We (dh and I- not with the kids- although we may next time! read on...) did the banana boat on our first cruise (May 27th 7 day cruise so it was pretty recent) and let me tell you- it was fun... but it was a little scary. Well it was for ME. DH had the time of his life as did others- but I was a little freaked out because I wanted to stay ON the banana boat- not get dropped off.
They started off by telling us exactly what they'd do if we fell off- they said they'd come back and help us back on right there. I'm sitting there thinking- no way I'm falling off this. Do they think I can just "handle" hanging there to come help my big fat butt back on this thing? It was hard enough getting on in shallow water- and I'm going to FREAK OUT being out there. Granted maybe it wasn't the brightest idea in the world for a "fear of water with big fishies in it" type person to go on the first CC day out on a glass bottom boat RIGHT TO THE SAME AREA that the banana boat goes on later on the 2nd CC day. Lesson learned. I already saw what fish were out there- I didn't want to fall off that banana boat to share the same territory with those fishies!
Our banana boat had one other gentleman and another lady- the rest were kids... mostly pretty young. I'd say in the 8-11 age range with one little girl probably about 7 -maybe younger but just tall for her age? Thus the reason we didn't take our kids (one not quite 6 yet on that cruise, 8yr old son- oldest 12yrs probably would have been fine but can you take one kid and not the others? I don't think so! LOL They all swim well- but hanging on a banana boat while being pulled fast by a boat isn't the same thing as just swimming well LOL) -- well the little girl got freaked out halfway thru the ride and they stopped (ps. they tell you what to do if something is wrong and you need them to stop -she listened well LOL) and let her get on the boat with them for us to continue the ride. In hindsight it probably wasn't a good idea for her to get in FRONT as she insisted- with her father way almost to the back near us (we were about middle on the right- but closer to the back than the front- he was directly beside me... she was smack up front with her siblings not much older than her but they were boys and not about to admit they were scared or anything). It might have been the sea spray hitting her in the face. They had goggles (hey- ps... goggles are a great idea for this ride! I had my glasses on, no- I didn't heed the warnings of "you know who" about losing glasses on the ride. They weren't prescription anyway- but I had to have sunglasses- I have sensitive eyes. Anywho- glasses don't help, being in the back doesn't help- you will get spray in yours eyes and it will burn. I spent the 2nd half of the ride closing my eyes which is not a good thing when you're trying to LEAN the right way to keep from falling off. You can't see which way the boat is turning! LOL)
ANYWAY- I digress... after she got on and we continued the ride (lots of fun- part of our group had done it before and got tossed off- they also didn't want to fall off again. So we all, complete strangers, became the best of friends for awhile and had a BLAST coaching each other what to do -working as a team so we didn't fall off... left LEAN in, okay now right LEAN in. lean lean lean- lean in MORE! All of us were laughing so hard I darn near had an accident -if you know what I mean... and I don't mean falling off the banana LOL)
Warning- at the end when they are returning they TRIED so hard to get us to fall off. They were turning this way and that and this way and that- it was clearly obvious that they didn't consider it a good ride unless they toppled us all of. But we perservered.. that's teamwork for you.
We were all laughing so hard we could barely speak but somehow managed to say lean in right! lean in left! and didn't fall off. Thanks for the teamwork- because I had to keep my eyes closed (burning from salt water at that point) and I'm sure I'd have been the first one falling off if they hadn't been telling me when to lean in.
It was SO fun. After the first few minutes I forgot about my fear of falling in the water because it had become a game. It was us (riders) against them (boat driver/etc.) - the struggle to stay on the boat vs. struggle to get us to fall off. We won.
(that emoticon is so fitting don'tcha think?)
Let the teenagers do it and don't worry. They will MOST LIKELY fall off (if the boat driver has his way) but they will come back for them and help them back on. They said so.
I guess I can say now I've "seen" serenity bay- not in real life but atleast I've laid eyes on it in a clip. LOL
