the bike rental. I said no, because I would've put it in my bag and my bag was zipped. I made sure of it. He still wanted to check anyway. So he went to the bike rental and I went to the gift shop to buy a Castaway Cay ornament (since we were going back to the room I wanted to buy it then while we weren't rushing to get back at the end of the day).
As I was standing at the register waiting to check out, Brian came into the store. HOLDING MY HOODIE!
I gave him the biggest hug and then I gave my hoodie a hug. It was at the bottom of the bin. I couldn't fathom how it got there!
Since the case of the missing hoodie was now solved, we decided to go back to Serenity Bay. I stowed ornament in my bag, donned my hoodie, and we got back on the tram.
A silly detour, but I was so relieved. I know it sounds dumb to be freaked out over a hoodie, but it's my favorite piece of clothing by far. I will be very sad when I finally wear it out for good.
Aaaaaanyway, we got back to the beach but we weren't super hungry yet. That happened a lot during this cruise. In August we ate like pigs, but this time I couldn't force myself to eat everything in sight, even though I wanted to! Perhaps that was a good thing. Brian and I had started watching our weight again and I decided that we couldn't eat a lot because or stomachs had already shrunk, haha.
I decided I wanted to take a walk down to the edge of the beach. We put our stuff on some chairs about halfway down the beach, Brian grabbed his camera and off we went. I was really glad I got my hoodie back because man was it windy.
After a nice walk, we headed to the BBQ. We'd eaten at Cookies Two last time with his family, and were excited to try the buffet at Serenity Bay. It was basically the same with the addition of really yummy ribeye steaks, but it was much quieter. I had steak, some chicken, potato salad, and watermelon. I don't think I even had ice cream then!
We went back to our stuff and contemplated going back into the water. Then I decided that it was just too windy, both for swimming and sunbathing. Plus, it had been partly cloudy all day, with a bit of a sprinkle while we were in the hammock, and without the sun it just wasn't pleasant. It wasn't horrible, mind you, but not the greatest weather to lay out in the sun. I asked Brian if he minded going back to the ship and he said absolutely not. It was my birthday so I got to decide what we did.
He was sad because it wasn't great weather, but I was just happy to have docked! If the wind had been like that earlier in the morning, it wouldn't have happened.
We took a few pictures before we left Serenity Bay, and of course were a bit silly. You can see just how windy it was. The normally tranquil water had waves!
IMG_4304 by
jedimara77, on Flickr
Me with my precious hoodie!
IMG_4308 by
jedimara77, on Flickr
It's really hard to take a selfie with a DSLR, by the way.
IMG_4327 by
jedimara77, on Flickr
When we got back to the family beach, Brian wanted to take some pictures of the ship. You can see how calm it was over on this side of the island.
IMG_4329 by
jedimara77, on Flickr
We tested out the water to see if we wanted to stay on this end, but it was still too cold for my tastes. Plus, no offense to the children, but I didn't feel like hanging out on the family beach. The Quiet Cove was much more my speed.
On the way back to the ship we ran into our friend Olaf the snowman. I think he enjoyed his time on Castaway Cay, too!
IMG_4344 by
jedimara77, on Flickr
This is my favorite picture of Brian, ever.
IMG_4346 by
jedimara77, on Flickr
We went back to the room and got out of our sandy swimsuits. Brian put on a football game, I have no idea which one it was but it was a playoff game.
Note: at this point our toilet stopped flushing. I got nervous because I'd read some horror stories from when the Magic left dry dock. I called guest services and they said they could remotely fix the toilet! Wow! Sure enough, about five minutes later we heard the toilet flush. Someone knocked on the door, wanting to make sure it was fixed. Also, our stateroom host brought us ice. Yay ice!
Since we had ice, we enjoyed an adult beverage on the verandah, watching guests return to the ship. Stitch was out taking pictures. It was fun watching that.
After changing back into swimsuits we left the room. It was pretty crowded in the Quiet Cove, but we spent around an hour in the pool and the hot tub. Then we laid in one of the double lounge chairs, and Brian eventually got me ice cream. I had to have ice cream on my birthday!
We'd gotten back from the beach much earlier than expected, so we had enough time to go back to the room, shower, and change (while watching more football, haha) before the show that night. We hadn't seen one so far, and since there wasn't anything else to do, I figured why not?
The show was Disney Dreams and it was really good! Kind of cheesy, but all Disney shows are. I'm not a huge Peter Pan fan (I grew up watching the Mary Martin Broadway version), but I liked the other musical numbers. And it was nice to get dressed up and watch a show with Brian. (Why were we dressed up? More on that later!)
We had about half an hour before our dinner at PALO! (I ruined the surprise for you), so we went to Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer? in the D Lounge. And lo and behold, I was the first one picked!
IMG_4351 by
jedimara77, on Flickr
And I WON!
IMG_4359 by
jedimara77, on Flickr
I guess I am a Disney nerd, after all.
Me with my trophy.
IMG_4365 by
jedimara77, on Flickr
After the excitement, it was time for PALO.